FY 2013

I noticed this bank in India early 2012 - it was trading at around 5-6% dividend yield and decent asset quality trading at about a third below FY11 book value.  It had a decent ROA of over 1%, ok with provisioning.  So that's where the proceeds from the Vikas WSP sale went last year - I ended up selling when it approached FY13 book value early 2013 because I didn't like where the industry was overall.  It seems like a good call - not just that the realized return was over 13% including dividends; it is now trading at around half the book value - thereby avoiding a close to 50% notional loss. Ever since I started investing in 1991 (which was in a bank), I have looked at banks in general as a reflection of the Indian economy - this hypothesis has proven right time and again.  As long as the banking culture doesn't change drastically, the stocks in this industry seem like good picks at times of economic troubles.  It helps to have a conservative regulator.