One resignation. Rs 70,000 crore gone. Now what?

Summary: HDFC Bank's chairman resigned over 'values and ethics' and gave no details. Markets panicked. Here's what the numbers say, what the RBI's unusual public statement signals, and what actually deserves your attention. On March 19, HDFC Bank's stock fell nearly 4.5 per cent. The following morning, it fell another 2.5 per cent. The trigger was a single resignation: Atanu Chakraborty, the bank's independent director and part-time chairman, walked out, stating he disagreed with the direction the bank was taking. His resignation letter was precise in its weight but vague in its detail. Certain practices he had observed over the past two years, he wrote, were "not in congruence with my personal values and ethics." That was it. No specifics. No names. No incident cited. Eight words, and Rs 70,000 crore was wiped off the bank's market capitalisation, the total market value of all its shares, within hours. Markets hate ambiguity, and a chairman leaving without explaining what he disagrees with is about as ambiguous as it gets. The panic, in that narrow sense, is understandable. But panic and prudence are different things. Before you do anything with your investments, it is