A Multivariate Analysis of the Financial Characteristics of Commercial Banks in India

This study investigates the differences in the financial characteristics of public sector banks, private sector banks and foreign banks in India based on factors, such as profitability, liquidity, risk, and efficiency. To identify the differences, the multinominal regression analysis was used on the sample of 74 Indian commercial banks comprising 27 public sector banks, 24 private sector banks and 23 foreign banks for the period 2000-05. The findings suggest that foreign banks were better performers, as compared with the other two categories of banks, in general and in terms of utilization of resources in particular during the period chosen for the study.