The Core Report #827 Markets Tank Again
Mar 19, 2026
Ajay Srivastava, founder of GTRI and trade-data expert, and Amit Tandon, founder of IIAS and corporate governance specialist. They discuss market turmoil from Middle East tensions and oil shocks. They cover crashing commodities, risks to fertilizer and LNG supplies, HDFC Bank’s chair resignation and governance dilemmas, and shifts in India’s goods versus services export trends.
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Safe Havens Are Losing Shine As Yields Rise
- Rising yields and a stronger dollar are reversing safe-haven flows into gold and industrial metals.
- Gold fell to its lowest since Feb 6 and copper and aluminium plunged (MCX copper flash crash ~9%, LME aluminium worst since 2018).
HDFC Chairman Resigned Citing Ethics Without Details
- HDFC Bank's non-executive chairman Atanu Chakraborty resigned citing differences over values and ethics.
- Govindraj reports the board tried to get him to elaborate; RBI appointed Kekimistri as interim chair and saw no material governance concerns.
Run An Independent Review To Clear Governance Doubts
- Do conduct a structured independent review when a chairman raises ambiguous governance concerns.
- Amit Tandon urges HDFC to facilitate a dialogue or independent probe and then publish conclusions to remove lingering ambiguity.