The Dena Bank chairman discusses why his once-successful bank is swimming in red over tandoori pomfret and prawn gassi with Tamal Bandyopadhyay
In October 1999, the M S Verma panel on the restructuring of weak banks identified Dena Bank as one of the four strong public sector banks that passed the test of competitive efficiency parameters with flying colours.
Exactly one-and-a-half years later, Dena has earned the dubious distinction of being the first listed bank to post a net loss (that too, a huge Rs 266 crore in fiscal 2001) and its share price is hovering at Rs 6.50 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). The only other financial intermediary whose scrip is traded below Dena is the beleaguered IFCI at around Rs 4.
To further complicate matters, rumours were doing the rounds last month that Dena Bank chairman Anil Gopal Joshi was under fire and the finance ministry was after his blood for his failure to manage the bank.
When I invited Joshi for Dinner with BS, he didn
