Barons of Banking: Glimpses of Indian Banking History by Bakhtiar K. Dadabhoy

BOOK I

THE CENTRAL BANK OF INDIA
Sir Sorabji Pochkhanawala

Prologue
IN 1910, A YOUNG PARSI assistant accountant with the Bank of India in
Bombay had the far-fetched idea that he could set up a bank of his own.
When news of this alarmingly ambitious enterprise reached his Manager,
H.P. Stringfellow, he sent for the young man seeking confirmation of such
vaulting intent. At first Stringfellow regarded it as a ‘huge joke’ but when
he realized that the young man was serious, gravely advised him to abandon
his scheme of a bank promoted and managed by Indians. Stringfellow was
concerned about the young man’s career. The young man had served the
bank well and since no other Indian had attained the status he had,
Stringfellow told him that he would be foolish to throw it all away in the
search of a chimera. He asked him to ponder his advice and reconsider his
decision. But the young man had already made up his mind and told his
manager, ‘Sir, I have made up my mind. I resign the bank’s service. One
day my bank will be bigger than yours.’ In this seemingly precipitate
manner was the decision taken from which a premier banking institution in
the country was born. The young man: Sorabji N. Pochkhanawala. The
bank: The Central Bank of India. Sorabji nurtured Stringfellow’s ‘huge
joke’ into a living reality and if his manager was amused, it was Sorabji
who laughed all the way to his ‘own’ bank.
Almost all great achievements are a result of high ambition and an ability
and desire to swim against the prevailing tide. Established industries are
usually populated with old and rigid mindsets; changing these legacy
attitudes requires the courage to challenge and go beyond well-entrenched
paradigms. Progress and change is often achieved through mavericks who

Barons of Banking: Glimpses of Indian Banking History by Bakhtiar K. Dadabhoy