(Kuradi Chandrasekhara Kalkura)
Historian Arnold Toynbee remarked: “Inordinate economic expansion is both immoral and impracticable.; it is immoral because all greed encroaches on the same and/or similar needs of others, and it is impractical because there are not enough material goods anyway.”
It is in this context that Gandhi by himself and as interpreted by Vinoba is worthy of attention. The Banking Industry in India, supported and patronized by the Father of the Nation like the Khadi and Village Industries was part of the Swadeshi Movement. It is ironic that in the 150th Jayanthi year of the Mahatma the industry is at the brink of losing its identity.
A look at the march of the Banking Industry in India:
The Europeans floated the Allahabad Bank, the oldest joint stock Bank in India, founded in 1865. The second one, the Imperial Bank of India, which was nationalized and renamed State Bank of India in 1955.
Punjab National Bank (PNB) was registered in May 1894, in Lahore. Headed by the Punjab Kesari for a long time, it had the distinction of being the first Indian bank to have been started solely with Indian capital, stalwarts of the National Movement like Gandhiji, Nehru and Patel were among its clientele, as well as the account of the famous Jallianwala Bagh Committee.
Founded in September 1906 by eminent businessmen of Bombay the Bank of India also served the National cause. It is noteworthy that the enlightened ruler, Maharaja Sayyaji Rao Gayakwad III, in 1908, set up the Bank of Baroda (BoB), to serve the common cause of the common man.
Canara Bank, the brainchild of Ammembala Subba Rao Pai, a philanthropist was established in July 1906, in the Coastal Karnataka town of Mangalore. As the first Commercial Bank to be completely owned and managed by the Indians, the Central Bank of India was established in December 1911 by the Patriot Sir Sorabji Pochkhanawala and the Statesman, Sir Pherozeshah Mehta as its first Chairman.
Founded in 1906, in a small Taluk headquarters town of Udupi by a wealthy charitable landlord, Khan Bahadur Haji Abudllah Haji Kasim Saheb Bahaddur, the Corporation Bank has transgressed all geographical and communal bearers.
To overcome the financial crisis, Indian Bank was emerged in 1906, in Madras. It was the untiring effort of V.Krishnaswamy Ayer with the support of the Annamalai Chettiiars.
Uncharacteristically, writers and social activists, Bhai Vir Singh, Sir Sunder Singh Majitha, and Sardar Tarlochan Singh, established Punjab & Sind Bank in Lahore, also a result of the waves of Nationalism, in June 1908,
The patriots V. G. Kale and D. K. Sathe founded The Bank of Maharashtra in September 1935 at Pune. Doyen of the Tamil Nadu Industry, M.Ct.M.Chidambaram Chettiar established the Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) to encourage overseas banking and foreign exchange operations.
T M A Pai, Upendra Pai, and Vaman Kudva strove together to set up the Syndicate Bank, with a capital of Rs.8,000/- in 1925, at Udupi.
Union Bank was inaugurated by Mahatma Gandhi.in November 1919. During the Quit India Movement, in 1942, the idea of G.D. Birla, one of the Grand Old Men of Indian Industry, of commencing a Commercial Bank resulted in organizing the United Commercial Bank in Kolkota.
Four smaller Banks in W.Bengal merged to become United Bank of India in 1950. In May 1939, the community traders, financiers and Philatelists, Devakaran Nanjee family adopting the family name, floated the Dena Bank.
Rai Bahadur Lala Sohan Lal founded Oriental Bank of Commerce in 1943 in Lahore. In 1947, when it was forced to shift the headquarters to Amritsar, Lala Karam Chand Thapar, the chairman, in a unique gesture honoured the commitments made to the depositors from Pakistan and paid every rupee to its departing customers.
Vijaya Bank was established by a group of farmers led by Attavara Balakrishna Shetty, @ A.B.Shetty, (Who later became a Minister in the Composite Madras State and Karnataka ) on Vijayadasami Day, on 23 October 1931 in Mangaluru in Dakshina Kannada District of Karnataka State.
Andhra Bank has great sentimental attachments to the Andhras. It is as good as the Ramasethu and Ramajnmabhoomi to the Hindus. Bhogaraju Pattabhi Sitaramayya @ Pattabhi founded the Andhra Bank in 1923 in Machilipatnam, Andhra Pradesh.
Pattabhi along with some other companions literally walked from door to door to collect the share Capital. Many revealing anecdotes are narrated about the purgatory period Pattabhi had undergone to establish the Bank.
In 1956, after the reorganization of the States, headquarters of the Bank was shifted to Hyderabad. As such, it has been part and parcel of the Andhra Movement also.
“Every living thing shares an ancestry,” said Charles Darwin. Banking Industry in India has a separate identity. They are all Small Men’s Big Banks. Even before the independence and particularly in the post-independent period, before the nationalisation, they filled the void created by Madras Agricultural Debt Relief Act (Sarcastically called MAD Act) and Bombay Agricultural Debt Relief Act (BAD Act).
When the Global Standard Banking came up for discussion, T.M.A.Pai, one of the founders of the Syndicate Bank was reported to have asked Morarji Desai, the Finance Minister to remove the Gandhi Cap and speak.
Elsewhere in the world, the countries got independence through bloodshed. India attained it through Gandhi Cap.
Nationalization of the Banks in 1969 and 1980 was detested by a large section of the Citizenry and some other sections of the political outfits.
It is ironic that erstwhile Avatar of the BJP, Jana Sangh, by tooth and nail had opposed the Nationalisation.
Yet the individual banks have not lost their identity, did not destroy the individuality and the heritage associated with the Banks. On the other hand, their base was expanded. There has been a spirit of healthy competition among them for better service.
It is unfortunate that in our country the consumer Movement is lukewarm. The employees take up the cause of the customers. Selfish motives are attributed to the Trade Unions. To pacify the disturbed atmosphere, ‘No Retrenchments’ is assured. What about future employments and lending policies? Will it also be the global standard? It is pertinent to bring to the notice of the reader that the Banks sustain a loss, not because of the small borrowers; but by the big Barrens like Mallya’s, Chokshis, Modies, etc. It is not an exaggeration to say the amalgamation and mergers are again meant to serve their causes.
Indian National Congress and its leaders, including the Father of the Nation had been associated with the progress of the Banking Industry in one way or the other. Here is a God-sent opportunity for the grand old party to take up the cause of the people. It need not organize separate agitations.
It is enough if it joins the movement that is being carried on by the employees. Mergers are proposed to meet the global standards of the Commercial banks. India’s economy is still rural oriented and agricultural-based. If the proposed merger of all the commercial banks is to be completed it will be the death knell of a Golden Era in the Financial History of India.
It was Mahatma Gandhi who in a speech in South Africa in 1890 said: “A customer is the most important visitor on our premises. He is not dependent on us. We are dependent on him. He is not an interruption of our work. He is the purpose of it. He is not an outsider of our business. He is part of it. We are not doing him a favor by serving him. He is doing us a favor by giving us the opportunity to do so.”
Feature Photo: Money Control.Com నుంచి