EVALUATING IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON THE LIQUIDITY AND PROFITABILITY OF SELECTED PRIVATE BANKS: EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE FROM INDIA

This study analyses the impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic on the liquidity and profitability of the top five listed private banks of India through 7 key variables. It also evaluates and compares the performance of the banks during the period from 2017 to 2023 for the same. For analysing the data, the periods have been divided into the three phases – Pre-Covid, During Covid, and Post-Covid following which ratio and trend analysis have been used. For further comparative analysis, the Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) method has been employed. From the analysis, it has been broadly found during the pandemic, the selected banks’ average liquidity metrics were adversely affected. However, the profitability performances were not impacted the same and rather saw a linear growth. From the comparative analysis of the banks, it has been found that based on Liquidity and Profitability, HDFC Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank has been the top performing private banks in the last seven years among all the banks under this study. KEYWORDS: Covid-19, Banks, Liquidity, Profitability, India