The Hindu Business Line : Travails of a depositor

It is September and the parijat trees are in bloom. Every September it happens and the repetition does not tire or bore. One can inhale them from far. At 5 in the morning, the road below the trees bear a crowd of the white flowers with orange stems. You smile to yourself, grateful for the first cheer of the day; all the strollers walk round the flowery arc, sparing a few moments for a benediction which may last for about another 10 days. Sometimes, strong late monsoon rains wash away the buds and flowers. On the route one takes for mornimg walks, there are four parijat trees and it is to be hoped they are around for a long time as the roads are being widened.

I was sure the day will go fine and with a laugh Rama and myself stepped into the Yogi Nagar branch of a bank to open a joint savings account. It is a new branch and my friend Deemant told me of its efficiency. “Phataphat kaam ho jata hai (Work gets done quickly),” he had told me. A lady offered us seats and one wished her good morning which went unreturned. We informed her of our mission. “Have you any proof of your identity,” the lady asked me and one placed on the table xerox (with the originals) of my PAN and ration cards along with passport size photographs. She checked out the photographs and other documents and nodded her head.

“You want to open a joint account,” she asked and we said yes. “You have any identity proof for your wife, Rama,” came the next question. Till date none (not even a banker) had suspected our 25-year old marriage; but then the lady banker had her job to do. “Madam, the ration card is there,” one suggested. “But that does not have her photograph,” came the reply. Rama moved in with a plea: “I have always been a housewife and so I cannot own a PAN card.” One felt like adding but did not: “At least P. Chidambaram, the union finance minister, has not yet ruled that housewives would be taxed for keeping homes neat.”

The lady banker did not like it as a reference had to be made to the rule book. She looked at us for a sufficient minute, juggled with the xeroxes and asked us to wait as she went on a visit to her boss. Seemingly, we wore a humiliated look, as two customers sympathised with us. Thanks be to the heavenly world of bankers, the lady came back and said everything was okay and we could open a joint account. It is now running.

From there we went to the new branch of a public sector bank on Chandavarkar Road to open a joint account. On advice from some friends in Chennai, one went for the option of opening new savings accounts in government banks to trim the load of interest tax on one’s retirement benefits.

A well-dressed kid welcomed us and agreed to write up a pile of forms to open a joint savings account. The bank branch did not have a xerox machine and one walked across to a xerox shop on L.T. Road to make copies of ration and PAN cards (one has got into the habit of carrying copies of these cards and colour passport-size photos even at home, being unsure when some government official will throw an identity challenge).

Rama and myself furiously signed the forms when the young fellow remarked that my signature did not tally with the one on the PAN card. One got irritated but agreed they were vastly different. “But then I look the same as the photo on the PAN card. Again, Canara Bank, Corporation Bank, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank did not raise any objections where we have joint accounts,” one told the banker.

He asked us to wait to consult his senior and came back to say that we could not open a joint savings account. “Sir, your wife can be a nominee as she has no identity proof,” he added. We walked away and Rama cursed herself. “We have done some major sin in our last janma (birth); otherwise we would not have been born as Indians to deal with Indian bankers,” she murmured.

Scared of IT officials picking one up for having a PAN card with a dated signature, one rushed to one of the new private sector banks as they arrange to get PAN cards for their customers.

Manish Solanki, my good friend at the bank, offered to get me a new PAN card with a fresh signature. “No problem, Sir. Please get me a government document verifying your date of birth,” he said.

One took an auto home and spent about 30 minutes to locate a birth certificate issued by the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education in 1963. With a bright smile, one offered a xerox of the key government document and the fellow said, “Don’t worry Sir, The new PAN card will be delivered home.” We are in the pause mode. The week has been trying for Rama and me.

Bankers go by a cardinal maxim: Suspect every one; make an exception to the ruling elite.

Over the last one year, the RBI and the banks have been telling the media about “no frill accounts” and “financial inclusion” of the poor. My Marxist friends slot me in the “upper middle class” category though that does not sufficiently excuse the style of conducting business. The poor without collateral and identity proofs do not stand a chance to be bank depositors.

In a crisp remark on the banking system, Muhammad Yunus says: “Why can’t the poor control any capital? Because they do not inherit any capital or credit, nor does anybody give them access to capital, because we have been made to believe that the poor are not to be trusted with credit – they are not credit worthy. But are the banks people-worthy?” Wonder, whether the Indian banking system can gather a response?

P. Devarajan

More Stories on : Banking | Trends | Reflections

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Max NY Life launches ‘Smart Steps’

Social networking site iYomu for ‘elders’

Travails of a depositor

Borderless Bollywood

Idea music extravaganza

India-Australia ODIs: Neo Sports aims at Rs 130-cr ad revenue

Future Group pact with Neo Sports