The Hindu : Talwar — a saviour of SSIs

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Apr 26, 2002

Business

Business

Talwar — a saviour of SSIs

By K. T. Jagannathan

CHENNAI APRIL 25. A super banker of yester-year with a clear fix on tomorrow. That was R.K. Talwar. The former Chairman of State Bank of India may have passed into the pages of history. Yet, his contributions, nay works, at SBI hold a lesson or two to young bankers of the coming generations. The introduction of organisational reforms and innovative banking in the 70s had brought out the visionary in Talwar. If the organisational revamp had underscored his concern for making banking a lot more creative activity, his concept of innovative banking had always in mind a proper blend of business goal and social obligations. Not surprisingly, SBI, during his tenure at the helm, was making some unorthodox lending such as financing prisoners, rehabilitation of ex-convicts, helping industrial workers to buy bicycles and the like. More than anyone, Chennaites will cherish his memory more. At a young age, Talwar was vested with the job of Deputy Secretary and Treasurer to Madras Circle. The five-year stay in Chennai saw him take the circle to the top in SSI lending. For Talwar, "small man'' had become some sort of on obsession. So much so, he was often referred to as "Saviour of SSIs,'' "Father of SSI movement'' and what not. He was singularly responsible for establishment of the merchant banking division in SBI. His `emotional involvement' with small units had forced him to direct this division to help grown SSIs graduate to next phase. Talwar laid much store by sound lending. Availability of security - even in the form of Government uarantee - in his reckoning, should never deviate a banker from the principles of sound lending.

Talwar always sought only a supplementary role for banks vis-a-vis assisting the farm sector. On several occasions, he had made it plain that the primary role still belonged to the co-operative sector. Unlike the new generation banker who does not hesitate to pull out of a firm at the first sight of trouble, Mr. Talwar had always held that it was the primary responsibility of the banker to identify the trouble and nurse a unit out of sickness.

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