Book Description

Drawing upon the archival material of the State Bank of India, which include some of the most extensive primary sources available on joint stock banking in India, this book, the final volume in the trilogy on the evolution of the State Bank of India, is a narrative history of the Imperial Bank of India from 1921 to 1955. The book documents with precision and rare candour the initial setbacks and subsequent rise of the Imperial Bank during a critical political and economic phase that spanned the Great Depression, World War II and post-Independence India, as also the corresponding development of industries in India with which the Imperial Bank was closely associated. It also briefly profiles the Reserve Bank of India, which was established in 1935 in order to take over the quasi-central functions of the Imperial Bank.