The first book to examine the central role played by the Presidency banks in the Indian money market from 1876-1914, this study provides an analysis of exchange bacnks and the international payment mechanisms to challange conventional notions of the causes and consequences of a depreciating currency.

Study of the impact of Britain's economic and financial crises on currency and monetary policy-making in India between the wars, analysing colonial policies during Anglo-US efforts to reconstruct the international financial system and Britain's struggle to restore the pre-eminence of sterling and the City.

&Nbsp; Playing A Part In The Story Is A Cast Of Bankers Who Left Their Imprint On The Bank&Rsquo;S Policies, Practices And Character, Among Them A Series Of Remarkable Chairmen, Not To Speak Of The Hundreds Of Dedicated Officers And Other Employees Who Helped Establish The Bank&Rsquo;S Pre-Eminence And Provide Leadership To The Banking System. &Nbsp; The State Bank Of India Act Received The President&Rsquo;S Assent On 8 May 1955, And On 1 July, Moving With Remarkable Swiftness, The New Bank Came Into Being. The Purpose Was To Create An Institution That Would Form An Essential Part Of The Country&Rsquo;S Plans For Modernization, Envisaged In The Era Of Economic Planning. The Bank Would Have Its Roots Firmly Planted In The Countryside Through A Network Of Branches That Spanned The Country&Rsquo;S Farthest Corners, And Play A Major Role In National Development. In Volume 4 Of The Evolution Of The State Bank Of India We Are Taken Into The Heart Of The Entire Exercise, Ranging From The Organizational Issues Posed By A Rapidly Expanding Network Of Branches Running Into The Thousands To Those Of Motivating A Huge Workforce, Besides The Problems Of Venturing Into Areas Of Banking&Mdash;Such As Development Banking Geared To The Needs Of The Artisan And The Farmer&Mdash;That Had Not Been Tried Before.

Barons of Banking highlights the contributions of six distinguished personalities from the world of banking—Sir Sorabji Pochkhanawala, Sir Purshotamdas Thakurdas, Sir Chintaman D. Deshmukh, A.D. Shroff, H.T. Parekh, and R.K. Talwar—who not only played a pioneering role in the growth of the institutions which they founded, or were actively associated with, but left an indelible mark on the banking industry as a whole. Through the narration of the history of five key institutions - the Central Bank of India; the Reserve Bank of India; the State Bank of India; the Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India Ltd; and the Housing Development and Finance Corporation Ltd—the author gives us a keen insight into the contributions of these luminaries to banking in India. Also included is a narration of the recommendations of important committees and commissions which influenced the course of Indian banking. Divided into four parts, the book uses hitherto unused archival material recently put in the public domain by the RBI. Of particular interest is a discussion of the acrimonious relationship between Sir James Grigg, the Finance Member of the Viceroy’s Executive Council and Sir Osborne Smith, the first Governor of the RBI, which throws fresh light on a spat which remains unprecedented not only in the bank’s history, but possibly in all of banking history. Meticulously researched and engagingly written, this book will be of interest to both the academic and general reader and, of course, to the professional banker interested in a selective peep into the history of his profession.

This fresh and up-to-date interpretation of India's rich and extraordinary history, written by a leading authority in the field, explores themes in ancient, medieval and especially modern India. Peter Robb's accessible study analyses India's civilizations, empires and regions through the ages, and now also evaluates present-day developments and opportunities. A History of India, Second Edition • examines the relationships between politics, religious belief, social order, environment and economic change • assesses, from c. 1860, British colonialism, Indian nationalism and nation-building, popular protest movements, religious revivals, and re-inventions of caste, community and gender • discusses long-term economic development, the impact of global trade, and the origins of rural poverty • has been revised in the light of the latest scholarship, and now features a Chronology as well as a fully reworked final chapter which brings the story up to the present day and carefully considers India's prospects and new roles in the world. Centred around clearly expressed and well argued topics, issues and explanations, A History of India remains the ideal introduction for all those who wish to understand the drama and vitality of India's past, its present situation and its future challenges.

This is a study of the political and economic activities of an important group of British businessmen in India between 1850 and 1960. Though denounced by Indian nationalists as the economic arm of the British Raj, the firms of these `Managing Agents' seemed unassailable before the First World War. However, during the inter-war period they rapidly lost their commanding position to both Indian and other foreign competitors. Dr Misra argues that the failure of these firms was, in part, the consequence of their particular (and ultimately self-defeating) attitudes towards business, politics, and race. She casts new light on British colonial society in India, and makes an important contribution to current debates on the nature of the British Empire and the causes of Britain's relative economic decline.

Annotation.

A comprehensive survey of capitalism's colonialist roots and uncertain future Those who control the world’s commanding economic heights, buttressed by the theories of mainstream economists, presume that capitalism is a self-contained and self-generating system. Nothing could be further from the truth. In this pathbreaking book—winner of the Paul A. Baran-Paul M. Sweezy Memorial Award—radical political economists Utsa Patnaik and Prabhat Patnaik argue that the accumulation of capital has always required the taking of land, raw materials, and bodies from noncapitalist modes of production. They begin with a thorough debunking of mainstream economics. Then, looking at the history of capitalism, from the beginnings of colonialism half a millennium ago to today’s neoliberal regimes, they discover that, over the long haul, capitalism, in order to exist, must metastasize itself in the practice of imperialism and the immiseration of countless people. A few hundred years ago, write the Patnaiks, colonialism began to ensure vast, virtually free, markets for new products in burgeoning cities in the West. But even after slavery was generally abolished, millions of people in the Global South still fell prey to the continuing lethal exigencies of the marketplace. Even after the Second World War, when decolonization led to the end of the so-called “Golden Age of Capitalism,” neoliberal economies stepped in to reclaim the Global South, imposing drastic “austerity” measures on working people. But, say the Patnaiks, this neoliberal economy, which lives from bubble to bubble, is doomed to a protracted crisis. In its demise, we are beginning to see—finally—the transcendence of the capitalist system.

This book aims to give a complete description of the impact of the Great Depression on the Madras Presidency, by using the techniques of both a historian and an economist. Manikumar's multidisciplinary approach provides a fresh perspective on the political, economic and social conditions of the Presidency in the 1930s. The major areas covered are: Madras's economy before the Depression, particularly the state of the export-dependant agricultural sector; the rise of indebtedness among the peasants; the varied effects on industrial sectors; the economic policies of the colonial government, which worsened the degree of debt; and the social and political effects of the Depression, including the Indian National Congress's increased political influence.