'In financial services, being a tortoise is sometimes a blessing'

We speak to Sonam Udasi of Tata Mutual Fund about the reason for financial turmoil in the Indian markets. Udasi manages Tata Banking and Financial Services Fund. He also talks about insurance companies and AMCs as investment options, and shares how he ensures quality in his portfolio. The crash in Yes Bank highlighted the fragility in the Indian banking system. What's going on? Weak underwriting of loans, coupled with a slowing economy, both global and Indian, have continued to haunt the financial-services industry. What started as a corporate bad-loan phenomenon in 2011-12, which saw PSU banks lose their sheen, IL&FS bust, PMC Bank bust, finally found its end-game with Yes Bank essentially being 'public'-ised. It has come to this simply because in the years of economic boom, financial investors (both debt and equity) priced risk incorrectly. How serious would be the contagion? Where else does the problem lie? It was necessary to stem Yes Bank's slow death. The measures seem prudent at this time. One could argue that they could have stemmed it earlier, but nevertheless it's welcome that it has been done. This will give some badly needed time to the system to stabilise an