IFR: One of the issues that always comes up when discussing M&A in India is the fact that a lot of companies are family owned. This has acted as a drag on M&A activity. Are things changing on this front? Are family-owned companies willing to sell out or dilute? Kishore Kumar, HDFC Bank: Yes. I think just as the make or buy decision for a corporate I think Indian entrepreneurs are also now increasingly at a crossroads and are facing decisions as to whether they continue to run their compa

IFR: Raman, ratings have come up in a couple of answers so far. We’ve talked about the strong economy. How does that square against the credit quality of Indian corporates from a rating perspective? Raman Uberoi, CRISIL: Well credit quality for corporate India over the last three years has adapted pretty well. In the 2008-2009 period, rating downgrades outstripped upgrades, which put huge pressure on credit quality. There were three broad reasons for this. One, clearly, was the drying up of mone

IFR: I’d like to start off the conversation on the topic of the Indian economy, which generally seems to be in very good shape. Sunandan, as the economist on our panel, could I ask you to comment on the RBI’s latest rate decision, then talk more broadly about what’s driving the Indian economy and outline any potential red flags? Sunandan Chaudhuri, SBICAP Securities: Thanks, Keith. The RBI decision was broadly along expected lines. We were looking at 25bp on the repo and the reverse repo. It has

Sunandan Chaudhuri, SBICAP Securities Sunandan Chaudhuri is the economist at SBICAP Securities. Prior to his current position, he worked in the financial services group of Tata Consultancy Services, followed by a stint at Fair Isaac Corporation, the analytics company. Chaudhuri is a contributor to financial dailies on issues spanning the Indian economy and macroeconomic policymaking. Raman Uberoi, CRISIL Raman Uberoi is senior director, ratings at CRISIL, India’s leading ratings, research, risk

Indian capital markets are booming. ECM, DCM, loan syndications, infrastructure and M&A are all firing as investors and financiers vie to put their money to work. The tone of IFR’s Indian Capital Markets Roundtable in Mumbai encapsulated the mood perfectly. In a wide-ranging conversation, participants offered up a very positive outlook for the year ahead. The IFR Roundtable coincided with the Reserve Bank’s September 16th rate hike. The only real surprise - though not a great one - was the 5