https://drpca.com/insights/ Articles on valuation, governance, regulatory and tax matters from DRP & Co. LLP, Chartered Accountants, Pune. en-in Mon, 26 Oct 2026 07:22:19 +0000 https://drpca.com/insights/hdfc-bank-succession-the-candidate-not-chosen/ https://drpca.com/insights/hdfc-bank-succession-the-candidate-not-chosen/ Wed, 21 Oct 2026 06:00:00 +0530 Governance CA Dhananjay Walke Boards spend months choosing a successor and almost no time on the runner-up, who usually holds the institution's memory. Plan both outcomes before anything is announced. https://drpca.com/insights/idbi-bank-fairfax-screen-price-vs-block-value/ https://drpca.com/insights/idbi-bank-fairfax-screen-price-vs-block-value/ Mon, 19 Oct 2026 06:00:00 +0530 Valuation CA Dhananjay Walke A 60.72% stake sold at Rs. 81 when the share closed near Rs. 90. With 5% public float, the screen price was the number to doubt. Questions to ask before valuing your own stake. https://drpca.com/insights/admit-your-limits-halzen-nobel-founders/ https://drpca.com/insights/admit-your-limits-halzen-nobel-founders/ Sat, 17 Oct 2026 06:00:00 +0530 General CA Dhananjay Walke Francis Halzen called himself a reluctant leader, hired a project director and stayed with the science. Founders who hold every job grow the business to the size of their diary. https://drpca.com/insights/rent-the-skill-or-own-it-tcs-bench/ https://drpca.com/insights/rent-the-skill-or-own-it-tcs-bench/ Fri, 16 Oct 2026 06:00:00 +0530 General CA Dhananjay Walke TCS kept a bigger bench and still raised subcontractor spend to 6.8% of revenue. With attrition at 13.3%, renting niche skills is a strategy. Renting in a panic is a bill. https://drpca.com/insights/sebi-independent-director-relative-transactions/ https://drpca.com/insights/sebi-independent-director-relative-transactions/ Wed, 14 Oct 2026 06:00:00 +0530 Governance CA Dhananjay Walke An independent director of Indian Oil resigned 34 days after appointment over her son's dealership. The SEBI rule behind it, and what boards should check. https://drpca.com/insights/three-giants-one-month-three-leadership-shocks/ https://drpca.com/insights/three-giants-one-month-three-leadership-shocks/ Fri, 25 Sep 2026 06:00:00 +0530 Governance CA Dhananjay Walke Three leadership shocks at India's largest companies in a month. A ninety-day test for promoters, and succession as three handovers, not one. https://drpca.com/insights/auditors-resigned-over-the-fee/ https://drpca.com/insights/auditors-resigned-over-the-fee/ Wed, 23 Sep 2026 06:00:00 +0530 Governance CA Dhananjay Walke A listed company's auditors resigned two years into a five-year term because the fee did not cover the work. The three things that happen when audit fees are pushed down. https://drpca.com/insights/valuation-date-drift-merger-scheme-vote/ https://drpca.com/insights/valuation-date-drift-merger-scheme-vote/ Mon, 21 Sep 2026 06:00:00 +0530 Valuation CA Dhananjay Walke A merger exchange ratio is being voted on 26 months after its valuation date. Nothing improper, but a valuation is a photograph and relative value drifts. https://drpca.com/insights/one-grandmaster-in-1988-ninety-nine-by-2026/ https://drpca.com/insights/one-grandmaster-in-1988-ninety-nine-by-2026/ Sat, 19 Sep 2026 06:00:00 +0530 General CA Dhananjay Walke Anand did not build Indian chess. He removed a doubt. What the first person in any family, firm or town does for everyone behind them. https://drpca.com/insights/two-years-of-notice-thirty-five-days-to-collapse/ https://drpca.com/insights/two-years-of-notice-thirty-five-days-to-collapse/ Fri, 18 Sep 2026 06:00:00 +0530 General CA Dhananjay Walke India's largest airline cancelled 4,500 flights after pilot rest rules it had known about for two years. Over-optimisation removed the slack. Where to keep yours. https://drpca.com/insights/missing-title-deeds-assets-pledged-for-promoters/ https://drpca.com/insights/missing-title-deeds-assets-pledged-for-promoters/ Wed, 16 Sep 2026 06:00:00 +0530 Governance CA Dhananjay Walke A listed company's assets were pledged for its promoters' borrowings and nothing moved in the accounts. Three questions for every board's agenda this year. https://drpca.com/insights/the-cheapest-valuation-is-about-to-get-expensive/ https://drpca.com/insights/the-cheapest-valuation-is-about-to-get-expensive/ Mon, 14 Sep 2026 06:00:00 +0530 Valuation CA Dhananjay Walke A Bill before Parliament would make IBBI the single valuation authority, with suspension of up to ten years. What that does to how valuers work and quote. https://drpca.com/insights/he-wanted-a-new-market-he-needed-a-spreadsheet/ https://drpca.com/insights/he-wanted-a-new-market-he-needed-a-spreadsheet/ Sun, 13 Sep 2026 06:00:00 +0530 General CA Dhananjay Walke Three weeks of product and customer profitability work showed the largest customer barely broke even. The highest return work is usually the boring work. https://drpca.com/insights/their-biggest-customer-was-a-country-it-repriced-overnight/ https://drpca.com/insights/their-biggest-customer-was-a-country-it-repriced-overnight/ Fri, 21 Aug 2026 06:00:00 +0530 General CA Dhananjay Walke A 50% US tariff froze Rs. 3,000 crore of Tirupur orders. The exporters who came through had built second doors years earlier. Find your 30% dependency. https://drpca.com/insights/the-error-was-survivable-the-fifteen-months-were-not/ https://drpca.com/insights/the-error-was-survivable-the-fifteen-months-were-not/ Wed, 19 Aug 2026 06:00:00 +0530 Governance CA Dhananjay Walke A listed bank's accounting discrepancy cost 27% in a day. The regulator's order was about the fifteen-month gap before disclosure, and the two switches nobody flipped. https://drpca.com/insights/investment-value-versus-market-value/ https://drpca.com/insights/investment-value-versus-market-value/ Mon, 17 Aug 2026 06:00:00 +0530 Valuation CA Dhananjay Walke A DCF supported Rs. 350 crore; a strategic buyer's number crossed Rs. 1,400 crore. Neither was wrong. The gap is arithmetic, and it belongs to one buyer. https://drpca.com/insights/the-most-expensive-way-to-learn-is-alone/ https://drpca.com/insights/the-most-expensive-way-to-learn-is-alone/ Sat, 15 Aug 2026 06:00:00 +0530 General CA Dhananjay Walke The costliest mistakes of a career happen in the first few years and never feel like mistakes. A mentor is borrowed scar tissue. How to find one, and how to ask. https://drpca.com/insights/same-capital-same-industry-3-versus-15-percent-margins/ https://drpca.com/insights/same-capital-same-industry-3-versus-15-percent-margins/ Fri, 14 Aug 2026 06:00:00 +0530 General CA Dhananjay Walke Two chemical promoters an hour apart. One built for volume and owns a factory; the other built a niche and owns a market. Pricing power is what you own. https://drpca.com/insights/kodaks-biggest-competitor-worked-in-kodaks-own-lab/ https://drpca.com/insights/kodaks-biggest-competitor-worked-in-kodaks-own-lab/ Wed, 12 Aug 2026 06:00:00 +0530 Governance CA Dhananjay Walke Kodak and Blockbuster both ran diligent competitor analysis. The threat that ended them never qualified for the slide. The question boards should ask instead. https://drpca.com/insights/ebitda-assumes-your-machines-maintain-themselves/ https://drpca.com/insights/ebitda-assumes-your-machines-maintain-themselves/ Mon, 10 Aug 2026 06:00:00 +0530 Valuation CA Dhananjay Walke Two cement companies at 11 times EBITDA were a third apart in value once maintenance capex was counted. When to look at EV/EBIT instead. https://drpca.com/insights/buffett-punch-card-for-promoters/ https://drpca.com/insights/buffett-punch-card-for-promoters/ Sat, 08 Aug 2026 06:00:00 +0530 General CA Dhananjay Walke Buffett's twenty-slot card is a lens, not a rule. The promoters in most trouble rarely made one bad decision; they made forty average ones. https://drpca.com/insights/the-cfo-who-called-the-bank-first-survived/ https://drpca.com/insights/the-cfo-who-called-the-bank-first-survived/ Fri, 17 Jul 2026 06:00:00 +0530 General CA Dhananjay Walke Two logistics companies hit the same covenant breach. One CFO called the bank before it found out. With recovery rates doubled, silence no longer buys time. https://drpca.com/insights/related-party-lease-approved-in-three-minutes/ https://drpca.com/insights/related-party-lease-approved-in-three-minutes/ Wed, 15 Jul 2026 06:00:00 +0530 Governance CA Dhananjay Walke A warehouse lease from the promoter's family came up for routine renewal. One independent director asked for the arm's length valuation. The rent was 22% above market. https://drpca.com/insights/supreme-court-refused-to-value-tata-sons-shares/ https://drpca.com/insights/supreme-court-refused-to-value-tata-sons-shares/ Mon, 13 Jul 2026 06:00:00 +0530 Valuation CA Dhananjay Walke SP Group said Rs. 1.75 lakh crore, Tata Sons said Rs. 70,000 to 80,000 crore. The Court declined to pick a number. What valuers and promoters should take from that. https://drpca.com/insights/bill-gates-think-week-founders-calendar/ https://drpca.com/insights/bill-gates-think-week-founders-calendar/ Sun, 12 Jul 2026 06:00:00 +0530 General CA Dhananjay Walke Twice a year Gates disappears for seven days to think. Most founders fill every hour; the best thinking happens when there are no meetings at all.