The Sunday Standard Best Bankers’ Awards 2013 are based on improvements in each bank’s overall performance, and rely predominantly on data provided by the RBI. The key criteria used in the judging are quantitative performance measures. In addition, a survey of senior bank employees was undertaken to understand the qualitative performance of the CEO. The details of the methodology used are below.
Methodology
The CEOs of all 78 Scheduled Commercial Banks operating in India were considered for the rating, and analysis done to capture the improvements that have occurred over the latest year for which data was available for quantitative parameters. The qualitative indicators were captured from a confidential primary survey of senior employees of the banks; the survey was conducted in May-June 2013.
The variables in the quantitative and qualitative spheres were chosen to cover all important facets of performance: growth, profitability, good work environment and contribution to inclusive and broad-based growth of the economy. A total of 44 quantitative variables was chosen after intensive discussions with bankers, regulators, academia and banking experts. Each of the 44 quantitative variables (whose data came from RBI and IBA) was normalized into ratios.
In most cases, the bank-wise data has been published normalized for comparability, e.g., the Gross NPA is adjusted for the size of the bank and its operations by dividing it by Gross Advances to form the Gross NPA/Gross Advances ratio. Such normalization gives a correct picture of the performance of the bank, rather than absolute variables.
Regarding the data from the qualitative survey, a total of 22 questions were asked, again reflecting the broad categories already mentioned and included queries on the management style, leadership qualities, communication, delegation and vision of the CEO. This information was invaluable in understanding the story behind the aggregate numbers and was used as a validation of the results of the rating and ranking methodology. The overall index was a weighted average of the normalized variables, giving 5 per cent weightage to the qualitative parameters.
Since performance depends so crucially on the size of the institution, banks were classified as large, medium and small for the awards. Those with assets of more than `75,000 crore in March 2012 were categorized as large banks, those with assets of less than `15,000 crore as small banks and those with assets between `15,000 crore and `75,000 crore were considered mid-sized banks.
While all 78 banks have been surveyed and rated, the foreign banks and the small banks were rated only within the overall category as their business operations are significantly different from that of other Indian banks. The analysis of the data for small banks, for instance, threw up some very surprising numbers given the small size of the bank; sometimes minor actions showed up as a very major impact.
Overall, there are two types of awards: The first set consists of awards among all banks, with the large and mid-sized banks being awarded separately. It is, however, also recognized that public and private sector banks operate in different governance environments and, therefore, have been recognized separately for a set of chosen indicators under private and public sector awards.
The final list of awards comprises 15 categories, with the two top banks being awarded size-wise in each category. In one case, there is a tie and three banks have been awarded prizes in their category:
1. Best Indian Banker
2. Best Public Sector Banker
3. Best Private Sector Banker
4. Best Foreign Banker
5. Safest Banker
6. Best Banker – Priority Sector
7. Best Banker – Agriculture Credit & Inclusion
8. Best Banker – SME (Public Sector)
9. Best Banker – Financial Inclusion
10. Best Banker – Customer Friendliness
11. Best Banker – Growth
12. Best Banker – Efficiency and Profitability
13. Best Banker – All Round Expansion
14. Best Banker – Customer Orientation
15. Best Banker – HR