GIPE-PUNE-OIIOI2 - DSpace@GIPE

108 THE BANK CAPITALISM OF YOU;\/G' BENGAL
National Bank in 1927 is perhap~ the only instance of
failure in Calcutta itself. Altogether, the Bengali mind
may be taken to be cool and realistic enough in regard to
banking enterprises to be able to withstand the repercu.ssions.
of a few untoward -circumstances in tbe business
world. In any case the bank failures have not been
serious and extensive enough to constitute at any time a
real cirsis in economic and financial Bengal. As for the
situativn of locked-up capital and frozen investments from
which the Bengali cottage banks are suffering, to-day, it
is mainly but an aspect of the world-wide economic depression
(1929-32) to which even in America, the traditional
land of liquid capital, a large number of banks has
fallen a victim.
We should analyse the present banking organization
a little more· intensively .. As there are 800 banks, it means
that there are at least 8,000 directors and all of them' are
bound by law to transact busin~s according to •',company
methods." They are compelled to hold meetings •.
prepare balance-sheets and have the accounts audited by
certified experts. Now these 8,000 men are not alllaw,,\
years or Zamindars. Many of them are pucca business.
men, merchants,' contractors, engineers, retail traders,
exporters and importers .. Naturally, therefore, joint-stock
banking is beco~ing ingrained i:o. the habits vf the. Bengali
intellectuals and middle classes. And this habit is not
confined to Calcutta ~or the district towns alone. It is.
diffused throughout the length, and breadth of the·
country, not excluding some 'of the.remotevillages.
Let us take the banking situation now from another'
standpoint, namely, the question of employment for· the:
middle classes. In order to run a bank, one needs, on