ECONOMIC REFORMS, FINANCIAL INCLUSION , INTERNATIONAL MONETARY SYSTEM, FINANCIAL SUSTAINABILITY & TALENT MANAGEMENT

Sir Purshotamdas Thakurdas or Sir P.T. as he was popularly known as a very distinguished eminent businessman of India who took a keen and active interest in the economic life of the country before and after independence. Sir P.T. was associated with several committees and commissions appointed by the Government of India.

Sir P.T. was indeed, a severe critic of the policies followed by the British Governments but his views, though dissenting and differing from the Government’s policies, were greatly appreciated and even valued by the then British Government as he was very constructive in his approach to the problems. 

Sir P.T. was a firm believer in the logic and philosophy of free enterprise and believed in the free forces of market mechanism to bring about the rational allocation of scarce resources in the economy to promote growth and development. However, he was not dogmatic about the virtues of free enterprise or market mechanisms. He had accepted the inevitability of state intervention at a certain stage of development in the country, as a necessary policy instrument to promote growth keeping in view the imbalances in the nature of the under developed economy. This has been reflected in the famous book “Bombay Plan” published as early as in 1944. This remarkable document was drawn up by a group of distinguished persons belonging to the private sector and this document took a much broader view of the development process than one would expect from the person having faith in the market economy. The document clearly stated that “no development of the kind we have proposed will be possible except on the basis of a central directing authority which enjoys sufficient popular support and possesses requisite power and jurisdiction”. This reflected the far-sightedness of the authors of the Bombay Plan.

Sir P.T. was closely associated with the Indian Banking Industry having worked as a member of the Board of Directors of the then Imperial Bank of India and also on the Central Board of the Reserve Bank of India since its inception in 1935.

Sir P.T. was a very powerful and influential member on the Board of the Reserve Bank of India. He was a prominent member of the Central Banking Enquiry Committee and Chairman of the Rural Banking Enquiry Committee.

In the formative years of the Reserve Bank of India, Sir P.T. played an outstanding role and he was considered to be “both a driving force and a restraining influence” during the deliberations in the Board Room on the Reserve Bank of India more particularly in matters pertaining to the right of the Reserve Bank of India and its autonomous functioning vis-a-vis the Government.

Sir P.T. was greatly interested in the problems of money, banking, finance and exchange rates. Sir P.T. was associated with the Indian Institute of Banking & Finance (Formerly Indian Institute of Bankers) as its founding member and served on the Council of the Institute till his death on 4th July, 1961.