MINT ROAD MILESTONES

“Mint Road Milestones” by Bazil Sheikh, Ranjeeta Dubey and Surendra Khot ; Published by Reserve Bank of India; Pages 476 ; Price Rs. 1650/-
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April 2009 to March 2010 was the Platinum Jubilee year of the Reserve Bank of India, which commenced operations on April 1, 1935. The RBI has rightly celebrated the entire year with a variety of events such as release of P J stamps, release of special P J coins, outreach programmes at schools, colleges and villages, lectures by eminent persons, discussions, etc. One of these worthy of high praise is their bringing out “Mint Road Milestones” a Coffee Table Book copiously illustrating the history of the RBI. The Bank has earlier released three volumes of history of RBI with exhaustive and exhausting reading material aimed at the student and the scholar.

Governor Dr. Subbarao in a Foreword to the book under review declares, “The Bank has been at the forefront of building public policy and economic thought. Its story, in some ways reflects the story of finance and banking in India…This retrospective gives a glimpse into the Bank’s eventful past and the road it has traversed. The journey is supported by visuals and vignettes that transcend time to bring alive the spirit of one of the oldest central banks of the developing world.”

An introductory chapter furnishes a cogent and abbreviated history of the Bank, beginning with the Hilton Young Commission, the efforts of J.M.Keynes, the Central Banking Enquiry Committee Report, etc. The RBI Act came into force on January 1, 1935. The first Governor was
Sir Osborne Smith, an Australian who resigned before his term was over. We are furnished details of how RBI was transformed from a private shareholders bank to a fully government owned institution. The slow, sure and steady enlargement of its functions led to new areas such as agriculture, industry, economic development and financial inclusion. Covered are the devaluation of the Rupee, demonetization of high-value currency notes, exchange control regulations, establishment of several bodies such as UTI, IDBI, ARDC, etc. All these innovations were in addition to its traditional role of issue of currency, debt management, etc. A primary concern of the Bank was the building up of a tremendous data-base with a variety of publications like the Annual Report, the Currency and Finance Report and the valuable monthly bulletins. The Bank provides a cornucopia of valuable and accurate information on vital aspects of our economy.

The period of 75 years is divided, in this volume, into six phases. The first period—1935—1949 covers the years up to nationalization of RBI and the legislation Banking Companies Act. The first era of planning (1950-68) forms the essence of the next section and includes establishment of new institutions to build a fresh financial architecture for the country. The crucial event of bank nationalization and its aftermath is the subject matter of the third period (1969-81) which was plagued by a nightmarish external payments position and witnessed our resort to IMF loan. The period 1982-90 was the era of liberalization, especially after mid—1980s. The year 1991 spelt crisis and became the stage for jumping into opening up of the economy toward a market economy. It covered the years 1991-2000.The final phase is dedicated to the new millennium (2001-09) and shows how reforms were consolidated and the country moved over to strikingly higher growth rates.

A Time-Line of events very skillfully summarises major world events throughout the volume. International events of significance are provided in a capsule form. This includes not merely banking developments but other arenas too. A few examples will illustrate the gamut of this successful attempt. “Black Tuesday” when the US stock exchange collapsed (1929 ), the Royal Indian Naval Mutiny (1946), Bandung Conference (1955),Launching of Sputnik (1957), Martin Luther King’s outstanding oration—“I Have A Dream…”(1963), Mother Teresa being awarded the Nobel Prize and the Bharat Ratna (1997 and 1980), Barack Obama becoming America’s first-ever Black President (2009). All the Nobel Laureates in Economics are covered with their photographs. This work of highlighting major events is meticulously done and is highly commendable.

The RBI , as stated earlier, has published three volumes of its authorized history covering the period up to 1981.These are serious tomes for the scholars and students. The volume under review will attract not only students but the lay public --the vast number of persons thirsting to improve their knowledge and widen their vision.

There are three chapters worthy of special mention. One is devoted to all the 22 Governors beginning with Sir Osborne Smith to the latest incumbent Dr.D.Subbarao. One paragraph is allotted to each Governor, recounting the highlights of his tenure. We have excellent portraits of all the Governors. Another chapter deals with all the buildings owned by the Bank at various centres including the three training colleges in Mumbai,Chennai and Pune. There is a hilarious account of the statues of the Yaksha and the Yakshini on the two sides of the entrance to the RBI New Delhi Office building. Questions were raised in Parliament about the Yaksha and the Yakshini. The Yaksha bore an uncanny resemblance to a Bombay politician Sadobha Patil. Actually the statue is that of Kuber, the God of wealth. The Yakshini which was described as the statue of a semi-naked woman is the representation of agriculture and prosperity.

The chapter “Lives and Times at the Bank” is surely bound to excite nostalgia with rare and unobtainable photos of persons, groups and events during this long period. Special mention must be made of the inclusion of the photo of Subedar Sam Bahadur who worked with several Governors and who came in for special praise by Governor H.V.R.Iengar, who paid tribute to Sam Bahadur’s “Dharma”.

Admirable is the tremendous effort involved in ferreting out newspapers of these 75 long years and providing photostat copies of the reports on major events. Also one is entertained by the original reaction of two of India’s greatest cartoonists Shankar Pillai and R.K.Laxman, who employ their pungent wit to comment on many a development.

A couple of omissions deserve to be highlighted. During the 1993 serial Mumbai blasts, three officers of the Bank, belonging to DBOD, lost their lives while inspecting a foreign bank in the Air-India building. It is a matter for deep regret that sadly there is no mention of this great sacrifice in this volume. In fact the volume should have been dedicated to these three officers as also all those who lost their lives during service ein RBI. A matter of minor regret is the failure to mention in the portion on Governors of the Bank that seven of them have been conferred by Government of India the national awards Padma Vibhushan / Padmabhushan.

The Governor and his team of Editors deserve to be warmly complimented in bringing out this excellent compendium which is an easy-to-absorb capsule history of our Central Bank and the Indian economy for 75 years with a backdrop of international events. It is a veritable feast to the eyes and rich repast to the brain.


P.P.Ramachandran,
B-2-64,Snehadhara,
Dadabhai Cross Road 3,
Irla, Vile Parle (West),
Mumbai, 400056
12-04-2010