Celebrating 50 yrs of bank nationalisation

The nationalised banks do a good job of what their majority owner mandates them to, but most are failed business enterprises

This Friday marks the 50th anniversary of bank nationalisation. Fourteen banks with deposits of at least Rs 50 crore each were nationalised in the midnight of July 19, 1969 hours after Prime Minister Indira Gandhi addressed the nation on this. The Ordinance that paved the path for nationalisation was challenged, an interim stay was granted on a few issues but a 34-day trial before a 11-judge bench in Supreme Court later, all roadblocks were cleared. This set of banks, along with State Bank of India (SBI) and its associate banks, had 85 per cent share in the deposits of the