INDUSTRY PROFILE ========> HISTORY OF BANKING

INDUSTRY PROFILE

HISTORY OF BANKING

According to history, Babylonians had developed a Banking system.  The great temples were powerful of the Greek Banking institutions.  In ancient Greece and Rome, the practice of granting credit was widely prevalent.  People used cheques and drafts to settle their accounts. Manu, the ancient Hindu law giver has written exhaustive regulations governing credit. He talks about credit installments, interest on loans and commercial papers. During the early periods, although banking business was mostly done by private individuals, many countries established private banks. A public bank was established in Barcelona in 1941.  During 1407, the bank of Genoa was established. The Bank of Amsterdam was established in 1609 to meet the needs of the merchants of the city.  It accepted deposits which could be drawn on demand.

English Banking may correctly be attributed to the London gold smiths.  They received their customer’s valuables and funds for safe custody and issue receipts. These notes, in course of time, became payable to bearer of demand and hence enjoyed considerable circulation.  However, in the course of time, gold smiths were ruined.  This led to the growth of private banking and establishment of “Bank of England” in 1694.

In India, banking existed even during Vedic period.  The books of Manu contain references regarding deposits, pledges, policy of loans and rate of interest.  Although, the business of banking is old, Banking Institutions have since changed in character and content.  Banks play an important role in the economic development of the country.  The entire commercial and industrial activities are well knitted with the banks.  One cannot imagine the cessasion of the banking activities even for a day.  There may be an economic crisis in the country if the banks stop functioning for some days.

In the early days, the banking business was confined receiving of deposits and lending of money.  But the modern bankers undertake wide variety of functions to assist their customers.  In countries like United Kingdom, Banking development preceded industrial development and in United States of America, the Banking development followed the industrial development.  But in many other countries including India, the development has almost been simultaneous.  The peculiarly of Indian Banking is that the banks were started, funded and managed by industrialists to enable them get adequate finance for their businesses or industries.  We can see a direct relationship between banks and the business houses.  The Tata group was associated with Central Bank of India; House of Birla with United Commercial Bank and similarly Rajahs of Chettinad with Indian Bank etc.

Most of the traditional bankers were interested in developing their industries and business units. So there has been an organized development is such banking activities.  Such banks were concentrating in the urban areas.  The vast majority of the rural population was governed only by unorganized group of bankers like indigenous banks and moneylenders.  It would be easier to classify the banks on the basis of their functions:

·        Central Banks

·        Commercial Banks

·        Co-operative Banks

·        Industrial Banks

·        Development Banks

·        Exchange Banks

·        Agricultural Banks

·        Indigenous Banks

·        Regional Rural Banks

Banking system is the driving force for all Economic activities. Banks through their control over the volume of money in circulation influences Production, Consumption and Distribution.  Banks play an active role in the Economic Progress of a country, as they are the major instrument behind the mobilization of resources, investment and on the operation efficiency of the various segments of the economy

The Significance of the Banking system in the process of Economic Development is picturised in the following.

·        Creation and controlling the circulation money.

·        Promoting infrastructural facilities.

·        Capital formation.

·        Rural Development

·        Provides long-term loans and micro credits.

·        Entrepreneurial development

·        Balancing international trade

·        Facilitating with a good medium of exchange (cheque system).

·        Assistance to agriculture and SSI.

·        Acting as a bridge between various sector.

·        Instrument to implement to monetary policy.

·        Catalyst to social change

·        Mobilising savings

·        Incentive to investment.

Controlling trade cycle.

1.2 COMPANY PROFILE

Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) was founded in February 10th of the year 1937 by Shri.M.Ct.M.Chidambaram Chettyar, a pioneer in many fields Banking, Insurance and Industry with the twin objectives of specialising in foreign exchange business and overseas banking. Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) is a leading bank based in Chennai India.  IOB had the distinction of simultaneously commencing operating in three branches at Karaikudi, Chennai and Yangon (Myanmar). Since IOB aimed to encourage overseas banking foreign exchange operations, it soon opened its branches in Penang and Singapore.  Indian Overseas Bank has an ISO certified in-house Information Technology department, which has developed the software that 900 branches use to provide online banking to customers. At the dawn of Independence IOB had 38 branches in India and 7 branches abroad. The Products & Services of the bank includes NRI Services, Personal Banking, Forex Services, Agri Business Consultancy, Credit Cards, Any Branch Banking and ATM Banking. Saga of the IOB is covered into four categories, such as Pre-nationalisation era (1947- 69), at the time of Nationalisation (1969), Post - nationalisation era (1969-1992) and Post-Reform Period - Unprecedented developments (1992 & after). In Pre-nationalisation era (1947- 69), IOB expanded its domestic activities and enlarged its international banking operations. As early as in 1957, the Bank established a training centre, which has now grown into a Staff College at Chennai with 9 training centres all over the country.IOB was the first Bank to venture into consumer credit. It introduced the popular Personal Loan scheme during this period. In 1964, the Bank made a beginning in computerisation in the areas of inter-branch reconciliation and provident fund accounts. In 1968, IOB established a full-fledged department to cater exclusively to the needs of the Agriculture sector. Today, Indian Overseas Bank  boasts of a vast domain in banking sector with over 1400 domestic branches and 6 branches overseas.

Thanjavur Big Temple History

Tanjore big temple mysteries

Tanjore is an excellent place with good water facilities and fully covered with beautiful palm forests. It is a smooth and green place where the great Raja Raja Chola ruled. There are many mysteries present in the Tanjore big temple. The whole construction procedure of the Tanjore big temple is that of a great mystery to the archeologists. The great legends who made research on the Tanjore big temple couldn't find out what is the actual fact behind the construction of the Tanjore big temple. Some of the edible mysteries of the Tanjore big temple are 

• Underground passages in Tanjore big temple
• Huge cap stone at the top of Tanjore big temple
• Painting in Tanjore big temple
• Granite stones used for the temple construction
• Cutting and carving of Granite stones
• Secret passages in Tanjore big temple

The construction of the world's difficult temple is a great mystery to the people of world. As of now we can go only to the prediction on how the Tanjore big temple was created and we cannot conclude on how the construction part would be. 

Underground passages in Tanjore big temple

The Tanjore big temple contains more than 100 underground passages to various places. The underground passages also contain some secret passage that leads to various places like the Palace of Raja Raja cholaand also to other important places. The underground passages lead to the other temples and also to the other places in and around Tanjore. Most of the underground passages were sealed and if the people choose the wrong passage then there are possibilities that the path may also lead to the dangers. This can also be a trap for the kingdom safety of Raja Raja Chola. 

Huge Cap stone at the top of Tanjore big temple

The biggest mystery of all the other mystery in Tanjore big temple is the huge cap stone in the top of the Tanjore big temple. The weight of the cap stone at the top of Tanjore big temple weighs 80 tons. The main exclamation about the cap stone is that how come the builders of Tanjore big temple were able to place the cap stone at the top of the Gopuram in Tanjore big temple. There were no cranes or any high end equipments used in those days to do these works. The only thing that can help is the elephants. The huge cap of Tanjore big temple is constructed in such a way that the shadow of the Tanjore big temple Gopuramwill not fall on the ground. It will just fall on itself. This particular planning and type of construction is not an easy task to go with.

Paintings in Tanjore big temple

There are lots of high quality paintings in the Tanjore big temple that explain many things about thekingdom of Raja Raja Chola and also the greatness of the Raja Raja Chola. Some paintings also explain about the Raja Raja Chola's favorite God Shiva. There were also some stories present in the painting present in Tanjore big temple. In the secret passage from Tanjore big temple there were great paintings present that explain about many great things. The most admiring part of the painting in Tanjore big temple is the painting of Raja Raja Chola offering his respect to his Guru. The colors chosen for the painting are great such that the paintings are still good and healthy to see. 

Granite stones for Construction of Tanjore big temple

The granite stones are one of the strongest stones in the world. With the strength of the granite stone the stone is also equally heavy enough that it cannot be carried from one place to other place in the easy way. The stones that are used in Tanjore big temple were brought from a place that is 50 miles away from theTanjore big temple. Without elephants the work might not be possible for the transportation of the rocks from that place. It is said that more than 1000 elephants were used for the construction of the Tanjore big temple. The ancestors of Chola kingdom were good enough to build temples with the granite stones. 

Cutting and carving of the granite stones

The cutting and carving of the granite stone is not an easy task even today. We can't even imagine how this would have made possible in those days without any special equipment. The Granites are the strongest stones in the world and it is definitely not an easy task to cut and carve the granite stones. When compared to carving cutting and shaping is the definitely difficult task. Those days the rocks were made small holes as a like and the holes were filled with the water and after a long period of time the rocks will automatically break. This was how the rocks were broken. But even today the cutting of a granite rocks take more than one hour and several gallons of water for the cutting with the help of the advanced equipments. 

Secret passages in Tanjore big temple

The secret passages were also built by Raja Raja Chola in his period of time. The secret passages were something different from the underground passages. The underground passages were built to connect several temples built by him together. Secret passage were built in such a way that it connects the secret places of the chola kings together like the one that connects the Palace of Raja Raja Chola and the Tanjore big temple. The secret passages in Tanjore big temple also consisted of many paintings that represent thegreatness of Raja Raja Chola. There will be one painting that represents Raja Raja Chola offering his respect to his Guru. Most of the underground passages were blocked and closed because of the safety reasons. There were also some dangers in some of the underground passages from Tanjore big temple.