IndusInd Bank has not sought any fresh capital from its promoters and PwC’s external audit report  will help determine who is responsible for the accounting discrepancy in the bank, IIHL chairman Ashok Hinduja said. 

Despite the derivatives discrepancies and a huge loss in its net worth, IndusInd Bank’s capital adequacy is at a comfortable level of over 15% and the lender has not sought new capital infusion from the promoters.

The promoter group is ready to infuse capital as and when required, Hinduja told reporters on the sideline of an event.

Hinduja said that this is an opportune time for the promoters to raise their stake given the dip in the stock price, even though it will not be so beneficial for the bank as an institution.

     "...at this price, we would like to. Why me? Any shareholder. See the book value, see the net worth at this value. These are panic situations. In the panic situation, everybody gets worried," Hinduja said.

IndusInd International Holdings Ltd (IIHL), the investment arm of Hinduja Group, has got RBI’s in-principle approval to increase their shareholding in IndusInd Bank to 26% from current 16%.

On 10 March, IndusInd Bank disclosed accounting discrepancies in its currency derivatives portfolio, which could have an adverse impact of about 2.35% of the bank’s net worth as of December-end 2024. Analysts peg the discrepancy at Rs 2,100 crore.

Hinduja said the bank’s board will review PWC’s external audit report, which is expected to be submitted by March-end, and take a “call on who is the person responsible for the issue over the last so many years—whether it was one person, two persons or whether it was an error, we don’t know,” Hinduja said. 

On the reasons for the resignation of chief financial officer Govind Jain and CEO Sumant Kathpalia getting only one year extension from the Reserve Bank of India, Hinduja declined comment. 

On being queried about why the promoter group has no representatives on the board of the bank, he said that is the policy of the Hinduja family to maintain an arm’s length difference from the day-to-day workings. “This is a business of lending and borrowing, and confidentiality of so many clients. Nobody would like any other corporate house to know their balance sheet,” he said.

While the disclosures on accounting discrepancies came weeks after Jain resigned from the bank, RBI’s approval for reappointment of Kathpalia for just a year came days after Normally, the RBI grants extension of a CEO for three years.