NPAs : Asset quality remains a niggling worry for Indian banks

Moneycontrol Bureau :Nov 05, 2014, 08.46 AM IST 

r.
Maintaining its cautious view, global rating agency Moody's recently said that it 



remains negative on Indian banks on the back of high leverage in the corporate 



sector.

Fears of worsening asset quality continue to haunt Indian banks. While poor asset quality is usually synonymous with public-sector lenders, private banks don’t seem to be out of the clutches of bad loans either. The list ranges from banks like State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur  and State Bank of Travancore  to bluechip like ICICI Bank .

To begin with,  Indian Overseas Bank reported loss in the second quarter of the current fiscal year due to higher tax expenses and provisions for bad assets. The public sector lender made provisioning for bad loans to the tune of Rs 892.38 crore versus Rs 619.90 crore in the same quarter a year ago. Its asset quality worsened as gross non-performing assets (NPAs) jumped to 7.35 percent from 4.65 percent a year ago. Net NPAs also almost doubled to 5.17 percent from 2.83 percent a year ago.

The stock is likely to face heat as global rating agency Standard & Poor's has lowered the credit rating of IOB to BB+. The rating indicates speculative grade following IOB's asset quality deterioration. It expects the bank's asset quality to remain remain weak over the next 12 months.

While Union Bank of India ’s (UBI) net profit rose 78 percent in the quarter gone by, the picture on asset quality front didn’t seem too bright. Its gross non-performing assets (NPA) jumped 42 basis points quarter-on-quarter and 105 bps year-on-year to 4.69 percent. Net NPA climbed 25 bps Q-o-Q and 56 bps Y-o-Y to 2.71 percent in July-September quarter.

The subsidiaries of India’s largest public sector bank  State Bank of India (SBI) – State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur (SBBJ) and State Bank of Travancore (SBT) also saw marginal rise in bad loans.

SBBJ’s gross NPA rose to 4.24 percent versus 3.6 percent and net NPAs was at 2.49 percent versus 2.1 percent, Q-o-Q. SBT was stung by higher NPA provisions. Its gross NPA increased to 5.11 percent from over 3.5 percent of the total advances, on a year-on-year basis. Net NPA also rose to 3.2 percent from 2.07 percent a year ago.

Their parent SBI is yet to announce it Q2FY15 earnings. In Q1FY15, the bank’s overall asset quality continued to be stable. Gross non-performing assets (NPA) slipped 5 basis points sequentially and 66 bps on yearly basis to 4.90 percent while net NPA fell 17 bps year-on-year (up 9 bps quarter-on-quarter) to 2.66 percent in Q1FY15.

Maintaining its cautious view, global rating agency Moody's recently said that it remains negative on Indian banks on the back of high leverage in the corporate sector.

" Our outlook for the country's banking system remains negative , as it has been since November 2011. The negative outlook reflects our view that high leverage in the corporate sector could prevent any meaningful recovery in asset quality, notwithstanding a moderate rebound in economic growth," the agency said in a note.

It further added that the negative outlook pertains mainly to the state-owned lenders which represent more than 70 percent of total banking system assets.

But largest private sector lender ICICI Bank is also not spared. The bank met expectations on profit and net interest income front (NIM) but asset quality weakened. Its gross NPA rose 4 basis points on a Y-o-Y basis and 7 bps sequentially to 3.12 percent and net NPA increased 11 bps on yearly basis and 9 bps quarter-on-quarter to 0.96 percent.

Banks face Rs 1 lakh cr loan restructure hurdle: Modi govt must privatise state lenders

Dinesh Unnikrinan : FP : Nov 5,2014

The rating downgrade effected by Standard and Poor’s on state-run lender, Indian Overseas Bank (IoB) is yet another strong warning to the Modi government about what is possibly in store in the ensuing years — worsening financial position and a bigger crises in government banks.

S&P downgraded the long-term credit rating of IoB to BB+ speculative grading in the face of recent deterioration in the bank's asset quality. IoB’s gross non-performing assets (NPAs) shot up to 7 percent in the September quarter from 5 percent in the March quarter.

Besides, the chunk of total standard restructured loans on the books of the bank too has surged to close to 8 percent in the quarter, which means a significant chunk of the assets in IoB’s is now under the stressed asset category.

According to officials at the agency, IDBI Bank is the only lender it rates that carry a BB+ rating.

Typically, long-term instruments of state-run banks are accorded rating at par with the sovereign rating given that these entities enjoy the backing of the sovereign. In rating parlance, BB+ is speculative or junk grade.

For practical reasons, a junk rating would mean a sharp rise in the borrowing costs of the firm concerned and risk aversion from the investors, besides being an indicator of trouble in the balance sheet. Kolkata-based United Bank of India, which had seen its gross NPAs surging to double digits early this year, is not covered by S&P.

At least five state-run banks have their gross bad loan levels above 5 percent of their total loans now. Some of them are facing immense stress on account of an equal rise in the restructured loan portfolios as well. Restructured loans are loans of troubled borrowers, which seek relaxed repayment terms from banks.

Currently, about Rs 2.5 trillion of the loans given by banks are bad and about Rs 5-6 trillion are being recast under various channels.

The situation is unlikely to get better any time soon. On Tuesday, rating agency, India Ratings, formerly known as Fitch India, said India's banking system is likely to witness a surge in restructured assets by a whopping Rs 60,000 to Rs 1,00,000 crore over the next five months.

"We expect the restructured assets in the banking system to shoot up by another Rs 60,000 crore to Rs 1 trillion over the next five months," India Ratings senior finance director Deep N Mukherjee said.

Such a rise in the bad and restructured loans could significantly add up to the capital burden of banks since current norms require banks to set aside substantial amount of money to cover stressed assets.

Capital burden arising out of bad loans is just one side of the story. State-run banks also require about Rs 2.5 trillion capital to meet the Basel-III capital norms.

Any respite in the stressed asset situation can happen with a lag—that too if economic revival takes strong hold, projects come back on track as and when investments return to the country and procedural roadblocks are removed. Until then, stress in the banking system is a hard reality before the Modi-government to deal with.

The financial burden will ultimately fall upon the government, which is the owner of state-run banks. The government infuses capital into state-run banks on an annual basis.

For the current fiscal, the budgeted allocation is Rs 11,200 crore. That would be just a fraction of what is actually required considering the growing capital requirement, even with a longer deadline to comply with Basel-III rules.

Going ahead, a capital constrained government will find it extremely difficult to continuously feed state-run banks with taxpayer’s money. The solution, as FirstBiz has highlighted before, is in privatizing public-sector banks and leaving the competition to the market. The government has no business to be in business.

Modi, who has positioned himself as the agent of change, shouldn’t shy away from uttering the P-word any more. The process could begin with small and medium sized banks that are financially weak.

 

Corporate Debt Restructuring :Banks step up restructuring of stressed assets

 Anup Roy |  Vishwanath Nair mint  27 Oct 2014

Fourteen cases worth Rs.13,300 cr were referred to
corporate debt restructuring cell in the September 
quarter against two cases worth Rs.2,854 cr in Q1

Mumbai: Indian banks have only two quarters left to restructure stressed assets without significantly dragging down their profits—a fact that’s prompting banks to step up the recast of loans that may eventually need restructuring.

Effective 1 April 2015, the Reserve Bank of India’s regulatory forbearance, under which banks were allowed to qualify restructured assets as standard, will come to an end.

For now banks are setting aside 5% of the value of the loan to cover the risk of default on any restructured assets. Starting in the next financial year, when all restructured assets will be termed as non performing assets (NPAs), or bad loans, the requirement will increase to a minimum 15%.

The change will also mean banks’ bad-loan portfolio will swell.

In fact, fearing an increase in bad assets once change takes effect, bankers have already started asking RBI to extend the forbearance for another year, the Business Standard reported on 15 October. The bankers, according to the report, have told RBI that if the window is not extended, their gross NPA ratio will rise to 10% from 4% in March 2014.

Bad loans in the banking system rose to 4.03% of total advances in 2013-14 from 3.42% in 2012-13 and 2.94% in 2011-12, finance minister Arun Jaitleytold the Parliament on 1 August, as slower economic growth and delays in securing statutory approvals such as environmental clearances and completing land acquisition stalled many big-ticket projects, hurting companies’ ability to generate cash flows and repay loans on time. The economy grew less than 5% in each of the previous two years.

To fend off some of the negative impact of higher NPAs and increased provisioning that will be required from next year, banks appear to be hastening restructuring.

“Restructuring is not a bad thing. The economy is not out of the woods and a lot of companies are under stress,” said a senior public sector banker who didn’t want to be named.

Restructuring through so-called joint lenders’ forum or the corporate debt restructuring (CDR) mechanisms will “continue to happen, but we won’t get the regulatory leeway if we restructure after six months”, the banker said.

“So for a few cases, where we know for sure restructuring will be required in the coming quarters, we are fast-tracking the process to save precious capital. There is nothing wrong in it,” he added.

This increased pace of restructuring is showing up in data from the CDR cell. In the three months ended 30 June, referrals to the CDR cell fell to only two cases, amounting to Rs.2,854 crore, according to data on the CDR cell website.

In the three months ended 30 September, 14 cases, totalling Rs.13,300 crore, were referred to the cell. Of the referrals, seven cases involving a combinedRs.6,000 crore of loans came in September alone. Among these was Shriram EPC Ltd’s Rs.2,400 crore loan. On 11 September, Shriram EPC informed the BSE that its board had approved a scheme of restructuring.

To be sure, the fall in debt restructuring cases in the first quarter was also partly due to a new stressed asset framework under which banks were required to form a JLF to monitor accounts of Rs.100 crore and above that are overdue by more than 60 days.

The JLF can together choose to give additional funds to a stressed borrower, or restructure, or initiate recovery if they feel their loan is under threat.

The new rules were effective 1 April.

“It took a full quarter for banks to understand how the JLF should function. Companies also requested us not to put them in CDR because that puts lot of restriction on them, hence the low referrals in the first quarter,” said another senior public sector banker who did not want to be named.

Once a company is in CDR, its operating freedom is curtailed as banks keep a close eye on the activities of the management and sometimes push the companies to sell assets to recover their dues. The companies also find it difficult to raise additional funds from the market.

“Besides, companies were hoping that with a stable government at the centre, the macro-economic situation will improve fast, but nothing much came in the July budget and then the recent coal de-allocation has dashed hopes of companies for a quick turnaround. Referrals in the second quarter is now back to normal,” said the banker quoted above.

However, bankers add that restructuring in the current fiscal is unlikely to rise above the levels seen in previous years. Rating agency Crisil Ltd estimates that restructuring in fiscal years 2012, 2013 and 2014 were to the tune ofRs.1.2 trillion, Rs.1.6 trillion and Rs.1.3 trillion, respectively.

Crisil expects the banking system to restructure Rs.1 trillion of loans in fiscal 2015, out of which Rs.30,000 crore was completed in the first quarter.

“The key reason is the existing pipeline of assets under restructuring, end of regulatory forbearance for restructured assets by March 2015, and continued pressure on the credit profile of leveraged companies. This will take the cumulative restructuring since April 2011 to nearly Rs.5 lakh crore by March 2015,” said Pawan Agrawal, senior director at Crisil Ratings.

Restructuring in fiscal 2016, the year when the regulatory forbearance ends, depends on a few key factors, explained Agrawal.

Apart from economic growth and the ability of firms to raise equity through sale of assets or otherwise, “success of the RBI norms related to revitalization of distressed assets, the effectiveness of JLFs and success of the policy measures (such as fuel availability, fuel pricing, and ease of land acquisition process) to address the viability of the infrastructure projects”, will be key in determining restructuring in the next financial year, he said.

An emerging uncertainty which could add to the need for restructuring is the recent de-allocation of coal blocks following a Supreme Court order.

Bankers fear this will add to stress across power sector borrrowers, many of whom have already faced adverse operating circumstances due to issues such as inadequate fuel linkages. Loans to companies affected by the coal-block de-allocation may need restructuring, bankers say.

In a high-level meeting on 17 October between the finance ministry, power ministry, and bankers, power companies requested for special dispensation for their loans. The request is likely to be put across by bankers to RBI.

A special dispensation is restructuring outside the regular banking mechanisms such as CDR where accounts across an industry can be restructured without additional provision requirements. Typically, under such schemes, companies get a temporary moratorium and more time to repay loans and a change in interest rate terms.

“These are special extraordinary conditions and merit a dispensation by the central bank. If RBI allows us such a provision, then the stress on our books can come down significantly,” said a banker who attended the 17 October meeting. He also spoke on condition of anonymity.

Banks’ exposure to the power sector is more than Rs.5 trillion, banking secretary G.S. Sandhu said after the meeting. An 8 October report by India Ratings and Research Pvt. Ltd said the committed exposure of the banking sector to power projects affected by the Supreme Court verdict is aroundRs.90,000 crore, or about 1.2% of the banking system’s loans.

Five-star jail: Sahara pays up Rs 31 lakh for Subrata Roy’s stay in Tihar ‘deal room’

 PTI 1 Nov 2014

The Sahara group has paid Rs 31 lakh to Tihar jail authorities as charges for stay of its chief Subrata Roy in an air-conditioned facility and using services like phone, internet and video conferencing for 57 days to negotiate sale of his luxury hotels abroad.

Subrata Roy was allowed by the Supreme Court to use the jail's conference room to negotiate sale of his hotels in order to collect Rs 10,000 crore for his bail.

"The payment was made by the Sahara group a few days before the withdrawal of special services. An amount of Rs 31 lakh has been submitted to us that includes the expenses of security, electricity charges, food etc," a senior jail official told PTI.

Roy, 65, stayed in the special facility for a total period of 57 days with his two directors Ashok Roy Choudhary and Ravi Shankar Dubey from August 5 to September 30.

In a letter to Tihar authorities recently, Roy had demanded restoration of the facilities saying that almost 80 percent of the deal was fixed and that withdrawal of services may lead to its cancellation.

He had also demanded enhanced security claiming threat to his life.

Roy, who was sent to jail on March 4 this year for non-refund of over Rs 20,000 crore with interest to depositors, was asked by the court to pay Rs 10,000 crore to get bail, including Rs 5,000 crore in cash and rest of the amount in bank guarantee.

K Srinivasan posted as CBI prosecutor

TNN | Nov 1, 2014, 02.11 AM IST

CHENNAI: Advocate K Srinivasan has been appointed new prosecutor of CBI to handle cases pending before the Madras high court. An order issued by CBI said Srinivasan would hold the post of retainer counsel for three years. 

"You are requested to attend to all matters arising out of criminal appeals, revisions, criminal original petitions and all matters concerning CBI," the October 31 order read.

பஞ்சாப் வங்கி கொள்ளை : மூவர் கைது: ஒருவர் மர்ம மரணம், 39 கிலோ தங்கம் பறிமுதல்

கைது செய்யப்பட்டவர்கள் மற்றும் மீட்கப்பட்ட பொருட்களுடன் . படம்: பிடிஐ

தி இந்து:சனி, நவம்பர் 1, 2014

ஹரியாணா மாநிலம் சோனிபட் பகுதியில் பஞ்சாப் நேஷனல் வங்கியில் சுரங்கம் தோண்டி கொள்ளையடித்த சம்பவம் தொடர்பாக மூன்று பேர் கைது செய்யப்பட்டுள்ளனர்.

 அவர்களிட மிருந்து 39 கிலோ தங்கம், வெள்ளி நகைககள், ரூ. 60 ஆயிரம் ரொக்கம் கைப்பற்றப்பட்டுள்ளது.

முக்கிய குற்றவாளி என சந்தேகிக் கப்படும் ஒருவர் மர்மமான முறையில் இறந்து கிடந்தார். அவர் தற்கொலை செய்து கொண்டிருக் கலாம் எனக் கருதப் படுகிறது.

கொள்ளை

ஹரியாணா மாநிலம் சோனிபட் மாவட்டம் கோஹனா நகரில் பஞ்சாப் நேஷனல் வங்கியின் தலைமைக் கிளையில் கடந்த 26-ம் தேதி சுரங்கம் தோண்டி உள்ளே நுழைந்த கொள்ளையர்கள், அங்கிருந்த ரூ. 40 லட்சம் மற்றும் 84 லாக்கர்களில் இருந்த பொருட் களைக் கொள்ளையடித்துச் சென்றனர்.

இதுதொடர்பாக, தனிப் படை அமைத்து ஹரியாணா காவல் துறையினர் குற்றவாளிகளைத் தேடி வந்தனர். ஹரியாணா காவல்துறைக்கு உதவுவதற்காக, கூட்டுப் புலனாய்வுக் குழு தலைவர் ஆர்.என். ரவியை பிரதமர் அலு வலகம் அனுப்பி வைத்தது.

குற்றப் பின்னணி இல்லாதவர்கள்

இதனிடையே, கொள்ளைச் சம்பவம் தொடர்பாக நான்கு பேர் மீது சந்தேகம் எழுந்தது. அதில் மூன்று பேரை தனிப்படையினர் கைது செய்துள்ளனர்.

அவர்கள் அனைவருமே, சம்ப வம் நடந்த பகுதிக்கு அருகில் உள்ள கத்வால் கிராமத்தைச் சேர்ந்தவர்கள். இவர்கள் மீது பெரிய அளவிலான குற்றச்சாட்டுகள் எதுவும் இதுவரை இல்லை.

அவர்களிடமிருந்து 39 கிலோ தங்கம், வெள்ளி நகைகள் மற்றும் கொஞ்சம் ரொக்கம் கைப்பற்றப்பட்டதாக காவல் துறையினர் தெரிவித்துள்ளனர்.

கைது செய்யப்பட்ட மூவரில் சதீஷ் என்பவர் ரியல் எஸ்டேட் தொழில் செய்து வருகிறார். சுரேந்தர் ஆய்வுக் கூடத்தில் (லேப் டெக்னீஷியன்) பணிபுரிகிறார், பல்ராஜ் விவசாயி. மேலும் ராஜேஷ் என்ற ஒரு நபரை காவல்துறையினர் தேடி வருகின்றனர்.

ஒருவர் மரணம்

இக்கொள்ளைச் சம்பவத்துக்கு மூளையாகச் செயல்பட்டதாகக் கருதப்படும் மஹிபால் என்பவர், பானிபட் சாலையில் நேற்று காலை 3 மணிக்கு இறந்த நிலையில் கண்டறியப்பட்டார். அவர் உடலில் வெளிப்படையாகக் காணத்தக்க காயங்கள் எதுவும் இல்லை.

வங்கிக்குள் செல்வதற்காக, கைவிடப்பட்ட வீட்டிலிருந்து சுரங்கம் தோண்டப்பட்டிருந்தது. மஹிபால் அவ்வீட்டின் உரிமை யாளராவார்.

“கொள்ளைச் சம்பவத்தை அரங்கேற்ற மற்ற நால்வருக்கும் உதவி புரிந்த முக்கியக் குற்றவாளி மஹிபால். தான் பிடிபட்டு விடு வோம் என்ற பயத்தில் அவர் தற்கொலை செய்துகொண்டிருக்க வேண்டும்” என காவல்துறை கண்காணிப்பாளர் அருண் சிங் தெரிவித்துள்ளார்.

இரவில் தோண்டிய சுரங்கம்

மஹிபாலின் பயன்படுத்தப் படாத வீட்டுக்கு தினமும் இரவில் சென்ற குற்றவாளிகள், விடியும் வரை சுரங்கம் தோன்றியுள்ளனர். இரும்புக் கம்பிகளைப் பயன்படுத்தி பாதுகாப்புப் பெட்டகங்களை உடைத்துள்ளனர்.

சுரங்கம் தோண்டும் போது, அவ்வழியாகச் சென்ற தொலை பேசி இணைப்புகள், குடிநீர் குழாய் இணைப்புகள் ஆகியவற்றுக்கு சிறிதும் இடையூறு இல்லாமல் சுரங்கம் தோண்டப்பட்டுள்ளது. மூன்றடி உயரம், 2-3 அடி அகலத் துக்கு சுமார் 100 அடி தொலைவுக்கு சுரங்கம் தோண்டியுள்ளனர்.

எழும் சந்தேகம்

“திருட்டுத் தொழிலில் அனுபவ மற்ற கத்துக்குட்டிகளான இவர்கள், மிக நுட்பமாகத் திட்டமிட்டு, இதை அரங்கேற்றியிருப்பது ஆச்சர்ய மளிக்கிறது. மஹிபாலின் திடீர் மரணம் பல சந்தேகங்களை எழுப்பியுள்ளது.

 உண்மையான கதை இன்னும் வெளிவரவில்லை எனக் கருதுகிறேன். வங்கி ஊழியர் அல்லது வாடிக்கையாளருக்கோ இக்கொள்ளைச் சம்பவத்தில் தொடர்பு இருக்கலாம் என்பதை மறுப்பதிற்கில்லை” என விசாரணை அதிகாரி ஒருவர் தெரிவித் துள்ளார்.

பிடிபட்ட சுரேந்தர்

இது தொடர்பாக காவல்துறை அதிகாரி ஒருவர் கூறும்போது, “கைது செய்யப்பட்ட சுரேந்தர், அந்த பாழடைந்த வீட்டுக்கு அருகே அடிக்கடி சுற்றித் திரிந்ததைப் பார்த்த காவல்துறை தகவலாளி, அதை எங்களுக்கு தெரிவித்தார். 

அவரை கத்வால் கிராமத்தில் பிடித்தபோது, சுரேந்தர் தனது குற்றத்தை ஒப்புக்கொண்டார். கூட்டாளிகள் பெயரையும் சொல்லி விட்டார்” என்றார்.

BOOKS : "Talking of Justice " -A new book by the first woman high court chief justice

Leila Seth at her home in Noida. Photo: Pradeep Gaur/Mint

A new book by the first woman high court chief justice offers insights into the causes affecting women today 

Namita Bhandare : Mint: 28 oct 2014

At the sprightly age of 84, Leila Seth is busy planning her schedule. There are literary seminars to attend, talks to be given to schoolchildren, a book that has just been launched and, yes, already, another book to be written.

The latest is barely out. Launched on her 84th birthday on 20 October,Talking Of Justice: People’s Rights In Modern India is a collection of essays on subjects the former chief justice of the Himachal Pradesh high court holds dear: children’s rights, the status of widows, the need for gender sensitization within the judiciary, prisoner rights, the girl child.

Most of these essays began as talks and lectures delivered 1992 onwards, although the material itself has been updated, edited and rewritten for the book. An essay, You’re Criminal If Gay, appeared first in The Times Of Indiasoon after a two-judge Supreme Court bench reversed an earlier court decision to decriminalize homosexuality. And one, Rape: Inside The Justice Verma Committee, is a first-person account of the tumultuous days of December 2012.

Appointed after the gang rape and subsequent death of a young paramedical student in December 2012 that led to national outrage and spontaneous street protests, the three-member commission included Seth, former chief justice of India J.S. Verma and former solicitor general Gopal Subramanium. It was given 30 days to recommend amendments to the existing sexual assault laws.

Without waiting for the government to provide it with the necessary facilities, the commission got down to work. Subramanium roped in his entire office and all his juniors. Even Justice Verma’s granddaughter, a student at the University of Oxford, UK, home for the holidays, chipped in. The task was mammoth: Sift through 80,000 suggestions from the public, expert advice from around the world, representations from women’s groups and the lesbian, gay and transgender community, and inputs from the police and administration. It was an intense, hectic time; 15 minutes before the deadline to receive submissions ended, representatives from a political party woke up Justice Verma. It was 11.45pm. They too had an urgent submission, they said, leaving only after a signed receipt from him.

When the 631-page report was presented in just 29 days, there was a sense of disbelief in the packed room at New Delhi’s Vigyan Bhavan. Not only had the commission delivered in such a short time, its recommendations went far beyond the law. It wanted police reforms. It spoke about the need for changes in education, particularly the need for sex education. It wanted changes in The Representation of the People Act that would make candidates charged with rape ineligible to contest elections. It was, in short, a 21st century charter for women. “Our brief was limited to the law,” says Seth. “But we went for the wider scope because we knew that unless our approach was holistic, it would not be enough.”

The then prime minister Manmohan Singh sent “a nice letter of thanks”, recalls Seth. But when the law was finally passed, Parliament baulked. Many of the commission’s significant recommendations—on marital rape and rape by men in the Armed Forces, and on making rape gender neutral, for instance—were left out. The death sentence, not recommended, was added. And the age of juveniles, at least for heinous crimes, is being sought to be lowered to 16 through a Bill introduced this year in Parliament.

Over 18 months have passed since the Justice Verma Commission. Justice Verma died barely three months after the report. There is a new law but the number of reported rape and sexual assault cases is up. Misogyny remains on blatant public display, often from elected representatives themselves.

Yet, seated in her book-embellished home, a grand piano inside and a redchampa tree outside, Seth says she remains an “optimist” because “You cannot live without hope.” The government may not have accepted all the commission’s recommendations, but it is, she says, a “beginning”.

The real challenge lies in changing mindsets. “The changed law provides an immediate remedy. But changing mindsets is a slower process. And that change doesn’t come fast,” she says.

“Nothing can change unless we first start talking. The problem is when you sweep things under the carpet,” says Seth.

The commission’s work is done. But the new conversation around sexual violence, patriarchy and the status of women has not abated.

■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■

Personally speaking

Leila Seth began her law practice in 1959 in Patna as one of only two women lawyers practising in the high court there. By the time she wrote her first book, an autobiography elegantly titled ‘On Balance’, she was 74. The book was an 80th birthday gift to her husband Premo, now 91.

In 1992, David Davidar, then with Penguin, visited Shimla, where Seth was the chief justice. He was there to read her son Vikram Seth’s manuscript of ‘A Suitable Boy’. It was Davidar who suggested that Seth write her own book. And it was Davidar again, now head of Aleph Book Co., who suggested she write a personal account of her time at the Justice Verma Commission.

Along the way, Seth wrote We, The Children Of India, which explains the Constitution and preamble—which Seth calls the ”soul of our Constitution”—to children. “Children understand things very quickly, they understand concepts of fairness and justice,” says Seth. It is her conversation with children that gives Seth, a grandmother to two girls, Nandini, 13, and Anamika, 10, her energy. “The young today are so confident,” she says. Her next book is a compilation of stories for children, some of them fictional, imparting values without being preachy.

Taking an interest in the world around her and looking to the future drives Seth’s optimism. She travels throughout the country and beyond, attending literary festivals from Bhutan to Bangalore, asking for no special concessions to her age as she bustles about attending sessions in her trademark handloom saris, feet comfortably encased in Crocs.

The changes she has seen, from the Quit India movement and Partition to the protests of December 2012, are astonishing. Significant laws have been passed, and Seth considers reservation for women in panchayats, the right to information and education among the three most significant in the country.

On this journey, Seth has been open to change too. For instance, she says, when she started out in the profession, completing her law degree after the birth of her children, she says she was against the concept of reservation for women. “As I’ve got older, I have begun to realize that women have been put down for so long that reservation is absolutely essential.”

For Seth, a just society is an equally balanced one. “I am one of those who wishes to walk hand in hand, not a step in front or a step behind,” she says.

Namita Bhandare is consulting editor, gender, Mint.