Dunedin, State Bank of
India (SBI) chairman Om Prakash Bhatt’s official residence on J.M. Mehta Road in south Mumbai, had some unusual guests last Tuesday—banking analysts of local and multinational brokerages and asset management firms. Bhatt was seen making PowerPoint presentations on the bank’s annual earnings on Dunedin’s lush green lawns. After the presentation, the chairman and his senior colleagues tried to explain critical aspects of the bank’s performance—rising non-performing assets (NPAs) and overheads and overhang of liquidity—to the analysts’ community over dinner. Traditionally, such a meeting takes place after the bank announces its annual earnings in Kolkata. The analysts in Mumbai who gather at the auditorium in SBI’s Mumbai headquarters are connected through video conferencing. This time around, there were some technical glitches and the Mumbai analysts could not be connected. So the bank had to organize a second meeting.