GIPE-PUNE-OIIOI2 - DSpace@GIPE

THE BANK CAPITALISM OF YOUNG BENGAL 119~
a p()pul~tion (abo~t 39,000;000) less than that of Bengal,
ther~ were over 8,000 banks or rather bank offices owned,
as they were, by 13 large' joint-stock institutions, commanding
a deposit of some £2,000 millions. The combined
capital of these firms is about £86 millions. Every
Briton possesses, then, bank capital to the value of.
£2-4-0 (about Rs. 29) and bank deposit valued at £51-6-0
(Rs. 684). And from the standpoint of banking facilities
it is to be noted that for every 4,777 persons there is one
bank office in the country.
If we exclude America from our consideration, this
development represents really the highest that is to be
found in the world to-day. It would therefore be but the
idle vanity of a pigmy to attempt measuring his strength
with a giant, when developments in Bengali banking
were talked of seriously in connection with the British
banking of to-day.
But let us not fight shy of taking note of the American
developments. In 1927 there were some 27,000 banking
institutions in the U.S.A. commanding as they did
a total deposit of 56,735,858,000 dollars.So~ething
less than one-third of this amount constituted the deposit
of the 100 largest banks. In other words, the name of
smaller and medium-sized institutions is legion. Now. the
American population is to be counted at 117,136,000.
This gives a bank office to every 4,338 persons. From
the "standpoint of banking facilities, America is thus a
bit higher than Great Britain. And otherwise American
conditions. register a muc~1 too high level .even for Great
Britain. For. every American possesses a deposit·
to the tune of some 484 dollars (about Rs. 1331). and
bank capital per head of the American population would