DuPont the Brutus!

She possessed multiple bank accounts.  She maintained excellent bank balance.  Her financial transactions were clear and clean.   She had financially sound business.  Forget defaulting her payments, she never borrowed a single dime from any bank in the first place.  Yet my wife was refused a bank loan when she wanted to buy an apartment! Bank’s reason, her CIBIL score was a big “Anda” aka “Zero!”  How can a person who never borrowed in lifetime have a such a abysmally low CIBIL score!?  Bloody, despite being eternal borrower, and I still maintained a CIBIL score of 800 and above!!!  All the banks and financiers hovering around me offering me unlimited credit! They call me so frequently that they have invaded my dreams also.  Now I can identify most callers from Bajaj finance by their voice alone!

I transformed into Dr. Watson to investigate this ludicrous bank policy.  That is when I realized that the banks want to lend to someone based on his borrowing capability, not on actual financial standing.  No wonder, Vijay Mallya has basking under Her Majesty’s umbrella, “once, the sun that never sets country!”  Banks realized that my wife wouldn’t let the bank loan last longer, and clear it off soon, thus depriving the bank of that precious future value of money!  That too is an NPA for the banks! Whereas a perpetual borrower like me, an ideal customer! What if I default!? The interest rate includes the opportunity cost also! Yet, banks go turtle like SVB.

Doctors have become most loved and hated people in the country, mainly because of their financial status.  Doctors have become darling of the banks and darlings of the Bajaj Finance executives and get offers of huge unsecured loans.  At the same time, both the society and the governments make use of every opportunity to beat them.  Today how do one measure a doctor’s progress or prowess? It is by the car he drives or the bungalow he lives in.  It is foolish and unrealistic expectations of the society that have made the doctor, the Dr Jekyll & Hydes.  

Take my own example.  At the beginning of my career, I drove a Kinetic Honda scooter.  I wanted to provide best services to my patients than having comforts for myself, and hence I invested in best medical equipment. People failed to acknowledge my sacrifice and hence I had less patients or customers.  I bought my first Honda city, after 5 years into practice with a bank loan.  Not because my practice improved, because I fell-down multiple times from the scooter that left many scars on my body.  Voila! My practice doubled instantaneously!   I changed my car to Innova to accommodate my growing family.  Blistering barnacles!  My practice quadrupled! Now I drive a Fortuner and a Thar.  Thank God! There is no stampede.  

Some people accuse me of being biased towards the Japanese cars.  Yes, I am.  The Toyota Production system (TPS) or lean management that has helped me to manage my hospital efficiently and make it more profitable.  I will sometime in future about the TPS, which is a proverbial pearl harbor attack on American economy, to which they will never be able retaliate!   I could write a hundred blogs on that and speak for nearly 12 hours, non-stop!  Anyway, let me not digress from my topic of the day. 

Doctors’ prosperity is pricking public’s eye.  None tries to understand the prolonged and arduous effort invested by the doctors.  Some recent studies showed most of the medical students are under stress.  The life spans of doctors in India is reducing.   Nobody understands the number of jobs they create, the amount of wealth they contribute in the form of interest or taxes! All these while taking care of the health of the country.  The doctor also has equal complicity in this and they easy prey for societal expectations! The moment one develops a decent practice, jumps for a swanky car or posh bungalow.  Even to go for a morning walk or drop kids to school, he drives that car! Very few people understand, it all comes at a cost, the EMI.  

As we entered the new financial year 2023-24, I had a hard look on my finances.  I wanted to measure the true of picture of my success, in real numbers.  That is when I hit upon the DuPont analysis.  It is a financial analysis technique that provides into the different factors that contribute to a company’s return on equity (ROE).  The analysis is named after the DuPont Corporation, which originally developed the method in the 1920s.  It breaks down ROE into three components: profitability, efficiency, and financial leverage.  By analyzing each of these components separately, investors and analysts can gain a better understanding of a company’s overall financial performance.  The formula for Dupont analysis is as follows: 

ROE = Net Profit margin X Asset Turnover X Financial leverage.  

Where: 

• Net Profit Margin = Net Income / Revenue. 
• Asset Turnover = Revenue / Average Total Assets. 
• Financial Leverage = Average Total Assets / Average Shareholder’s equity (Investment). 

If somebody is interested to learn more about it a blog on DuPont analysis of Apple Inc. at this link:  How much Apple does: DuPont Analysis.

Prof. Dr. Prahlada N.B
5 April 2023
Bangalore.