STOCKS are battered down, food prices have shot up and loans have got pricey.

And if all this isn't enough for the common man to fret, there is the all important concern – if the money in his bank is safe or not!

Recently, we carried a story on how Indian banks are safe. However, most bank customers are still anxious about the safety of their banks.

wealth addresses your grievances and offers a solution.

Grievance 1: I have no inkling about the bank's fate, until it has collapsed. And then, it may get too late.

Solution: Do some number crunching

Look at the banks' key ratios and parameters (such as net worth and profits). This will tell you about its financial health.

According to Himendra Hazari of Karvy Consultancy, you can look at the following ratios:

-- Capital Adequacy Ratio: Commercial banks need to maintain a minimum capital to risk-weighted assets ratio (CRAR) of 9 per cent. In simple terms this means that if the bank has given out Rs 100, it should have at least Rs 9 with it as capital.

Here's a brief snapshot of the CAR of some banks:

*Top three banks by market capitalization in that category.

Source: A Profile of Banks - Reserve Bank of India

Read: Lehman fiasco: Panic proof your money, NOW!

Photograph: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images

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e-mail: Suraj Anand

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