New Delhi, May 14 -- Writing to his shareholders in 1990, investing legend Warren Buffett was at his candid best when describing his stance towards bank stocks. "The banking business is no favourite of ours," the chairman of Berkshire Hathaway said in his keenly-tracked annual letter. "When assets are twenty times equity-a common ratio in this industry-mistakes that involve only a small portion of assets can destroy a major portion of equity. And mistakes have been the rule rather than the exception at many major banks."

His trusted partner, Charlie Munger, echoed the views, too, over the years.

"It's hard to run a bank intelligently," Munger told an interviewer once. "There's a lot of temptation to do dumb things which will make the ea...