IIBF Macro Resarch Project Report Revised 23.12.19

2017-18
ETHICS AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE

IN INDIAN BANKING SECTOR
Submitted by:
Submitted to:
Dr. Prakash Singh
Indian Institute of Banking and Indian Institute of
Finance Management Lucknow
(Macro Research Proposal- 2017-18)
INDIAN INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT

LUCKNOW
Ph nos: 0522-2734101, 2734111-20

Fax: 0522- 2734025, 2734005, 2734026
Executive Summary
Indian Institute of Management Lucknow

Executive Summary
Post the US financial crisis and subsequent meltdown in the financial markets and more
recently back home, the Indian Banking system waking up to the reality check of huge bad
loans on their Balance Sheet has raised serious questions over the quality of governance and
reporting in these large banks. Given the importance of the banking sector in a savings driven
economy like India, this study was taken to understand and estimate the level of ethical
practices/ quality of reporting and internal Corporate Governance models banks follow. Also,
there was a need to study that do our markets provide enough incentives and rewards to
managers to practice full disclosures and not get into unethical practices and also adopt sound
corporate governance models. The study made a humble attempt to measure the level of
Corporate Governance and the Quality of Reporting in Indian Banks using some standard
surrogates and also tries to read the market sentiments using the media (both electronic as well
as social media) as a tool for investigating the market reaction.
Banks form a crucial link in a country’s financial system and their robustness is imperative for
the economy. The significant transformation of the banking industry in India is clearly evident
from the metamorphism of the financial markets. Globalization has brought with it greater
competition and consequently greater risks. In such scenario it becomes imperative to ensure a
good ethical culture and a sound corporate governance system in the banking sector. After all
the banks, who are the custodians of public deposits in a country like ours and where majority
of the savings of the population flows to banks, have a very pivotal role in shaping the direction
of the economy. Since major lending decisions are essentially taken by people at the top, it is
very important to have the right people at the top who have demonstrated very high ethical
behavior and display he highest level of integrity.
Ethics is concerned with the study of morality and the application of reason to elucidate
specific rules and principles that determine right and wrong for a given situation. Ethics is the
embodiment of moral values, which describes, what is right & what is wrong & what ought to
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be. Further, the perceptions of ethical or unethical change at times because some values are
dropped & some values are added over the period. In this broad sense ethics in business is
simply the application of everyday moral or ethical norms to business. Core ethical values
include honesty, integrity, fairness, responsible citizenship and accountability. It is relatively
easy to identify unethical business practices. However, it is not always easy to create hard-and-
fast definitions of good ethical practices. The complexities of operations and transactions that
happen in the financial sector; making such demarcation become all the more difficult. They
must also pay close attention to moral concerns in order to make the right ethical decisions on a
day-to-day basis. The upholding of an ethical culture in banking is of critical interest to
regulators, banks, employees and customers alike. Banking ethics are the moral or ethical
principles that certain banks chose to abide by. There isn’t an ethics ombudsman or a universal
code of ethical conduct as such but a major role is played by the corporate governance; system
and policies.
The primary objective of financial reporting is to provide high-quality financial reporting

information concerning economic entities, primarily financial in nature, useful for economic
decision making. Providing high quality financial reporting information is important because it
will positively influence capital providers and other stakeholders in making investment, credit,
and similar resource allocation decisions enhancing overall market efficiency. In not just Indian
but global scenario, the demand for providing clear and quality financial reports has gone up. It
is essential to provide high-quality financial reporting to influence users in making investments
decisions, and to enhance market efficiency. It includes not just the quantifiable aspects but
also the necessary non- financial aspects as well. The higher the quality of financial reporting,
the higher are the benefits to be achieved.
Corporate governance is the system of rules, practices and processes by which a firm is
directed and controlled. Corporate governance essentially involves balancing the interests of
a company's many stakeholders, such as shareholders, management, customers, suppliers,
financiers, government and the community. Corporate governance covers a range of issues
such as protection of shareholders’ rights, enhancing shareholders’ value, Board issues
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including practices, the control systems, in particular internal control systems. As in any
organization, good corporate governance in banks regulates the relationships between banks’
stakeholders, their Boards and their management. It prevents the abuse of power and self-
serving conduct, restricts imprudent and high risk behavior by bank managers, and resolves
conflicts of interests between managers and board members on the one hand and shareholders
and depositors on the other.
For the purpose of study, there was a three pronged approach:
1. Construction of a well-defined and acceptable Corporate Governance Index that would

include consideration of following parameters/ surrogates.
a) Level of Earnings Management (Discretionary Cash Accruals)
b) Board of Directors/ Independent Directors
c) Audit Committee/ Risk Management Committee
d) Accounting Policies and Procedures
e) Disclosure Norms/ Standards
f) Cooperation between Board and Management/ Attendance in Board meetings
g) Employee satisfaction etc
2. Construction of a rank based on Quality of Financial Reporting: The current study will
depend on the following qualitative characteristics: relevance, faithful representation,
understandability and comparability by totalize the scores on the related items and
dividing it by the total number of items.
a. Relevance is usually operationalized in terms of predictive and confirmatory
value. IASB (International Accounting Standard Board) defines relevance as the
capability of making a difference in decisions made by users on their capacity as
capital providers
b. Faithful representation means that all information listed in financial report
must be represented faithfully, IASB, (2006) stated that in order to accomplish
this; all information and economic phenomena listed in annual reports must be
complete, accurate, neutral, and free from bias and errors.
c. Understandability: Understandability is referred to the process of classifying,
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characterizing, categorizing, then presenting the financial information clearly
and concisely, for (IASB, 2008) understandability means assuring financial
information transparency and clearness, this process needs referring to some
financial measures.
d. Comparability: Comparability means the ability the information has in
explaining and identifying similarities in and differences between two common
sets or transactions of economic phenomena
e. Timeliness: The last enhancing qualitative characteristic discussed in the IASB
(2010) conceptual framework is timeliness. The framework defines timeliness as
having information available to decision makers before it loses its capacity to
influence decisions
3. Evaluation of market reaction by conducting Sentimental Analysis on Indian Banks by

using both electronic and social media. Also, a structured questionnaire was send to ex
bankers, senior academicians in the field of banking to get a first-hand feedback about
what they think about the whole issue of Ethical reporting in Banks and what they see
are the real challenges related to the governance structure in the banking industry.
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Brief Discussion about the results
On Corporate Governance Index, the results are in line with expectations. The banks who have
scored the highest ranks are Kotak, HDFC Bank. On Quality of Financial reporting, the results
are very encouraging. Most of the government owned banks score quite good marks; some
even better than private banks. More or less the level of financial reporting has matured to a
level whereby most of the banks are on same page when it comes to disclosures practices.
Some public sector banks score low as compared some private sector banks. It is still an area of
concern being that in terms of overall quality of reporting, Indian banks in general are far
behind their global counterparts. The global banks after the meltdown have taken serious
efforts to build the trust and confidence in the banking system which suffered a serious setback
during the Lehman collapse. They are presenting the information about the performance in a
more of discussion way, explaining each and every thing to shareholders both in terms of the
current performance and risk but also what can be expected from them in near future. They
have become extremely proactive in discussing all major risks the bank is exposed to with the
shareholders.
Market Reaction: Sentiment Analysis was carried out both on Electronic media and Social
Media to understand the market reaction and perception. Major Newspapers were dominated
by bad news about the sector, although there was some good news too. Again private banks
have done better in terms of media relations and the overall perception in the mind of people
reflected in tweets and other social media posts.
Brief Recommendations
State owned banks need to pull up their socks in terms of better visibility in the media and
creating a favorable image. Their reporting quality is as good as their private counterparts but
the corporate governance structure is little weak. It is not just important to be ethically correct;
people should believe in your ethical standards too.
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List Of Tables
Report on Ethics and Corporate Governance in Indian Banking Sector
No
Content
table of figures entries found.
Executive Summary
Research Methodology
Chapter 1: Quality of Financial Reporting
Chapter 2: Corporate Governance
Chapter 3: Sentiment Analysis
Recommendations
References
Sentiment Analysis Visualization Output
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RESARCH METHODOLOGIES USED IN THE ENTIRE STUDY
The entire study was done keeping three questions in mind:
4. What is the level of Corporate Governance practices in Indian Banks?

5. What is the level of Quality of Financial Reporting in Indian Banks?
6. What is the response to news related to banking sector on Social Media?
The first 2 questions were basically used as a proxy for measuring level of Ethics in Indian
Banking. And it was tested that whether factors like Corporate Governance and Quality of
Reporting have any impact on market performance.
For the purpose of study, there was a three pronged approach:
1. Construction of a well-defined and acceptable Corporate Governance Index that

would include consideration of following parameters/ surrogates.
h) Level of Earnings Management (Discretionary Cash Accruals)
i) Board of Directors/ Independent Directors
j) Audit Committee/ Risk Management Committee
k) Accounting Policies and Procedures
l) Disclosure Norms/ Standards
m) Cooperation between Board and Management/ Attendance in Board meetings
n) Employee satisfaction etc
2. Construction of a rank based on Quality of Financial Reporting: The current
study will depend on the following qualitative characteristics: relevance, faithful
representation, understandability and comparability by totalize the scores on the
related items and dividing it by the total number of items.
a. Relevance is usually operationalized in terms of predictive and confirmatory
value. IASB (International Accounting Standard Board) defines relevance as
the capability of making a difference in decisions made by users on their
capacity as capital providers
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b. Faithful representation means that all information listed in financial report
must be represented faithfully, IASB, (2006) stated that in order to accomplish
this; all information and economic phenomena listed in annual reports must be
complete, accurate, neutral, and free from bias and errors.
c. Understandability: Understandability is referred to the process of
classifying, characterizing, categorizing, then presenting the financial
information clearly and concisely, for (IASB, 2008) understandability means
assuring financial information transparency and clearness, this process needs
referring to some financial measures.
d. Comparability: Comparability means the ability the information has in
explaining and identifying similarities in and differences between two
common sets or transactions of economic phenomena
e. Timeliness: The last enhancing qualitative characteristic discussed in the
IASB (2010) conceptual framework is timeliness. The framework defines
timeliness as having information available to decision makers before it loses
its capacity to influence decisions
3. Evaluation of market reaction by conducting Sentimental Analysis on Indian Banks

by using both electronic and social media.
4. Also, a structured questionnaire was send to ex bankers, senior academicians in the
field of banking to get a first-hand feedback about what they think about the whole issue
of Ethical reporting in Banks and what they see are the real challenges related to the
governance structure in the banking industry.
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DETAILS ABOUT EACH METHODOLOGY
1. The Corporate Governance index used in our study
Using the working paper by Sarkar, J. et al (2012), we have prepared an index of corporate
governance (CGI) for banks in India. The four main governance mechanisms considered in our
CGI are as follows:
 Board of Directors
 Ownership Structure
 Audit Committee
 Auditor
There are several sub-items under each governance mechanism that have been considered. The
scoring method and rationale is outlined below:
Score Scoring Rationale Behind Scoring Method

Item Name Nature
Range Method
Studies point out a non-linear
relationship between board size
Increases and performance (Reference: De
Item from 1 to 5; Andres and Vallelado (2008), using
1. Board size 0-5
Score decreases 6 a two-step system estimator
onwards model, find an inverted U-shaped
and firm performance.)
2. Percentage of Item Increases
0-5
outside directors Score with increase
Same as Not used in our CGI
3. Percentage of Item
above, so
independent directors Score
ignore it
4. Presence of Item 0 if Yes; 5 if
0-5
nominee directors Score No
Item 0 if Exec; 5 if CEO duality has been found to
5. Board chairman 0 or 5 lead to under-performance
Score Independent
Possible conflict of interest
6. Presence of promoter Item 0 if Yes; 5 if
0 or 5
on board Score No
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Indicates busyness of the director
7. Total number of and the consequent ability to be
Item Decreases
directorships held by 0-5 diligent
Score with increase
independent directors
8. Number of board Item Increases Points to the seriousness of

0-5
meetings held Score with increase directors
9. %age of board Points to the seriousness of
Item Increases
meetings attended by 0-5 independent directors
Score with increase
10. Percentage of Points to the seriousness of
Item Increases
independent directors 0-5 independent directors
Score with increase
who attended AGM
Governan
ce
Bord of Directors Mechanis 0-100 Calculation
m (Sub
Index 1)
1. Percentage of Item Decreases Possible conflict of interest
0-5
promoter ownership Score with increase
Greater FII ownership should be a
2. Percentage of foreign Item Increases
0-5 bigger disciplining influence on
institutional ownership Score with increase
the Board and the management
Greater institutional ownership
3. Percentage of
Item Increases should be a bigger disciplining
domestic financial 0-5
Score with increase influence on the Board and the
institution ownership
management
Too may small owners cannot
4. Percentage of Item Decreases influence the workings of the
0-5
dispersed ownership Score with increase Board and the management
Governan
ce
O Ownership
Mechanis 0-100 Calculation
Structure
m (Sub
Index 2)
A bigger audit committee is
1. Size of audit Item Increases expected to have more expertise
0-5
committee Score with increase and time to monitor the
management
2. Percentage of Item Increases Avoidance of conflict of interest
0-5
independent directors Score with increase
Possible conflict of interest
3. Presence of executive
Item Decreases
dir ectors in audit 0-5
Score with increase
committee
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Points to the seriousness with
4. Number of m ee Item Increases
0-5 which the audit committee is
tings held Score with increase
doing its work
Governan
ce
Audit Committee Mechanis 0-100 Calculation
m (Sub
Index 3)
1. Percentage of non- Possible conflict of interest
Item Decreases
audit fees to total 0-5
Score with increase
payment to auditors
A top auditor is unlikely to be
Increase with
2. Top auditor in terms Item influenced / coerced by the
0-5 auditor
of audit fees Score management to sign off suspicious
reputation
books
Increase with
3. Top auditor in terms Item influenced / coerced by the
0-5 auditor
of audit clients Score management to sign off suspicious
reputation
books
Rotation of auditor is expected to
4. Change in auditor Item 5 if Yes; 0 if lead to fresh perspectives and
0-5
from last year Score No possibility of unearthing
suspicious transactions
Governan
ce
Auditor Mechanis 0-100 Calculation
m (Sub
Index 4)
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2. The QFR index used in our study
We have used the QFR index developed by Nijmegen Center for Economics (NiCE) which
incorporates qualitative characteristics like relevance, faithful representation, understandability,
comparability and timeliness. The index tries to operationalize and measure the quality
component of a financial report which IASB and FASB stresses on. Relevance and faithful
representation has been defined as fundamental qualitative characteristics, while
understandability, comparability and timeliness have been defined as enhancing qualitative
characteristics according to ‘An improved Conceptual Framework for Financial Reporting’ of
the FASB and the IASB (2008). The rating occurs on a 5-point scale. The index is further
described below –
S.N Characteristic
Relevance – The capability of making a difference in the decisions made
by users in their capacity as capital providers
R1 It measures the extent to which annual reports provide forward-looking statements. The
forward-looking statement usually describes management’s expectations for future years of
the company.
R2 It measures to what extent the annual reports disclose information
in terms of business opportunities and risks
R3 It measures company’s use of fair value
R4 It measures whether the annual report provides feedback information on how various
market events and significant transactions affected the company
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Faithful Representation - To faithfully represent economic phenomena that information
purports to represent, annual reports must be complete, neutral, and free from material error
F1 It measures whether the annual report explains the assumptions and estimates made clearly
F2 It measures whether the annual report explains the choice of accounting principles clearly
F3 It measures whether the annual report highlights the positive and negative events in a
balanced way when discussing the annual results
F4 It measures the type of Auditor’s report included in the annual report
F5 It measures whether the annual report extensively discloses information on corporate
governance issues
Understandability – It is referred to, when the quality of information enables users to
comprehend their meaning
U1 It measures whether the annual report is well-organized
U2 It measures whether the notes to the balance sheet and the income statement are clear
U3 It measures whether the graphs and tables clarify the information presented
U4 It measures whether the use of language and technical jargon is easy to follow in the
annual report
U5 It measures whether the annual report includes a comprehensive glossary
Comparability – It is the quality of information that enables users to identify similarities in and
differences between two sets of economic phenomena
C1 It measures to what extent the notes to changes in accounting policies explain the
implications of the change
C2 It measures to what extent the notes to revisions in accounting estimates and judgments
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explain the implications of the revision
C3 It measures to what extent the company’s previous accounting period’s figures are adjusted
for the effect of the implementation of a change in accounting policy or revisions in
accounting estimates
C4 It measures to what extent the results of current accounting period are compared with
results in previous accounting periods
C5 It measures to what extent is the Information in the annual report is comparable to
information provided by other organizations
C6 It measures to what extent the annual report presents financial index numbers and ratios
Timeliness – It means having information available to decision makers before it loses its
capacity to influence decision
T1 It measures the natural logarithm of amount of days it took for the auditor signed the
auditors’ report after book-year end
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3. SOCIAL MEDIA ANALYTICS: For the purpose of Sentiment analysis, microblogging
service Twitter has been used. Twitter is a social networking and microblogging service that
allows users to post real time messages, called tweets. Tweets are short messages, restricted to
140 characters in length. Due to the nature of this microblogging service (quick and short
messages), people use acronyms, make spelling mistakes, use emoticons and other characters
that express special meanings.
The rationale for using a microblogging website and Twitter for doing the analysis are as under:
1. Valuable source of people’s opinion:
Diverse people having diverse knowledge experiences express themselves on a microblogging
website related to different topics which makes these sites a rich source of opinion people have
about almost anything.
2. Huge data on Twitter:
Twitter boosts itself of having a vast amount of text posts and users. These users grow each day.
The collected data from Twitter hence is large to do any analysis.
3. Twitter User’s:
User’s on twitter varies from a celebrity to politicians and from regular users to company
representatives hence providing a chance to hear everyone’s opinion from each strata and
covering stakeholders. Even head of state like a country’s president and prime minister are also
present on Twitter.
4. Geography barrier is broken:
Audience and users on Twitter are from many part of the country. Since, internet is able to
penetrate wide areas of our country, users are also from various parts of our country hence
freeing from regional bias if any.
Methodology used:
1. Data collection
2. Pre-processing
3. Classification
4. Results
Data Collection
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Authorized tweet related to the Bank was collected from Twitter. “Hashtags”, name of the bank
and abbreviation of the bank is used to search relevant data from Twitter. Language for the study
has been kept as English in the search criterion.
Pre-processing
Collected tweets are processed to:
a. Remove blank spaces

b. Replace @Username
c. Remove punctuations
d. Remove links
e. Remove tabs
f. Remove blank spaces at the beginning
g. Remove blank spaces at the end
Processed data is used to create a corpus via which word cloud is created.
Classification
Saif Mohammad’s NRC Emotion lexicon is implemented to data collected.
According to Mohammad, “the NRC emotion lexicon is a list of words and their associations
with eight emotions:
a. anger,
b. fear,
c. anticipation,
d. trust,
e. surprise,
f. sadness,
g. joy, and
h. disgust
and two sentiments:
a. negative and
b. positive)”
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4. Lastly, there was a Questionnaire prepared and sent across to various experts in Banking
industry to gather primary data. The same are attached .
Kindly tick mark/ discuss for the following questions based on QUALITY OF FINANCIAL
REPORTING
SR PUBLIC SECTOR PRIVATE

QUESTIONS
NO BANK SECTOR BANK
The annual reports disclose forward looking

1 information to help forming expectations and
predictions concerning the future of the
company
2 No un-due delays in the presentation of financial

reports
The annual report provides feedback

3 information on how various market events and
significant transactions affected the company
The annual report explains the assumptions and

4 estimates made clearly; valid arguments
provided to support the decision for certain
assumptions and estimates in the annual report
5 The annual report explains the choice of

accounting principles clearly
6 The annual report includes an unqualified

auditor’s report
7 The annual report extensively discloses

information on corporate governance issues
8 The annual report presented in a well-organized

manner
9 Sources and level of expenditure can easily be

understood
10 Business assets are easy to be identified in terms

of value and nature
11 The presence of graphs and tables clarifies the

presented information
12
The use of language and technical jargon is easy
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to follow in the annual report
13 The notes to changes in accounting policies and

estimates explain the implications of the change
The company’s previous accounting period’s

14 figures are adjusted for the effect of the
implementation of a change in accounting policy
or revisions in accounting estimates
15 Information in the annual report is comparable

to information provided by other organizations
Kindly tick mark/ discuss for the following questions based on CORPORATE
GOVERNANCE
SR PUBLIC SECTOR PRIVATE
QUESTIONS
NO BANK SECTOR BANK
1 Is the Board size having a favourable impact for

corporate governance?
2 Does the percentage of outside directors impact

the state of governance?
3 Does the percentage of independent directors

impact the state of governance?
4 The Presence of promoter on board has a

bearing on governance
5 The Number of board meetings held is indicative

of business administration
The Percentage of board meetings attended by

6 independent directors is reflective of business
governance
7 Will a higher percentage of promoter ownership

have a bearing on governance?
Would a higher percentage of foreign

8 institutional ownership affect the
administration?
9
A higher percentage of dispersed ownership
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effects the business governance.
10 Does the size of audit committee influence the

governance?
12 The number of meetings held by Audit

Committee is indicative of business governance.
Does the percentage of non-audit fees to total

13 payment to auditors, have a bearing on
governance?
15 Is the presence Top auditor in terms of audit

clients reflective of a good business governance?
Would there be an impact on business

16 administration if there is a change in auditor
from last year?
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1
Chapter One
Quality of Financial Reporting
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1 Chapter 1: QUALITY OF FINANCIAL REPORTING
1.1 What is QFR?
Financial reports provide a peek into the performance of a company and occupy an
important position in the decisions taken by investors and creditors. They are
instrumental in telling a company's story to the world. Financial reports primarily
include a balance sheet, income statement and cash flow statement. In addition to these,
a financial report also consists of a self-appraisal of the company along with its
functional highpoints. All these reasons make the importance of an accurate financial
report unquestionable.
In not just Indian but global scenario, the demand for providing clear and quality
financial reports has gone up. Quality is often termed as a relational and not a physical
attribute since it can’t be directly measured. It can only be compared in a relationship
with something else. The degree to which reported earnings capture economic reality is
called earnings quality (Parsons and Krishnan, 2006). Poor earnings quality coupled
with weak governance mechanisms can adversely affect the reliability of financial
statements for investors, weaken the link between earnings and firm valuation, and
increase transaction costs in the capital market (Sarkar, Sarkar and Sen, 2008). It is
essential to provide high-quality financial reports to influence users in making
investments decisions and to enhance market efficiency. It includes not just the
quantifiable aspects but also the necessary non-financial aspects as well. Better the
quality of financial reporting, the higher are the benefits to be achieved by users.
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Why QFR is more important for banks QFR acts as an effective tool for reducing
information asymmetry between management and shareholders. In the case of banking,
many prudential ratios like CRR and leverage ratios are derived from financial
reporting. Any leeway in banking financial reporting can have a catastrophic impact on
the financial markets as the recent US financial crisis has shown us. The crisis was
marked by extreme use of historical accounting which impacted the timely recognition
of losses. India has been dealing with something similar for the past 3-4 years. RBI
carried out an expanded annual financial inspection in 2015-16 which identified top
loss-making accounts and directed Indian banks to carry out proper provisioning. This
led in mounting losses for the Indian banking sector. This extreme situation could have
been avoided had banks followed proper recognition and asset classification in line with
prudential norms.
To appreciate the importance of QFR in banks, we also need to take a look into the
evolution of significant policies impacting banking business in India. These policies
include both Government of India policies and RBI policies. Following economic
reforms many policies like the establishment of DRT, CDR, SDR, SARFAESI Act,
SMA recognition, etc. were implemented to identify and classify assets according to
practical standards. However, this only led to a scenario where accounts were being
ever-greened, and investors were not given a proper picture regarding the actual
situation. Since loan quality is not observable, bankers can get involved in earnings
management utilizing the lack of transparency in provisioning. QFR is important asit
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attains significance in banking since a well-functioning banking sector can result in
efficient capital allocation in the market.
Financial reporting in India is also set to change to Ind AS standards, which eventually
converge with IFRS. The objective of this Indian Accounting Standard (Ind AS) is to
ensure that an entity’s first Ind-AS financial statements, and its interim financial reports
for part of the period covered by those financial statements, contain high quality
information that: (a) is transparent for users and comparable over all periods presented;
(b) provides a suitable starting point for accounting in accordance with Ind-AS; and (c)
can be generated at a cost that does not exceed the benefits (Mca.gov.in, 2018).While
corporates in India have started implementing Ind AS standards from April 1, 2016,
Indian banks have been given a permission to defer this transition till April 1, 2019. The
eventual merger of accounting standards would provide benefits like reducing the
distinctive reporting regulation between countries, reducing the cost of multinational
company financial reporting, and reducing the cost of financial statement analysis
(Yurisandi and Puspitasari, 2015).
Literature Review on QFR in general and then Banks in particular
Providing high-quality financial reporting information is important because it will
positively influence capital providers and other stakeholders in making investment,
credit, and similar resource allocation decisions enhancing overall market efficiency
(IASB, 2008). Despite the popular wisdom that earnings management exists in a
country, it is remarkably difficult for researchers to document its existence convincingly
Page | 17

(Healy and Wahlen, 1999). Motivations for earnings management have been extensively
covered in existing academic research. It has been suggested that earnings management
is associated with gain maximization by sending positive signals to the market by
executives (Jaggi and Tsui, 2007).
A research in Saudi public firms revealed four main incentives for Saudi managers to
manage earnings – ‘to increase the amount of remuneration,’ ‘to report a reasonable
profit and avoid loss,’ ‘to obtain a bank loan’ and ‘to increase share price’ (Habbash and
Alghamdi, 2015). As far as the quality of financial reporting is concerned, many factors
impacting it have been researched. Managerial ability is one such factor. A direct
correlation is found between the quality of financial reporting and managerial ability
(García-Meca and García-Sánchez, 2018). Managerial personal background also plays
an important role in disclosure style with managers from finance and accounting and
those with military experience favoring more precis disclosure and less earnings
management (Bamber, Jiang and Wang, 2010). Jiang, Zhu and Huang, 2013 show that
CEOs with financial experience tend to do less real earnings management. Also, the
personality traits of managers have been studied, with overconfident managers found
tending to delay loss recognition and generally using less conservative accounting
(AHMED and DUELLMAN, 2012). Apart from individual impact, the relationship
between board composition and earning timeliness has also been studied with results
indicating that firms with a higher proportion of outside board members having a
tendency of timely recognition of bad news in earnings (Beekes, Pope and Young,
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2004).
As far as banking is concerned, current literature shows us that the impact of ownership
structure influences bank accounting with public banks exhibiting more timely earnings
decline and loan losses (Craig Nichols, Wahlen and Wieland, 2008). Leventis,
Dimitropoulos and Owusu-Ansah, 2013 suggest that banks with effective governance
structure recognize higher loan loss provisions and maintain higher levels of accounting
conservatism. A study of Lebanese banking sector has also indicated that quality of
financial reporting can be improved by having higher proportion of debt, higher
ownership by shareholders and higher board size (Mahboub, 2017). Also according to
Gras‐Gil, Marin‐Hernandez and Garcia‐Perez de Lema, 2012, Spanish Banks having
higher collaboration between internal and external auditors, have high quality financial
reporting.
The QFR index used in our study
We have used the QFR index developed by Nijmegen Center for Economics (NiCE)
which incorporates qualitative characteristics like relevance, faithful representation,
understandability, comparability and timeliness. The index tries to operationalize and
measure the quality component of a financial report which IASB and FASB stresses on.
Relevance and faithful representation has been defined as fundamental qualitative
characteristics, while understandability, comparability and timeliness have been defined
as enhancing qualitative characteristics according to ‘An improved Conceptual
Framework for Financial Reporting’ of the FASB and the IASB (2008). The rating
Page | 19

occurs on a 5-point scale. The index is further described below –
S.N Characteristic
Relevance – The capability of making a difference in the decisions made
by users in their capacity as capital providers
R1 It measures the extent to which annual reports provide forward-looking
statements. The forward-looking statement usually describes management’s
expectations for future years of the company.
R2 It measures to what extent the annual reports disclose information
in terms of business opportunities and risks
R3 It measures company’s use of fair value
R4 It measures whether the annual report provides feedback information on how
various market events and significant transactions affected the company
Faithful Representation - To faithfully represent economic phenomena that
information purports to represent, annual reports must be complete, neutral, and free
from material error
F1 It measures whether the annual report explains the assumptions and estimates
made clearly
F2 It measures whether the annual report explains the choice of accounting
principles clearly
F3 It measures whether the annual report highlights the positive and negative
events in a balanced way when discussing the annual results
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F4 It measures the type of Auditor’s report included in the annual report
F5 It measures whether the annual report extensively discloses information on
corporate governance issues
Understandability – It is referred to, when the quality of information enables users to
comprehend their meaning
U1 It measures whether the annual report is well-organized
U2 It measures whether the notes to the balance sheet and the income statement are
clear
U3 It measures whether the graphs and tables clarify the information presented
U4 It measures whether the use of language and technical jargon is easy to follow
in the annual report
U5 It measures whether the annual report includes a comprehensive glossary
Comparability – It is the quality of information that enables users to identify
similarities in and differences between two sets of economic phenomena
C1 It measures to what extent the notes to changes in accounting policies explain
the implications of the change
C2 It measures to what extent the notes to revisions in accounting estimates and
judgments explain the implications of the revision
C3 It measures to what extent the company’s previous accounting period’s figures
are adjusted for the effect of the implementation of a change in accounting
policy or revisions in accounting estimates
C4 It measures to what extent the results of current accounting period are compared
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with results in previous accounting periods
C5 It measures to what extent is the Information in the annual report is comparable
to information provided by other organizations
C6 It measures to what extent the annual report presents financial index numbers
and ratios
Timeliness – It means having information available to decision makers before it loses
its capacity to influence decision
T1 It measures the natural logarithm of amount of days it took for the auditor
signed the auditors’ report after book-year end
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2
Chapter Two
Corporate Governance
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1 Chapter 2: Corporate Governance in Indian Banking
1.1 What is Corporate Governance
While Corporate Governance is a framework to protect the interests of the minority
shareholders, there is an increasing recognition that good corporate governance practices
help a company’s operating and market performance as well. According to some research,
good Corporate Governance practices help firms conserve and make good use of their
accumulated cash holdings (Dittmar and Mahrt-Smith, n.d.), while other authors have
pointed out positive impact of Corporate Governance on quality of disclosures (Eng and
Mak, 2003; Larcker, Richardson and Tuna, 2007).
“Corporate governance is not just corporate management, it is something much broader to
include a fair, efficient and transparent administration to meet certain well-defined
objectives. It is a system of structuring, operating and controlling a company with a view
to achieve long-term strategic goals to satisfy shareholders, creditors, employees,
customers and suppliers,
and complying with the legal and regulatory requirements, apart from meeting
environmental and local community needs. When it is practiced under a well-laid out
system, it leads to the building of a legal, commercial and institutional framework and
demarcates the boundaries within which these functions are performed.” (Corporate
governance: Time for a Metamorphosis’ The Hindu July 9, 1997.)
The Cadbury committee has also defined the term “Corporate Governance” and according
to the committee, it means, “(It is) the system by which companies are directed and
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controlled.” It may also be defined as a system of structuring, operating and controlling a
company with the following specific aims:
(i) Fulfilling long-term strategic goals of owners;
(ii) Taking care of the interests of employees;
(iii) A consideration for the environment and local community;
(iv) Maintaining excellent relations with customers and suppliers;
(v) Proper compliance with all the applicable legal and regulatory requirements.
Adoption of good corporate governance practices is usually done with the aim of
balancing the interests of the various stakeholders a firm has. Over-emphasis on meeting
the needs (or interests) of one group may jeopardize not just the interests of the other
groups but also the long-term survival of the firm itself. For instance, maximization of
firm’s profit at the cost of its customers and employees strips the firm of its long-term
competitiveness in the market. Company management, therefore, needs to have multiple
objectives as part the company’s long-term and annual plans to ensure that all the
stakeholders’ interests are being taken care of. There is, however, a limit on the extent to
which the management can be ‘true’ to all the different (and often conflicting) objectives.
Good corporate governance practices, e.g., having an independent board of directors, aim
to instill a mechanism of control in the way the company management would work and
thereby ensure that it is true to its multiple stakeholders’ interests.
A lot of research has dealt with the definition and / or composition of good Corporate
Governance. Starting with Gompers, Ishii and Metrick, 2003, who looked at 24
governance rules and created a Governance Index to proxy for the level of shareholder
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rights at about 1,500 firms during the 1990s, others have tried to shorten the list (while
retaining the explanatory power). For instance, Bebchuk, Cohen and Ferrell, 2008 zeroed
in on 6 of the 24 factors studied by Gompers et al, and found these 6 to have sufficient
ability to proxy for Corporate Governance.
Challenges faced
Some unique features of banks that make their corporate governance different from, and
more complicated than, that of other firms are:
1. Financial statements of banks are quite complex a feature that makes it difficult
for shareholders and investors to monitor managers, while simultaneously making
it easier for managers and large investors to exploit the benefits of control.
2. Although information asymmetries exist in all sectors, evidence suggests that
these asymmetries are larger with banks. In banking, loan quality is not readily
observable and can be camouflaged for long periods. Moreover, banks can alter
the risk composition of their assets more quickly than most non-financial
industries, and banks can readily hide problems by extending loans to clients that
cannot service previous debt obligations.
3. The capital structure of banks is unique in the sense that banks are highly
leveraged. Bank balance sheets also display an asset-liability maturity mismatch,
with liabilities being mainly short-term and assets that on average have longer
maturities, thereby exposing them to greater risk.
4. Given the vulnerable position of depositors and the systemic importance of banks,
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banks all over the world are very heavily regulated, with regulations being very
wide in scope, covering activity restrictions (products, branches), prudential
requirements (loan classification, reserve requirements, capital adequacy, etc.)
and restrictions on concentration of ownership, entry, takeover, etc. These
regulations often pose a hindrance to normal corporate governance mechanisms
by which shareholders could control the management.
5. Banks in every country have access to government safety nets, which can weaken
the incentive of shareholders and depositors to monitor the activities of bank
management, a fact that can pose a great moral hazard.
6. State ownership of banks presents a problem for corporate governance since it
creates a situation of conflict of interest between the state as a monitoring
authority and as a regulatory authority. State ownership could also mean that the
managing of the bank is handed to bureaucrats rather than professionals.
7. There could be a contagion effect resulting from the instability of one bank, which
would affect a class of banks or even the entire financial system and the economy.
The current global economic crisis grew out of a financial crisis, which in turn was
a result of a banking crisis caused by excessive risk-taking and poor corporate
governance.
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Crucial nature of Board Composition
The current state of the world economy is in some measure attributable to the fact that
bank boards did not properly discharge their duties in exercising oversight on managers
engaging in high risk activities. The corporate governance of the financial sector clearly
has important implications for the stability of the whole economy. The Basel Committee
on Banking Supervision (under the aegis of the Bank for International Settlement)
published guidelines on corporate governance in banks in 1999, and has continuously
updated them. In India, the banking sector is also subject to a hoard of prying eyes in the
form of numerous regulators and stake holders. An analysis of both frauds and the
increasing non-performing assets (NPAs) suggests that the attention of banks has shifted
significantly towards the blind chase of better market capitalization and monetary
incentives. There seems to be deep erosion in values and governance, in PSBs in
particular and the Indian financial system in general. A serious question is raised on what
now seems a paradox: “A more robust and closely monitored system is flaw deficient and
thus transparent”. In this context the role of board has to be questioned.
Board members of banks need to be particularly conscious of their fiduciary duties –
‘duty of care’ and ‘duty of trust’ – to depositors because banks accept and manage other
people’s money. It is critical that their skills and knowledge be enhanced and upgraded by
ongoing training programs (provided by, for example, Reserve Bank of India, Securities
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and Exchange Board of India, stock exchanges or professional associations such as Indian
Banks’ Association, the Indian Institute of Banking and Finance, etc.) that emphasize the
professional, ethical and technical demands that the fiduciary duties impose upon a
bank’s board members. As stated earlier, due to complexities and uniqueness of the
sector, there lies huge grey areas open for what we call as “managerial discretion” which
may or may not be entirely ethical. Under certain circumstances, engaging in a small
amount of such discretionary management alters a manager’s beliefs about the
appropriateness of the act, which may increase the likelihood of such acts.
Why is Corporate Governance more important for banks
Corporate Governance mechanisms like Ownership Structure, Board Structure, Audit
Committee are employed to lessen the harmful effects of the Agency problem in a
corporation. In the case of a Banking corporation, however, the Agency problem is more
complex than in a non-banking corporation. The reasons for this are as follows:
 Regulation - Regulation, a transcendental feature of banking, alters the parameters of
the agency relationship by introducing a third party—the regulator. This creates
additional information asymmetries and associated agency problems. (Ciancanelli and
Gonzalez, 2000)
 Capital structure of banks (funding through deposits and very high leverage); and
 The complexity and opacity of their business and structure (Haan and Vlaahu, 2016)
Because of the above reasons, valuation should not be the only metric to measure
performance of banks. We need to think of other metrics like risk of failure and
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contribution to systemic risk should also be considered. (Haan and Vlaahu, 2016).
The following discussion draws heavily on Arun and Turner (2004). When we talk about
CG in Banks in the context of India, there are two types of gaps in the literature: Research
on CG in Banks suffers from lack of research in this area in general and in Banking
corporations, in particular.
Economy Developed Developing
Corporation
Banking Research started recently Research started very recently
Non-banking A lot of research Research started recently
Although the subject of corporate governance in developing economies has recently
received a lot of attention in the literature, the corporate governance of banks in
developing economies has been almost ignored by researchers. Even in developed
economies, the corporate governance of banks has only recently been discussed in the
literature. The paper (Arun and Turner, 2004) shines light on some of the key concepts and
issues for the corporate governance of banks in developing economies. Most of these
considerations are applicable to the Indian context as well. The corporate governance of
banks in developing economies is important for several reasons.
 First, banks have an overwhelmingly dominant position in developing-economy
financial systems and are extremely important engines of economic growth
 Second, as financial markets are usually underdeveloped, banks in developing
economies are typically the most important source of finance for most firms.
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 Third, as well as providing a generally accepted means of payment, banks in
developing countries are usually the main depository for the economy’s savings.
 Fourth, many developing economies have recently liberalized their banking systems
through privatization / disinvestments and reducing the role of economic regulation.
Consequently, managers of banks in these economies have obtained greater freedom in
how they run their banks.
The unique nature of a banking firm, whether in the developed or developing world,
requires that a broad view of corporate governance, which encapsulates both shareholders
and depositors, be adopted for banks. The nature of the banking firm is such that
regulation is necessary to protect depositors as well as the overall financial system.
Drawing on Abdul Gafoor et al (2018), we get into some more detail on why the quality
of corporate governance is especially important for banks in India. According to Basel
Committee (2006), good corporate governance practice is an important element in
attracting investors, and investors are willing to pay a premium of up to 25% for a well
governed firm. India being a bank-based economy, the banking sector plays a major role in
the economic growth of the country. The Indian banking system is expected to be the
world’s third biggest in the next decade. According to BCG Annual Benchmarking Report
2016, revenue of Indian banks increased from USD 11.8 billion in 2001 to USD 46.9
billion in 2010 and is expected to pool USD 400 billion revenue by 2026.
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Literature review on Corporate Governance in general and on Banks in particular
As mentioned above, Corporate Governance as a topic has been studied widely in the
recent past but not much research has been done in the Indian context on this subject.
Various aspects of Corporate Governance, e.g., what constitutes good governance, how
does it affect corporate performance, what is the mechanism that transmits the effect of
good governance into good firm performance, etc., have been studied, but mostly in the
US market.
Researchers have studied the linkage between Corporate Governance and firm
performance by estimating regression equations with firm performance as dependent
variable and using variables proxying for Corporate Governance as multiple independent
variables, or by combining them into an index of Corporate Governance.
There is a dearth of studies on Corporate Governance and firm performance in the context
of developing economies and especially in the Indian context. Even fewer studies address
corporate governance in banks in developing countries and India. There are many different
aspects of Corporate Governance that need to be studied in the Indian context. It will be
interesting to see if the results of these studies produce results like the ones produced by
studies done in the context of US companies.
Abdul Gafoor et al (2018) have taken a few parameters into account as independent
variables while trying to understand the impact of corporate governance on the
performance of Indian banks. According to the snapshot from their paper (see below), they
have considered Board Size, Independent Director, CEO Duality, Board Meeting (number
of), and Financial Expert (presence on board), as explanatory variables representing
Page | 32

Corporate Governance, while trying to understand its linkage to bank performance in
India. It is clear that they have not considered ownership structure and quality of audit
process and auditor as part of quality of corporate governance of banks in India.
In the CGI for banks that we present below, and which is based on Sarkar et al (2012), we
have considered additional factors like Ownership Structure and Audit. Our hope is that a
more comprehensive set of parameters would be a more powerful representation of the
quality of governance of a bank.
The Corporate Governance index used in our study
Using the working paper by Sarkar, J. et al (2012), we have prepared an index of corporate
governance (CGI) for banks in India. The four main governance mechanisms considered in
our CGI are as follows:
 Board of Directors
 Ownership Structure
 Audit Committee
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 Auditor
There are several sub-items under each governance mechanism that have been considered.
The scoring method and rationale is outlined below:
Natur Score Scoring Rationale Behind Scoring

Item Name
e Range Method Method
Studies point out a non-linear
and performance (Reference:

Increases
De Andres and Vallelado
Item from 1 to 5;
1. Board size 0-5 (2008), using a two-step system
Score decreases 6
estimator model, find an
onwards
inverted U-shaped relationship
between board size and firm
performance.)
2. Percentage of Item Increases

0-5
outside directors Score with increase
Same as Not used in our CGI

3. Percentage of Item
above, so
independent directors Score
ignore it
4. Presence of Item 0 if Yes; 5 if

0-5
nominee directors Score No
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0 if Exec; 5 CEO duality has been found to
Item
5. Board chairman 0 or 5 if lead to under-performance
Score
Independent
6. Presence of Item 0 if Yes; 5 if Possible conflict of interest

0 or 5
promoter on board Score No
7. Total number of Indicates busyness of the

Item Decreases
directorships held by 0-5 director and the consequent
Score with increase
independent directors ability to be diligent
8. Number of board Item Increases Points to the seriousness of

0-5
meetings held Score with increase directors
9. %age of board Points to the seriousness of

Item Increases
meetings attended by 0-5 independent directors
Score with increase
10. Percentage of Points to the seriousness of

Item Increases
independent directors 0-5 independent directors
Score with increase
who attended AGM
Gover
nance
Mech
Bord of Directors 0-100 Calculation
anism
(Sub
Index
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1)
1. Percentage of Item Decreases Possible conflict of interest

0-5
promoter ownership Score with increase
Greater FII ownership should

2. Percentage of
Item Increases be a bigger disciplining
foreign institutional 0-5
ownership
management
Greater institutional ownership

3. Percentage of
Item Increases should be a bigger disciplining
domestic financial 0-5
institution ownership
management
Too may small owners cannot

4. Percentage of Item Decreases
0-5 influence the workings of the
dispersed ownership Score with increase
Board and the management
Gover
nance
Mech
O Ownership
anism 0-100 Calculation
Structure
(Sub
Index
2)
1. Size of audit Item 0-5 Increases A bigger audit committee is
Page | 36

committee Score with increase expected to have more expertise
and time to monitor the
management
2. Percentage of Item Increases Avoidance of conflict of

0-5
independent directors Score with increase interest
3. Presence of Possible conflict of interest

Item Decreases
executive dir ectors 0-5
Score with increase
in audit committee
Points to the seriousness with

4. Number of m ee Item Increases
0-5 which the audit committee is
tings held Score with increase
doing its work
Gover
nance
Mech
Audit Committee anism 0-100 Calculation
(Sub
Index
3)
1. Percentage of non- Possible conflict of interest

Item Decreases
audit fees to total 0-5
Score with increase
payment to auditors
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Increase
2. Top auditor in Item influenced / coerced by the
0-5 with auditor
terms of audit fees Score management to sign off
reputation
suspicious books

Increase
3. Top auditor in Item influenced / coerced by the
0-5 with auditor
terms of audit clients Score management to sign off
reputation
suspicious books
Rotation of auditor is expected
4. Change in auditor Item 5 if Yes; 0 if to lead to fresh perspectives and

0-5
from last year Score No possibility of unearthing
suspicious transactions
Gover
nance
Mech
Auditor anism 0-100 Calculation
(Sub
Index
4)
Discussion of the results
Page | 38

Drawing again on Arun and Turner (2004), any proportion of ownership in a bank tends to
modify the incentive structure in a manner which makes the managers do less than optimal
for the stakeholders. In India, the partial divestment of public sector banks has not brought
about any significant changes in the quality of corporate governance mechanisms. Despite
a quarter century of financial reforms in India, the Government has still a major role in
appointing members to bank boards. Furthermore, although the reforms have given the
public sector banks greater autonomy in deciding the areas of business strategy such as
opening branches and introduction of new products.
In the CGI created by us based on Sarkar et al (2012), we have used institutional
ownership and dispersed ownership as two items under the Ownership sub-index. It may
be worthwhile to incorporate government ownership in the CGI of Banks in a future study.
Secondly, the issue of corporate governance of banks in developing economies gets
complicated due to the activities of “distributional cartels” (Oman, 2001, p. 20). These
cartels consist of corporate insiders who have very close links with or partially constitute
the governing elite. The existence of such cartels will undermine the credibility of investor
legal protection and may also prevent reform of the banking system. Unsurprisingly, good
political governance can be considered as a prerequisite for good corporate governance
(Oman, 2001, p. 31).
According to Ciancanelli and Gonzalez (2000), a theory of corporate governance in
banking requires consideration of the following issues:
Page | 39

• Regulation as an external governance force separate and distinct from the market
• Regulation of the market itself as a distinct and separate dimension of decision making
within banks
• Regulation as constituting the presence of an additional interest external to and
separate from the firm’s interest
• Regulation as constituting an external party that is in a risk sharing relationship with
the individual bank firm
Theories of corporate governance in banking which ignores regulation will misunderstand
the agency problems specific to banks. This may lead to prescriptions that amplify rather
than reduce risk.
While we have used the IGIDR paper, Sarkar et al (2012), to create the CGI for Banks and
then used this CGI to rank the different banks in India, it doesn’t seem to have given the
results we would expect. We need to find a way to incorporate the effect of regulation on
the Corporate Governance in Banks and include it in the CGI.
Page | 40

Bank CGI
Allahabad Bank 36
Andhra Bank 48
Axis Bank 60
Bandhan Bank 55
Bank of Baroda 39
Bank of India 47
Bank of Maharashtra 49
Catholic Syrian Bank 49
Central Bank of India 44
DCB Bank 50
Dena Bank 34
Dhanlaxmi Bank 51
HDFC Bank 67
ICICI Bank 69
IDBI Bank 47
IDFC Bank 56
Indian Bank 53
Indian Overseas Bank 42
IndusInd Bank 62
Karnataka Bank 49
Kotak Mahindra Bank 66
Lakshmi Vilas Bank 48
Page | 41

Nainital Bank 20
Oriental Bank of
Commerce 33
Punjab & Sind Bank 43
Punjab National Bank 50
RBL Bank 60
South Indian Bank 44
State Bank of India 42
Syndicate Bank 50
UCO Bank 41
Union Bank of India 47
United Bank of India 38
Vijaya Bank 50
Table 1: CGI by Bank (sorted in alphabetical order of Bank name)
Bank CGI
ICICI Bank 69
HDFC Bank 67
Kotak Mahindra Bank 66
IndusInd Bank 62
RBL Bank 60
Axis Bank 60
IDFC Bank 56
Bandhan Bank 55
Indian Bank 53
Dhanlaxmi Bank 51
DCB Bank 50
Page | 42

Punjab National Bank 50
Syndicate Bank 50
Vijaya Bank 50
Bank of Maharashtra 49
Catholic Syrian Bank 49
Karnataka Bank 49
Andhra Bank 48
Lakshmi Vilas Bank 48
Union Bank of India 47
Bank of India 47
IDBI Bank 47
South Indian Bank 44
Central Bank of India 44
Punjab & Sind Bank 43
State Bank of India 42
Indian Overseas Bank 42
UCO Bank 41
Bank of Baroda 39
United Bank of India 38
Allahabad Bank 36
Dena Bank 34
Oriental Bank of Commerce 33
Nainital Bank 20
Table 2: CGI by Bank (sorted in descending order of CGI rank)
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3
Sentiment Analysis
Page | 44

1 Chapter 3: Sentiment Analysis
1.1 World-wide network popularly known as the internet is the most used source of
information. Over the last decade, besides serving as a platform to get information from
encyclopedia’s like Wikipedia, company magazines, a new wave of companies focusing
on content generated by users. Orkut, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube has
dominated customers interact businesses, most of the firms have also dominated the
stock markets. Social networking sites, online forums and blogs are now more popular
in shaping up potential customer’s opinion especially dominated word-of-mouth
(WOM) marketing. Traditional sources such as magazines, newspapers & television has
lower influence especially on the younger generation. One of the strongest and positive
influence have been the ability to influence market place via own personal opinion.
Earlier an individual could only influence his family & friends and/or a limited circle,
but today that circle has multiplied with the advent of social media.
Owing to the change in trend and empowering of one particular user, understanding a
user’s attitude towards a brand helps in understanding the organic growth and customer
service provided by one particular brand. This has given rise to social media analytics. It
is defined as the process of gathering data from stakeholder conversations on digital
media and processing into structured insights leading to more information-driven
business decisions and increased customer centrality for brands and businesses. It
provides a wide range of data in already well established social science subjects such as
political sciences and sociology, and social media sometimes is seen as a fundamental
change in underlying assumptions of the social theory. Political scientists can follow
unfolding political protest online and the exchange of information between communities
of different languages.
Understanding attitude and opinion about marketing campaigns, political movements,

social events, company strategies and product preferences is garnering increasing
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interest from the scientific community as it can open up exciting open encounters, and
from the business world as it holds information about remarkable marketing fallouts and
for possible financial market prediction. This new emerging field is called sentiment
analysis and opinion mining. It involves discovering, retrieving and distilling opinions,
data and information from the vast world of internet.
For the purpose of analysis, microblogging service Twitter has been used. Twitter is a
social networking and microblogging service that allows users to post real time
messages, called tweets. Tweets are short messages, restricted to 140 characters in
length. Due to the nature of this microblogging service (quick and short messages),
people use acronyms, make spelling mistakes, use emoticons and other characters that
express special meanings.
The rationale for using a microblogging website and Twitter for doing the analysis are
as under:
1. Valuable source of people’s opinion:
Diverse people having diverse knowledge experiences express themselves on a
microblogging website related to different topics which makes these sites a rich source
of opinion people have about almost anything.
2. Huge data on Twitter:
Twitter boosts itself of having a vast amount of text posts and users. These users grow
each day. The collected data from Twitter hence is large to do any analysis.
3. Twitter User’s:
User’s on twitter varies from a celebrity to politicians and from regular users to
company representatives hence providing a chance to hear everyone’s opinion from
each strata and covering stakeholders. Even head of state like a country’s president and
prime minister are also present on Twitter.
4. Geography barrier is broken:
Audience and users on Twitter are from many part of the country. Since, internet is able
to penetrate wide areas of our country, users are also from various parts of our country
hence freeing from regional bias if any .
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Methodology used:
1. Data collection
2. Pre-processing
3. Classification
4. Results
Data Collection
Authorized tweet related to the Bank was collected from Twitter. “Hashtags”, name of
the bank and abbreviation of the bank is used to search relevant data from Twitter.
Language for the study has been kept as English in the search criterion.
Pre-processing
Collected tweets are processed to:
a. Remove blank spaces

b. Replace @Username
c. Remove punctuations
d. Remove links
e. Remove tabs
f. Remove blank spaces at the beginning
g. Remove blank spaces at the end
Processed data is used to create a corpus via which word cloud is created.
Classification
Saif Mohammad’s NRC Emotion lexicon is implemented to data collected.
According to Mohammad, “the NRC emotion lexicon is a list of words and their
associations with eight emotions:
Page | 47

a. anger,
b. fear,
c. anticipation,
d. trust,
e. surprise,
f. sadness,
g. joy, and
h. disgust
and two sentiments:
a. negative and
b. positive)”
Results
The emotions and sentiment data thus obtained can be used to compare across different
banks.
Sentiment Analysis
1. Private banks have a more positive sentiment as compared to Government banks
a. SBI has the highest positive sentiment, when compared to all the banks
2. Government banks have a more negative sentiment as compared to public banks
a. Axis bank has the least negative sentiment, when compared to all the banks
Emotional Analysis
1. Private banks have a more disgust emotion as compared to Government banks
2. Private banks have a more anger emotion as compared to Government banks
3. Government banks have a higher anticipation emotion as compared to private
banks
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a. SBI has the highest anticipation emotion, when compared to all the banks
4. Private banks have a more trust emotion as compared to Government banks
a. Axis bank has the highest trust emotion, when compared to all the banks
Sarcasm, irony and humour are not captured in the sentiment and emotion analysis.
Size of the banks have not been taken into account.
Microblogging nowadays became one of the major types of the communication. It is

identified as online word-of-mouth branding. The large amount of information
contained in microblog-ging web-sites makes them an attractive source of data for
opinion mining and sentiment analysis. Online opinion has the power to influence
masses and in future, firms will be taking the public sentiment even more seriously.
Figure 1: State Bank of India
Page | 49

Figure 2: Allahabad Bank
Page | 50

Figure 3: Andhra Bank
Page | 51

Figure 4: Bandhan Bank
Figure 5: Bank of Maharashtra
Page | 52

Figure 6: Bank of Baroda
Figure 7: Canara Bank
Page | 53

Figure 8: Central Bank
Figure 9: HDFC (Housing Development Finance Corporation) Bank
Page | 54

Figure 10: ICICI Bank
Fi
Figure 11: Indus Ind Bank
Page | 55

Bad News
https://www.livemint.com/Money/8OWtglSBsvG2bA7DtbmWbM/PNB
-fraud-effect-Fear-over-public-sector-banks.html
PNB fraud effect: Fear over public sector banks
Public sector banks will now have to look back on every loan default above Rs50
crore and check whether the defaulter was genuinely stressed or just fooling them
Last Published: Wed, Feb 28 2018. 07 53 AM IS
https://www.livemint.com/Opinion/nioD0s2ZNJSsXxh2Nges4N/How-
bad-are-our-public-sector-banks-Here-are-some-vital-sta.html
How bad are our public sector banks? Here are

some vital stats
In the three years since RBI reviewed public sector banks’ quality of assets, these
lenders posted a ₹28,490 crore loss in 2015-16, a paltry profit of ₹474 crore in 2016-
17 and a loss of ₹85,371 crore in 2017-18
Last Published: Tue, Jun 12 2018. 08 04 AM IST
https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/money-and-banking/after-
posting-record-losses-is-there-a-glimmer-of-hope-for-
psbs/article24081513.ece
After posting record losses, is there a glimmer of

hope for PSBs?
NS Vageesh Updated on June 04, 2018
https://www.livemint.com/Opinion/arQr1ZUW9EI51qwmF7lqJN/The-
status-of-public-sector-banks-in-India-today.html
Page | 56

The status of public sector banks in India today
Since RBI’s asset quality review in second half of FY16, public sector banks have
recorded close to ₹ 1.7 trillion in losses and almost ₹ 9 trillion in NPAs
Last Published: Sun, Aug 26 2018. 08 08 PM IST
https://www.bloombergquint.com/business/few-of-the-weaker-
public-sector-banks-may-not-survive-on-their-own-says-ss-mundra
A Few Weaker Public Sector Banks May Not Survive

On Their Own, Says SS Mundra
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/wealth/personal-finance-
news/public-sector-banks-are-much-easier-to-defraud-than-private-
sector-ones-heres-the-proof/articleshow/65592437.cms
Pub
According the central bank’s annual report, the number of cases on frauds
reported by banks were generally hovering at around 4500 in the last 10 years
before their increase to 5835 in 2017-18.
ET Online| Updated: Aug 29, 2018, 03.49 PM ..
https://www.bloombergquint.com/opinion/rbi-cracks-the-whip-on-
private-banks#gs.6PWHLDs
RBI Cracks The Whip On Private Banks
BloombergQuintOpinion : TT Ram Mohan
https://www.moneylife.in/article/governor-patel-claimed-rbi-has-
more-powers-over-private-banks-will-it-use-them-now/53600.html
Page | 57

Governor Patel claimed RBI has more powers over private banks. Will it use them now?
Moneylife Digital Team , 03 April 2018
https://www.business-standard.com/article/finance/performance-
based-fund-infusion-for-public-sector-banks-unlikely-
118092601258_1.html
Performance-based fund infusion for public sector

banks unlikely
State-run banks may not get capital based on their performance and reform
measures
Somesh Jha | New Delhi Last Updated at September 27, 2018 09:20 IST
https://www.business-standard.com/article/finance/after-dena-bank-
more-psbs-may-be-told-to-stop-fresh-lending-118051400042_1.html
After Dena Bank, more PSBs may be told to stop

fresh lending
Apart from Dena Bank, the credit and financial profiles of Bank of Maharashtra,
Oriental Bank of Commerce, Allahabad Bank and UCO Bank are in bad shape -
all these are under PCA, Abhijit Lele | Mumbai Last Updated at May 14, 2018
07:44 IST
https://www.business-standard.com/article/markets/psbs-lose-rs-1-
trn-pnb-scam-erodes-investor-interest-spurred-by-recap-plan-
118022100015_1.html
PSBs lose Rs 1 trn; PNB scam erodes investor
Page | 58

interest spurred by recap plan
The government's recapitalisation plan, announced on October 24, raised the PSU
Bank Index to a high of Rs 3,965.60 by January 24, Advait Rao Palepu | Mumbai
Last Updated at February 21, 2018 07:05 IST
https://www.business-standard.com/article/economy-policy/non-
priority-sector-loans-worsen-npa-headache-for-public-sector-banks-
118062801365_1.html
Non-priority sector loans worsen NPA headache for

public sector banks
These bad debts constitute 23% of advances of 10 PSBs at the end of FY18, Ishan
Bakshi | New Delhi Last Updated at June 29, 2018 06:45 IST
https://www.business-standard.com/article/finance/10-years-of-
banking-sector-pvt-sector-gains-at-cost-of-public-sector-banks-
118032201407_1.html
10 years of banking sector: Pvt sector gains at cost

of public sector banks
In the fourth of a six-part series, we look at the turning points in the banking
sector, Anup Roy | Mumbai Last Updated at March 23, 2018 07:05 IST
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/28/india-banking-crisis-experts-say-
growth-opportunity-for-private-banks.html
Page | 59

India's massive state banks are in trouble. That's
great news for some
 India's private sector banks could benefit from the struggles of the country's
state lenders by taking away market share, according to experts.
 Private sector banks could take as much as 60 percent of the market share over
the next 10 years, Sukumar Rajah from Franklin Templeton told CNBC.
https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/economy/21-psbs-
lost-rs-25775-cr-in-bank-frauds-in-2017-18-rti-2576757.html
21 PSBs lost Rs 25,775 cr in bank frauds in 2017-18:

RTI
The Punjab National Bank (PNB) had incurred the highest loss of Rs 6461.13 crore
due to different cases of fraud during the fiscal that ended on March 31 this year,
Chandrasekhar Gaud, who had filed the RTI with the Reserve Bank of India, told
PTI.
PTI @moneycontrolcom
https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/companies/india-
ratings-moodys-downgrade-punjab-national-bank-on-rs-13400-
crore-loss-after-massive-fraud-2572281.html
India Ratings, Moody's downgrade Punjab National

Bank on Rs 13,400-crore loss after massive fraud
Higher-than-expected deterioration in profitability in the short term, along with

inability to shore up adequate capital, could further strain the standalone profile
Page | 60

and attract a negative rating action
Moneycontrol News @moneycontrolcom
https://www.business-standard.com/article/finance/morgan-stanley-
downgrades-hdfc-bank-axis-bank-and-icici-bank-
117032300292_1.html
Morgan Stanley downgrades HDFC Bank, Axis

Bank and ICICI Bank
The brokerage shifts focus to small lenders with niche operations and good asset
quality, Hamsini Karthik | Mumbai Last Updated at March 23, 2017 23:46 IST
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/banking/finance/ban
king/public-sector-banking-mess-is-here-to-stay-and-this-is-
why/articleshow/63274984.cms
Puic sector banking mess is here to stay. And this is

why
ET CONTRIBUTORS|
Mar 13, 2018, 08.50 AM IST
Good News
https://www.business-standard.com/article/economy-policy/private-
retail-banks-put-up-good-show-117050600823_1.html
Page | 61

Private retail banks put up good show
Spike in provisions likely to be short-lived and could reverse for IndusInd Bank
and YES Bank, Sheetal Agarwal | Mumbai Last Updated at May 6, 2017 21:19 IS
https://www.business-standard.com/article/finance/pnb-rs-113-bn-
fraud-impact-56-customers-prefer-private-banks-to-govt-ones-
118021600607_1.html
PNB Rs 114 bn fraud impact: 54% customers prefer private banks to govt ones
Amid the blame game between Punjab National Bank and other affected lenders, the
elaborate web of deception has left bank customers perplexed
https://www.business-standard.com/article/economy-
policy/demonetisation-impact-psb-stocks-cash-in-on-currency-purge-
116112100025_1.html
Demonetisation impact: PSB stocks cash in on currency purge
Prices jump 6-22%; private lenders' shares slide 3-10%
Chandan Kishore Kant & Abhijit lele | Mumbai Last Updated at November 21,
2016 01:45 IST
king/4-public-sector-banks-may-come-out-of-pca-
shackles/articleshow/66550721.cms
4 public sector banks may come out of PCA shackles
By Dheeraj Tiwari, , ET Bureau|
Updated: Nov 09, 2018, 08.35 AM IST
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/expert-view/public-
sector-banks-could-become-game-changers-this-year-ajay-
Page | 62

bagga/articleshow/65173546.cms
Public sector banks could become game-changers this year: Ajay

Bagga
ET Now|Jul 28, 2018, 10.47 AM IST
king/public-sector-banks-recover-bad-loans-worth-rs-2-33-lakh-
crore-in-4-years-to-fy18-shiv-pratap-
shukla/articleshow/67092647.cms
Public sector banks recover bad loans worth Rs 2.33 lakh crore in 4
years to FY18: Shiv Pratap Shukla, PTI|, Dec 14, 2018, 05.32 PM IST
https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/companies/a-silver-
lining-bank-of-india-first-public-sector-lender-to-break-the-rising-
npa-jinx-in-fy18-2577815.html
A silver lining: Bank of India first public sector lender to break the
rising NPA jinx in FY18, The bank made a stellar recovery of bad
loans, to the tune of Rs 11,417 crore, in the fourth quarter
Beena Parmar @BeenaParmar

https://www.business-standard.com/article/markets/private-banks-
beat-market-post-q3-results-117022700215_1.html
Private banks beat market post Q3 results, gain up to 32% , RBL

Bank, DCB Bank, IndusInd Bank and Lakshmi Vilas rallied between
15% and 32% post Q3 results.
Page | 63

SI Reporter | Mumbai Last Updated at February 27, 2017 11:07 IST
https://www.business-standard.com/article/markets/5-public-sector-
banks-hit-52-week-high-117042800301_1.html
5 public sector banks hit 52-week high, Andhra Bank, Canara Bank,
Indian Bank, Oriental Bank and Vijaya Bank hit 52-week highs.
SI Reporter | Mumbai Last Updated at April 28, 2017 12:23 IST
https://www.firstpost.com/india/demonetisation-data-from-sbi-
shows-how-public-sector-banks-are-saving-the-day-for-modi-govt-
3112640.html
Demonetisation: Data from SBI shows how public sector banks are
saving the day for Modi govt
India Shishir Tripathi and Pawas Kumar Nov 18, 2016 20:15:37 IST
Page | 64

Questionnaire on QFR
Kindly tick mark for the following questions based on
QUALITY OF FINANCIAL REPORTING
SR PUBLIC SECTOR PRIVATE SECTOR

QUESTIONS
NO BANK BANK
The annual reports disclose forward

looking information to help forming
1 expectations and predictions Yes No Yes No
concerning the future of the
company
2 No un-due delays in the Yes No Yes No

presentation of financial reports
The annual report provides

feedback information on how
3 various market events and Yes No Yes No
significant transactions affected the
company
The annual report explains the

assumptions and estimates made
4 clearly; valid arguments provided Yes No Yes No
to support the decision for certain
assumptions and estimates in the
annual report
The annual report explains the

5 choice of accounting principles Yes No Yes No
clearly
6 The annual report includes an Yes No Yes No

unqualified auditor’s report
The annual report extensively

7 discloses information on corporate Yes No Yes No
governance issues
8 The annual report presented in a Yes No Yes No

well-organized manner
Page | 65

9 Sources and level of expenditure Yes No Yes No
can easily be understood
Business assets are easy to be

10 identified in terms of value and Yes No Yes No
nature
11 The presence of graphs and tables Yes No Yes No

clarifies the presented information
The use of language and technical

12 jargon is easy to follow in the Yes No Yes No
annual report
The notes to changes in accounting

13 policies and estimates explain the Yes No Yes No
implications of the change
The company’s previous accounting

period’s figures are adjusted for the
14 effect of the implementation of a Yes No Yes No
change in accounting policy or
revisions in accounting estimates
Information in the annual report is

15 comparable to information Yes No Yes No
provided by other organizations
Page | 66

Questionnaire on Corporate
Governance
Kindly tick mark for the following questions based on CORPORATE
GOVERNANCE
SR PUBLIC SECTOR PRIVATE SECTOR

QUESTIONS
NO BANK BANK
Is the Board size having a

1 favourable impact for corporate Yes No Yes No
governance?
Does the percentage of outside

2 directors impact the state of Yes No Yes No
governance?
Does the percentage of independent

3 directors impact the state of Yes No Yes No
governance?
4 The Presence of promoter on board Yes No Yes No

has a bearing on governance
The Number of board meetings held

5 is indicative of business Yes No Yes No
administration
The Percentage of board meetings

6 attended by independent directors Yes No Yes No
is reflective of business governance
Will a higher percentage of

7 promoter ownership have a bearing Yes No Yes No
on governance?
Would a higher percentage of

8 foreign institutional ownership Yes No Yes No
affect the administration?
9 A higher percentage of dispersed Yes No Yes No

ownership effects the business
Page | 67

governance.
10 Does the size of audit committee Yes No Yes No

influence the governance?
The number of meetings held by

12 Audit Committee is indicative of Yes No Yes No
business governance.
Does the percentage of non-audit

13 fees to total payment to auditors, Yes No Yes No
have a bearing on governance?
Is the presence Top auditor in terms

15 of audit clients reflective of a good Yes No Yes No
business governance?
Would there be an impact on

16 business administration if there is a Yes No Yes No
change in auditor from last year?
Page | 68

Page | 69

DISCUSSION OF THE RESULTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
1 Chapter 4: Discussions of the Results
1.1 Ethics/ Quality of Financial Reporting in Indian Banking: Ethical conduct on part
of the bankers is something which is extremely important in the banking sector as the
banks are institutional pillars of trust for the people at large. By acting as a custodian of
public deposits, banks have to keep that “faith” alive and therefore have to be extremely
careful when taking lending decisions as they are putting the hard earned savings of the
common man into a risky business proposition. The upholding of an ethical culture in
banking is of critical interest to regulators, banks, employees and customers alike.
Banking ethics are the moral or ethical principles that certain banks chose to abide by.
There isn’t an ethics ombudsman or a universal code of ethical conduct as such but a
major role is played by the corporate governance; system and policies.
In this study, we chose to measure the level of ethical standards by the level of
transparency and timely disclosures in Financial Reporting and also by the Corporate
Governance architecture of the Bank. These two variables are used widely for
surrogating the Ethical standards as they are objective, quantifiable and are not very
ambiguous in interpretation. Quality of disclosures was measured through a variable
called Quality of Financing Reporting (QFR) and Corporate Governance was measured
through a Corporate Governance Index (CGI). Both these two indicators namely Sysrust
Framework for QFR and Sarkar et al score of CGI, are well cited in the academic
literature and are quite robust models.
Since both QFR and CGI have a pre-construct bias, we decided to keep the findings
little open ended and flexible. And to avoid too much objectivity in the results, we also
carried out a Focused group discussion (FGD) with experts in the banking industry who
have either retired from a bank or a policy maker or a researcher/ academician in this
Page | 70

space. To carry out the FGD, a predefined template questionnaire was used to get the
responses.
To sense the market perception and the image of banks, a response analysis was
conducted by monitoring behavior on both print and social media. So, news related to
Indian Banks at large; both good and bad were filtered out in the last 1 year and closely
analyzed. Similarly tweets on the micro blogging site “twitter” were used to carry out a
Sentiment Analysis so as to sense the mood of the people and what do they think about
the banks in India.
We constructed a compound measurement tool to comprehensively assess the quality of

financial reporting in terms of the underlying fundamental qualitative characteristics (i.e.
relevance and faithful representation) and the enhancing qualitative characteristics (i.e.
understandability, comparability, verifiability and timeliness) as defined in ‘An
improved Conceptual Framework for Financial Reporting’ of the FASB and the IASB
(2008). The operationalization of these qualitative characteristics results in a 21-item
index. In our sample HDFC Bank scored the highest marks in the private banks and SBI
scored the highest in government owned banks. The lowest scores in both the categories
were for IndusInd Bank and Bank of India.
When it comes to QFR, and particularly related to “forward looking information”,

Indian Banks have still a long way to go as compared to their global counterparts. Indian
banks are quite comparable to global benchmarks when it comes to reporting as part of
compliance requirement and standard reporting structures but I guess that’s not enough
and banks need to get into more of an open discussion mode with the shareholders as to
what they can expect from the bank in future. Any bank’s future performance is very
closely related with the monetary policy direction given by the Central Bank and it
would be really nice to read a detailed section on what the bank thinks about possible
future economic scenarios and how the same can affect banks performance both
Page | 71

positively and negatively.
The focus has to be more on “quality of information” rather than “quantity of

information”. Banks need to build back the trust which has recently taken a hit on
account of the recent negative developments and to achieve that, a continuous dialogue
and engagement with all major stake holders (including shareholders and customers) is
extremely essential. A specific example in this case would be the need to discuss the
reasons as to why the level of NPAs are alarmingly high, what is the bank doing about it
and what could the shareholders expect on the trend in NPAs, going forward. How will
a regulator driven intervention (like Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code) help in resolving
this issue or at least slow down the slippages in asset quality in the future? Is the bank
developing some “early warning signals” based models, to prevent sudden decline in
asset quality in the future? The bank can also talk about some specific cases of loan
gone bad and how recovery or restructuring is being initiated. It is supposed to be
written in a language which is easy to understand by a common shareholder.
The comprehensive measurement tool constructed and used in the current study
however, has several limitations relating to validity and reliability. Consistent with the
definition of quality of financial reporting, i.e. decision usefulness, its validity should be
established by comparing our measured results to the decision usefulness of financial
reporting as perceived by stakeholders such as equity providers or lenders.
Page | 72

As a sample, I am putting here a snapshot from JP Morgan’s Annual Report 2017
Page | 73

If you look at the Point I (2) and Point II (6), this is a perfect example of “meaningful
engagement” with shareholders. Even in Section II, a discourse on Public Policy is
extremely useful and a welcome step. Similarly, in the Annual Report of JPMC, every
section starting from Segment wise performance to detail businesses wise information to
compliance risk management, every sections ends with a sub section on Management
Discussion and Analysis.
Discussion of Results on Corporate Governance
Corporate governance is the system by which business corporations are directed and
controlled. The corporate governance structure specifies the distribution of rights and
responsibilities among different participants in the corporation, such as, the board,
managers, shareholders and other stakeholders, and spells out the rules and procedures
for making decisions on corporate affairs. By doing this, it also provides the structure
through which the company objectives are set, and the means of attaining those
objectives and monitoring performance. As discussed earlier, a Corporate Governance
Index is constructed for the current study. The index construction uses information on
four important corporate governance mechanisms: the board of directors, the ownership
structure, the audit committee, and the external auditor.
The ownership and control structure of a firm is the source of agency costs in firms and
is at the root of all corporate governance problems. The role of ownership as a
mitigating mechanism first came into focus in the context of agency costs arising from
separation of ownership and control in widely held firms. In owner-controlled firms
with concentrated ownership, while there may be separation of ownership and
management, owners have strong incentives to monitor managers.
We construct the Corporate Governance Index in two steps. In the first step we construct
a sub-index for each of the four corporate governance components namely, the Board
Page | 74

Index, the Ownership Index, the Audit Committee Index and the Auditor Index. In the
second step we average the values of the four sub-indices to arrive at the overall
Corporate Governance Index. To construct the Board Index, the Ownership Index, the
Audit Committee Index and the Auditor Index we take the attributes within a specified
governance mechanism and score each attribute on a scale of 0 to 5. We then aggregate
the score across all the attributes within that specific governance mechanism, divide it
by the maximum possible score and multiply it by 100.
In the current study, there are some abnormalities in the results, e.g., ICICI Bank
appears at the top of the list even though we know of the big scandal that was unearthed
about nine months ago. On the other hand, we see that the bottom of the list is
dominated by state-owned banks and the top has banks like HDFC and Kotak. Drawing
again on Arun and Turner (2004), here are some possible reasons as to why the results
are not as expected. Firstly, any proportion of ownership in a bank tends to modify the
incentive structure in a manner which makes the managers do less than optimal for the
stakeholders. In India, the partial divestment of public sector banks has not brought
about any significant changes in the quality of corporate governance mechanisms.
Despite a quarter century of financial reforms in India, the state has still a major role in
appointing members to bank boards. Furthermore, the reforms have given the public
sector banks greater autonomy in deciding the areas of business strategy such as opening
branches and introduction of new products.
In the CGI created by us based on Sarkar et al (2012), we have used institutional

ownership and dispersed ownership as two items under the Ownership sub-index. It may
be worthwhile to incorporate government ownership in the CGI of Banks in a future
study. Secondly, the issue of corporate governance of banks in developing economies
gets complicated due to the activities of “distributional cartels” (Oman, 2001, p. 20).
These cartels consist of corporate insiders who have very close links with or partially
constitute the governing elite. The existence of such cartels will undermine the
Page | 75

credibility of investor legal protection and may also prevent reform of the banking
system. Unsurprisingly, good political governance can be considered as a prerequisite
for good corporate governance (Oman, 2001, p. 31).
Theories of corporate governance in banking which ignores regulation will

misunderstand the agency problems specific to banks. This may lead to prescriptions
that amplify rather than reduce risk. While we have used the IGIDR paper, Sarkar et al
(2012), to create the CGI for Banks and then used this CGI to rank the different banks in
India, it doesn’t seem to have given the results we would expect. We need to find a way
to incorporate the effect of regulation on the Corporate Governance in Banks and
include it in the CGI.
In conclusion, what we can clearly see that even when banks are doing sincere efforts to
make the boards more professional and independent of state intervention, reflected in
improvement in CGI score over a period of time (done by various authors separately),
the same is not enough and also if things have improved actually, then the same needs to
be communicated more strongly and effectively. Incidents like PNB etc destroy the
entire effort in just few days and banks go through a long painful process of building the
trust once again, brick by brick. Also, the fact that customers (read depositors and
borrowers) in developing markets like India (where financial literacy is still poor) really
don’t care much about the overall governance issue, the composition of the Board, the
quality of independent directors, structure of the Audit Committee. Therefore, the banks
may become complacent about conveying it to the stakeholders and it is only when
negative news surfaces, and when the media starts talking about it; people take note of
such things.
If we look at market response to Corporate Governance, it is difficult to segregate as to

how much valuation of banks is coming from financial performance and how much of
valuation is coming from non-financial issues like Board structure. For the purpose of
Page | 76

record, SBI, largest government bank trades at 22 times the recent EPS (PNB at 24) and
HDFC trades at 28 times and Kotak trades at 47 times the most recent EPS. So, we can
see that market reactions are not very useful indicators for measuring the impact of a
higher or a lower CG Index. The MAAR (market adjusted asset return) for banks is also
quite high as compared to market as a whole and many good performing banks are
generating abnormal rate of return although their governance practice is largely
questionable in the light of serious governance violation issues recently. But having said
that, we can’t undermine the importance of a strong board structure in the banks to
safeguard the interests of the depositor and make sure that the bankers don’t indulge in
excessive risk taking behavior.
Discussion of Results on Media Response (Electronic and Social Media)

Having seen that stock markets really don’t care much about governance structure of
banks, we turn now to the popular platform like electronic and social media. To start
with electronic media, we fetch “all banking news” in the recent past and categorize
them into two categories- good news, Bad news based on some key words. What we
observe that media has been quite reasonable when it comes to presenting an unbiased
set of information to the public at large. Again, as expected, bad news gets more
eyeballs and probably that’s the reason, media has reported little more of bad news than
they should have been doing actually. What came out very clearly that the media has not
been able to do its job properly when it comes to educating the masses about the
banking issues. The scams and bad incidents are “sensationalized” more and people is
largely left to “discover” on their own as to what is the “real truth”.
Coming to the news related to “public” vs “private” banks, government owned banks
need to seriously work on the “public relations” and “image building” as the state owned
banks need to understand that people at large read newspapers and they form opinion
based on what they read. So, they can’t ignore the media. We also understand that state
run banks have not been used to these “media friendly approaches” for decades in the
Page | 77

past but that has to change now for better brand building and image of the bank.
On social media, using sentiment analysis by running searches through key words,
reaction of people to banks were also tracked. In Sentiment Analysis, Private banks have
a more positive sentiment as compared to Government banks although SBI has the
highest positive sentiment, when compared to all the banks. Government banks have a
more negative sentiment as compared to public banks and Axis bank has the least
negative sentiment, when compared to all the banks
When we did Emotional Analysis; we found that Private banks have a more disgust
emotion as compared to Government banks and Private banks have a more anger
emotion as compared to Government banks. Also, Government banks have a higher
anticipation emotion as compared to private banks where in SBI has the highest
anticipation emotion, when compared to all the banks. Private banks have a more trust
emotion as compared to Government banks where in Axis bank has the highest trust
emotion, when compared to all the banks.
The message is very clear. Digital Marketing is the way forward and some banks have
understood this but some are still figuring out whether it is the right path or not. More
and more people will switch to digital platforms, more and more customers will vent
their frustration related to a bank service on social media platforms than just grudging
about it at home. They will not go to the branch, or pick a phone and call the customer
service desk, they will not also write an email and wait till infinity for a reply on that,
they will just “tweet” a bad experience with the bank and get the desired attention. It is
therefore recommended that banks should have a third party digital marketing partner so
that the Banks can continue to focus on their core functions of lending and leave this
small job to the service provider, who is an expert in this domain.
Page | 78

The Focus Group Discussion/ The Questionnaire
A set of questions were prepared on both Quality of Reporting and Governance
Structure of banks and were discussed with ex bankers, academicians in the area of
banking and financial markets, ex- policy makers and researchers. Although there were
set of some objective questions but it was addressed through a more informal discussion
mode. Some of the major highlights of the discussion were:
Government owned banks are seen as more trust worthy and their board structure and
composition and qualifications of nominees are world class. Private banks had a good
reputation but got seriously damaged due to the flak received by RBI on three or four
major occasions. All such incidents have shaken the trust and confidence in the private
sector banks in a large way. The perception largely is that if state owned banks have too
much of intervention by the state, private sector banks have some bigger than life”
individuals who take the entire bank for a ride in pursuing their own personal interests.
On quality of reporting, the larger consensus was that most banks need to significantly
improve that and learn it from global bank reports but given the developing stage of our
banks, the current practice were seen as reasonable. Most of them liked the current
format of the Annual Report and various sections and sub sections. They also prefer
single end of the year reporting rather than four quarters as they believe banking is a
more stable industry where things don’t change significantly in 3 months. Almost
everyone wanted to see a much larger section on “Management Discussion and
Analysis”. They also felt that the quality of disclosures improved significantly during
Rajan’s tenure. Some of them even felt that it was during Rajan’s tenure that the
skeletons (read NPAs) actually started coming out from the cupboard. A common
feeling was that the state run banks have lost many good people and talent to private
banks and that has to be reduced/ prevented in future.
Page | 79

On technology adoption and digital marketing, there was a clear consensus that it is the
way forward and whether one likes or not, it is the Twitters and Facebooks where the
“image is built or compromised”.
Corporate Governance References:
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Characteristics and Bank Performance in India. IIMB Management Review, 30, pp.
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6. Baysinger, B. and Butler, H. (1985). Corporate Governance and the Board of
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Governance?. Review of Financial Studies, 22(2), pp.783-827.
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Governance and Managerial Preferences. Journal of Political Economy, 111(5),
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disclosure? An institutional and corporate governance perspective. Asia Pacific
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11. Brown, L. and Caylor, M. (2006). Corporate Governance and Firm Valuation.
Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, 25, pp.409-434.
12. Bushman, R. and Smith, A. (2001). Financial accounting information and corporate
governance. Journal of Accounting and Economics, 32(1-3), pp.237-333.
13. Carter, D., Simkins, B. and Simpson, W. (2003). Corporate Governance, Board
Diversity, and Firm Value. The Financial Review, 38(1), pp.33-53.
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14. Ciancanelli, P. and Gonzalez, J.A.R. (2000). Paper presented at the European
Financial Management Association Conference, Athens, June, 2000
15. Core, J., Holthausen, R. and Larcker, D. (1999). Corporate governance, chief
executive office compensation and firm performance. Journal of Financial
Economics, 51, pp.371-406.
16. Daily, C., Dalton, D. and Cannella, A. (2003). Corporate Governance: Decades of
Dialogue and Data. The Academy of Management Review, 28(3), p.371.
17. De Andres, P., & Vallelado, E. (2008). Corporate governance in banking: The role
of the board of directors. Journal of Banking & Finance, 32(12), 2570–2580.
18. Dittmar, A. and Mahrt-Smith, J. (n.d.). Corporate Governance and the Value of Cash
Holdings. SSRN Electronic Journal.
19. Eng, L. and Mak, Y. (2003). Corporate governance and voluntary disclosure. Journal
of Accounting and Public Policy, 22, pp.325-345.
20. Forbes, D. and Milliken, F. (1999). Cognition and Corporate Governance:
Understanding Boards of Directors as Strategic Decision-Making Groups. The
Academy of Management Review, 24(3), p.489.
21. Gillan, S. and Starks, L. (2000). Corporate governance proposals and shareholder
activism: the role of institutional investors. Journal of Financial Economics, 57(2),
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22. Gompers, P., Ishii, J. and Metrick, A. (2003). Corporate Governance and Equity
Prices. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 118(1), pp.107-156.
23. Haan, J. and Vlahu, R. (2016). Corporate Governance of Bank: A Survey. Journal of
Economic Survey, 30(2), pp. 228-277
24. Hundal, S. (2017). Multiple directorships of corporate boards and firm performance
in India. Corporate Ownership & Control, 14(4), pp.150-164.
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26. Johnson, S., Boone, P., Breach, A. and Friedman, E. (2000). Corporate governance
in the Asian financial crisis. Journal of Financial Economics, 58(1-2), pp.141-186.
27. Kachouri, M., Jarboui, A. Exploring the relation between corporate reporting and
corporate governance effectiveness. Journal of Financial Reporting and Accounting.
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28. Karpoff, J., Malatesta, P. and Walkling, R. (1996). Corporate governance and
shareholder initiatives: Empirical evidence. Journal of Financial Economics, 42(3),
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Performance in Emerging Markets. SSRN Electronic Journal.
30. La Porta, R., Lopez-de-Silanes, F., Shleifer, A. and Vishny, R. (2000). Investor
protection and corporate governance. Journal of Financial Economics, 58(1-2), pp.3-
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27.
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Outcomes, and Organizational Performance. The Accounting Review, 82(4),
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32. Lazonick, W. and O'Sullivan, M. (2000). Maximizing shareholder value: a new
ideology for corporate governance. Economy and Society, 29(1), pp.13-35.
33. Mitton, T. (2002). A cross-firm analysis of the impact of corporate governance on
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governance: the role of the board and the audit committee. Journal of Corporate
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Finance, 9(3), pp.295-316.
39. Yermack, D. (1996). Higher market valuation of companies with a small board of
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Quality of Financial Reporting References
 Jaggi, B. and Tsui, J. (2007). Insider Trading, Earnings Management and
Corporate Governance: Empirical Evidence Based on Hong Kong Firms.
Journal of International Financial Management & Accounting, 18(3), pp.192-
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 Sarkar, J., Sarkar, S. and Sen, K. (2008). Board of Directors and Opportunistic
Earnings Management: Evidence from India. Journal of Accounting, Auditing &
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 Healy, P. and Wahlen, J. (1999). A Review of the Earnings Management
Literature and its Implications for Standard Setting. SSRN Electronic Journal.
 IASB (2008). Exposure Draft on an improved Conceptual Framework for
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 Mca.gov.in. (2018). [online] Available at:
http://mca.gov.in/Ministry/pdf/INDAS101.pdf [Accessed 3 Dec. 2018].
 Habbash, M. and Alghamdi, S. (2015). The perception of earnings management
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motivations in Saudi public firms. Journal of Accounting in Emerging
Economies, 5(1), pp.122-147.
 Yurisandi, T. and Puspitasari, E. (2015). Financial Reporting Quality - Before
and After IFRS Adoption Using NiCE Qualitative Characteristics Measurement.
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 Parsons, L. and Krishnan, G. (2006). Getting to the Bottom Line: An Exploration
of Gender and Earnings Quality. SSRN Electronic Journal.
 García-Meca, E. and García-Sánchez, I. (2018). Does managerial ability
influence the quality of financial reporting?. European Management Journal,
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 Bamber, L., Jiang, J. and Wang, I. (2010). What’s My Style? The Influence of
Top Managers on Voluntary Corporate Financial Disclosure. The Accounting
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Accounting Conservatism. Journal of Accounting Research, 51(1), pp.1-30.
 Beekes, W., Pope, P. and Young, S. (2004). The Link Between Earnings
Timeliness, Earnings Conservatism and Board Composition: evidence from the
UK. Corporate Governance, 12(1), pp.47-59.
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privately held: implications for conditional conservatism in bank accounting.
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management. Journal of Multinational Financial Management, 23(3), pp.134-
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 Leventis, S., Dimitropoulos, P. and Owusu-Ansah, S. (2013). Corporate
Governance and Accounting Conservatism: Evidence from the Banking
Industry. Corporate Governance: An International Review, 21(3), pp.264-286.
 Mahboub, R. (2017). Main Determinants of Financial Reporting Quality in the
Lebanese Banking Sector. European Research Studies, 20(4B), pp.706-726.
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Internal audit and financial reporting in the Spanish banking industry.
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References on Sentiment Analysis
1
IT Glossary, Gartner. "Social Analytics - Gartner IT Glossary". www.gartner.com.
Retrieved 25 February 2015.
1
Segerberg, Alexandra; Bennett, W. Lance (2011). "Social Media and the
Organization of Collective Action: Using Twitter to Explore the Ecologies of Two
Climate Change Protests" (PDF). The Communication Review. 14: 197–215.
1
Bruns, Axel; Burgess, Jean; Highfield, Tim (2013). "The Arab Spring and Social
Media Audiences: English and Arabic Twitter Users and Their Networks".
www.sagepub.com. Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia.
Retrieved 2016-11-01
1
Proceedings of the Workshop on Language in Social Media (LSM 2011), pages 30–38,
Portland, Oregon, 23 June 2011. C © 2011 Association for Computational Linguistic
1
Alexander Pak and Patrick Paroubek. 2010. Twitter as a corpus for sentiment
analysis and opinion mining. Proceedings of LREC.
1
Emotions Evoked by Common Words and Phrases: Using Mechanical Turk to
Create an Emotion Lexicon, Saif Mohammad and Peter Turney, In Proceedings of the
NAACL-HLT 2010 Workshop on Computational Approaches to Analysis and
Generation of Emotion in Text, June 2010, LA, California.
1
Crowdsourcing a Word-Emotion Association Lexicon, Saif Mohammad and Peter
Turney, Computational Intelligence, 29 (3), 436-465, 2013.
1
http://www.purl.org/net/NRCemotionlexicon
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blogging as online word of mouth branding. In CHI EA ’09: Proceedings of the 27th
international conference extended abstracts on Human factors in computing systems,
pages3859–3864, New York, NY, USA. ACM.
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ICICI BANK SENTIMENT VISUALIZATION ANALYSIS OUTPUT
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PUNJAB NATIONAL BANK SENTIMENT VISUALIZATION ANALYSIS OUTPUT
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2017-18

ETHICS AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE

INDIAN INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT

Ph nos: 0522-2734101, 2734111-20

Indian Institute of Management Lucknow

Indian Institute of Management Lucknow

The primary objective of financial reporting is to provide high-quality financial reporting

Indian Institute of Management Lucknow

1. Construction of a well-defined and acceptable Corporate Governance Index that would

Indian Institute of Management Lucknow

3. Evaluation of market reaction by conducting Sentimental Analysis on Indian Banks by

Indian Institute of Management Lucknow

Indian Institute of Management Lucknow

Chapter 1: Quality of Financial Reporting

Chapter 2: Corporate Governance

Chapter 3: Sentiment Analysis

Sentiment Analysis Visualization Output

Indian Institute of Management Lucknow

The entire study was done keeping three questions in mind:

4. What is the level of Corporate Governance practices in Indian Banks?

For the purpose of study, there was a three pronged approach:

1. Construction of a well-defined and acceptable Corporate Governance Index that

Indian Institute of Management Lucknow

3. Evaluation of market reaction by conducting Sentimental Analysis on Indian Banks

Indian Institute of Management Lucknow

1. The Corporate Governance index used in our study

scoring method and rationale is outlined below:

Score Scoring Rationale Behind Scoring Method

Indian Institute of Management Lucknow

8. Number of board Item Increases Points to the seriousness of

Indian Institute of Management Lucknow

Indian Institute of Management Lucknow

Relevance – The capability of making a difference in the decisions made

by users in their capacity as capital providers

forward-looking statement usually describes management’s expectations for future years of

R2 It measures to what extent the annual reports disclose information

in terms of business opportunities and risks

R3 It measures company’s use of fair value

market events and significant transactions affected the company

Indian Institute of Management Lucknow

balanced way when discussing the annual results

F4 It measures the type of Auditor’s report included in the annual report

F5 It measures whether the annual report extensively discloses information on corporate

Understandability – It is referred to, when the quality of information enables users to

comprehend their meaning

U1 It measures whether the annual report is well-organized

U5 It measures whether the annual report includes a comprehensive glossary

differences between two sets of economic phenomena

implications of the change

Indian Institute of Management Lucknow

for the effect of the implementation of a change in accounting policy or revisions in

results in previous accounting periods

C5 It measures to what extent is the Information in the annual report is comparable to

information provided by other organizations

capacity to influence decision

auditors’ report after book-year end

Indian Institute of Management Lucknow

Indian Institute of Management Lucknow

a. Remove blank spaces