Merwin, who was Associate Editor at The Hindu Business Line, explained the challenges faced by Indian banks and zoomed in on issues ranging from bad loans to poor governance.

Any aspiring banking reporter should work harder on connecting the dots to make sense of the complex sector, she said.

She walked the class through the evolution of public sector banks, India’s chequered history of tackling stressed loans and the development of the insolvency bankruptcy code. She also discussed the issues with the code and PSU bank mergers.

Merwin blamed India’s inept law and judiciary system for the  inefficiencies in the country’s banking system, including a recovery late which is lower than the world average.