Banks in India: A Balancing Act Between Profitability, Regulation and NPA

Banks are facing varied issues worldwide. The existing set of performance measures of banks lack a cohesive and concerted approach for adequate fulfilment of the purpose. This study proposes a holistic view of the bank performance, which includes profitability, risk-taking (non-performing asset [NPA]), and regulation. It has been observed that Indian banks fare miserably in this litmus test of comprehensive performance measure. The meanest of the expectation that NPA should be affected by the regulatory mechanism is found surprisingly missing in the Indian banks. The existing literature has not taken a holistic view of bank performance, and therefore, the findings of this study provide enough impetus to all the stakeholders of the banks to respond. Policy makers and regulatory bodies can redirect both the banking governance and regulation so that the basic tenet of comprehensive bank performance expectations, as raised in this study, are met reasonably.