Abstract
This paper develops an index of bank
stability for 66 commercial banks operating in the Indian banking industry for
the period 2007/08-2016/17. An index is obtained by combining five dimensions,
namely capital adequacy, asset quality, management efficiency, earning capacity
and liquidity. The choice of dimensions is derived from the CAMEL framework as
defined by the Reserve Bank of India, which is the modus operandi for
measurement of banking stability. The aggregation of dimensions is done using
the weights calculated by employing PCA approach. The empirical findings reveal
that an improvement is seen among Indian banks in terms of stability in the
early years of the sample period. A higher value of a bank stability indicator
is observed in 2008/09, and the index value showed a decline from 2008/09
onwards. The categorization of banks into high, moderate and less stability
suggests that majorly banks in India are moderately stable, with the number of
banks belonging to less stable category risen from 7 in 2007/8 to 23 in
2014/15. The results further suggest that the high stable category is mainly
dominated by the foreign banks and none of the public sector bank belongs to
this category for the entire study period. The condition of public sector banks
is found to be pitied on the dimensions of asset quality and profitability,
while private and foreign banks fared relatively better on these two fronts.
Liquidity condition remained more or less stable for Indian banks.
JEL classification numbers: G21, G28
Keywords: Bank stability; Indian banks; Composite index; Principal Component