I was under an impression that this (mal)practice was pursued largely by institutions dealing in hire purchase and leasing. I had written in the various columns of the press, rather a scathing article on Countrywide Finance's instalment plans, on reading which, Mr Deepak Parekh, chairman of HDFC, which is one of the partners in the joint venture of Countrywide Finance, met me for a discussion and appreciated my point of view.
Now, the banks, even the foreign ones, have joined the fray. How badly the investors are misled by such advertisements, which use the non-standard nomenclatures for representing their interest rates, is proved by the following letter received by me from one of my readers, Mr H. S. Bhatty, 303, Kalpak-Hormus, Perry Cross Road, Bandra, Bombay-50.
Before proceeding further, I request you to go through a replica of an advertisement by Timesbank produced alongside. Pay particular attention to the