Banking reformed

In the 1980s, the then prime minister Indira Gandhi, launched a massive programme of branch expansion to take banking to every nook and corner of the country. As a result, branches sprouted like mushrooms in god-forsaken places where not even a post office existed!

In many villages or hamlets, it was difficult to identify a building suitable for a bank simply because pucca houses were not available. On the other hand, the branch had to be opened before the license issued by the RBI expired. So the bankers had to run from the Gram Mukhia to the village Zamindar and plead with them to have a building constructed pronto with a bank loan. Even then there were hiccups, like when the steel safe meant for the new branch failed to reach in time. The manager opened the branch and ran it from a cash box deposited overnight with a nearby branch.

Finding a suitable accommodation was only one of the headaches for a regional manager. Along with rapid branch expansion, there was the accelerated promotion of staff. It was jocularly remarked that even desks and tables were promoted to meet the need of the hour.

The regional manager had to display a lot of ingenuity in selecting and posting the ‘least unsuitable’ officer from a lot of officers allotted to him. The dearth of officers was such that the regional manager was lucky if he could get at least one officer to man each branch. The bait often used to attract reluctant staff members for posting in remote centres was to promise them a posting of their choice after completion of their ‘punishment’ posting. It’s a different matter that promises were more often breached than kept.

Bankers have generally been looked down upon as ‘dull’ and boring. What do they know of life except how to count money and how to ‘match’ numbers? This image began to change when banks spread their wings beyond the urban areas. Isolated from civilisation by the
wilderness surrounding him, the inexperienced branch manager began to display quirks that would have made the governor of RBI tear his hair. In one case, when the regional manager landed at a branch for his periodic inspection, he found no one, neither staff nor customers. Then he peeped behind the building and found the branch manager relaxing on a cot, with four hefty rustic damsels massaging his four limbs. If there’s a paradise on earth, it’s here, it’s here, it’s here!

In another instance, the branch had to be opened in a dwelling that also housed a country liquor shop. The two trades were separated by a wall. But a hole in the wall ensured that there was no hindrance to free flow of drinks, especially on weekly haat days when both businesses peaked. Banking has not been the same ever since.