An earnest attempt

Rarely does a banker write an autobiography. Instances of a bank chairman writing a memoir are even rarer. To that extent, P G Kakodkar's My 40 Years with SBI is unique.

Kakodkar joined the bank as a probationary assistant in 1957, two years after the erstwhile Imperial Bank was converted into State Bank of India (SBI), and retired in 1997 after launching its GDR. It is replete with anecdotes that give one an insight into the operations of the country's largest commercial bank""which, along with its associate banks, roughly accounts for a quarter of the Indian banking industry.

However, it suffers from two basic flaws. First, there is no untold story about the Harshad Mehta scam or the Nagarwala scandal, the most plausible reason being that it is not possible for any insider at any level of such a vast organisation to have had a ringside view of all major events that rocked it. Second, even though the book has seen the light of the day nine years after Kakodkar retired as chairman of SBI, he started the project just a month after his retirement. For an objective account of history, one would perhaps need to wait for a longer period to look back at events. Kakodar did not, and so naturally his passion, excitement and even anger run high in some chapters, which is not necessarily a virtue.

However, despite these blemishes, the book is a good read. One gets glimpses of the rampant trade unionism and occasional political interference in the operations. The Calcutta main branch, where Kakodar was posted as chief manager in 1981, had a staff of 2,400 including an army of 64 sweepers""and they hardly worked. Everybody who dealt with cash was given bars of Lifebuoy soap and towels every month, but nobody knew how this began; it took the author seven months and 21 letters to a higher authority to stop the practice.

The chapter on the Emergency gives a graphic account of political interference. On Indira Gandhi's 59th birthday in November 1976, the bank decided to open 59 branches, and these branches in turn were directed to plant 59 trees, open 59 student accounts and hold blood donation camps with at least 59 donors. Despite all the fawning, there was no respite. Sanjay Gandhi pressured the then chairman RK Talwar for fresh financing of Jaipur Udyog, a sick unit owned and managed by one Alok Jain. Talwar was unwilling to comply, and so he had to go. Since there was no provision in the SBI Act for the chairman's dismissal, the government promulgated an Ordinance for it.

While Kakodkar is all praise for Talwar, he does not conceal his bitterness about the bank's managing director A S Puri, who used the influence of his contact with R K Dhawan to grab the chairman's post but did not succeed. His comment on D N Ghose, a bureaucrat-turned-chairman, is interesting: "He is one of those Bengalis who are excellent managers but shy away from personnel matters, particularly if it involves a clash with trade unions."

One may not agree with Kakodkar's comments on events and executives, but what makes the book absorbing is his honesty. While appearing at the interview for the probationary assistant's job, Kakodkar noticed that once a candidate's interview was over, he was promptly escorted to the lift by the bank officials to ensure that others did not get know what questions were asked. So, when his friend Prahlad Desai's interview was over, Kakodar promptly took the stairs and caught him at a nearby Irani restaurant to find out what was asked. Not too many chairmen would admit this. Similarly, when the then additional secretary, banking division, YV Reddy, called him to say that he was being made the chairman and asked him to speak to RBI Governor C Rangarajan before taking over the assignment, Kakodkar told him that he did not have the governor's telephone number.

It's a rare bank chief who has the candour to admit the best advice he got was from his boss: "Have at least two children as soon as possible as this will make the wife busy and not have time to think about the husband." He followed that earnestly, and his wife never complained. This is a telling commentary on the working life of public sector bankers. One should welcome more such autobiographies from bank bosses.

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MY 40 YEARS WITH SBI

P G Kakodkar
Goan Observer
Price: Rs 395; Pages: 545