Structure, Conduct and Performance Analysis of Indian Commercial Banks

The market structure, conducts and performance of the Indian banking sector have changed since the introduction of banking sector reforms. Slower economic growth, coupled with asset quality problems in recent years, has taken a toll on the overall health of the Indian banking sector. Higher statutory capital requirement under Basel III has posed another major challenge to the Indian banks. The purpose of the study is to examine the impact of structural changes and conduct of Indian commercial banks on their profitability in the paradigm of structure–conduct–performance (SCP) framework. Market concentration, bank-specific/macroeconomic variables have been considered as important determinants of the profitability. The regression results find a negative relationship between profitability and market concentration and reject SCP hypotheses. The study found that capitalization, credit risk, leverage and ownership structure are the most important determinants of the profitability of Indian banks. The study also found that financial crisis had no significant impact on the profitability of Indian banks. JEL Classification: C4, G21, G28, L19