‘It’s not about banking, it’s about the psychology of bankers’: Tamal Bandyopadhyay on his new book

When finance journalist and author Tamal Bandyopadhyay began writing his latest book, Roller Coaster: An Affair with Banking, he aimed to put together a collection of anecdotes about bankers and the Indian banking industry.

But Bandyopadhyay’s seventh book, which begins in 1991 when India embarked on a series of pivotal economic and liberal reforms, is also a personal document of the transformation of the banking industry. “I have been a party to a lot of things that transpired in the banking world during the 1990s,” Bandyopadhyay told Scroll.

Drawing from nearly three decades of covering business and finance, the book uses plenty of anecdotes to give readers an idea about the “people who manage our money, warts and all”.

Bandyopadhyay said that apart from humorously documenting the idiosyncrasies of some bankers, there are underlying messages as well. For instance, who is bigger, a bank or a banker? “If a banker thinks that the person is bigger than a bank, then that person is inviting his or her downfall,” he said. Excerpts from the interview:

Roller Coaster is not an autobiography but about your affair with banking as a finance journalist. What made you fall in love with banking?
That’s a difficult question because it was by accident I was pushed into bank reporting. I started my career in Mumbai with The Times of India. I was dabbling with general reporting, features etcetera. I used to write for The Illustrated Weekly, and even short stories in Femina.

A few years down the line, I had to come back to Kolkata as my father had an accident and ultimately succumbed to his injuries. The Times of India did not have any vacancy for me in Kolkata. So, I was accommodated in The Economic Times, and from there, I shifted to Business Standard, but I was still writing features.

When Business Standard opened its Mumbai and Delhi editions in 1995, I returned to Mumbai, and I started reporting on banking. I neither had the background nor enough knowledge on the subject. But it was love at first sight, and I am a quick learner. So that helped.

It becomes very interesting when you are able to connect the dots between the macro and micro trends of the financial world, and a much larger picture is revealed to you. You realise how everything is connected, whether it’s the bond market, the equity market, the foreign exchange or bank credit. Everything in the financial world is connected. I was so fascinated to see how geopolitical tensions affect the financial world. I think deciphering these connections made me fall in love with it.

You wrote about a high-profile banker who looked for “signals” from a goddess before approving loans. Then there was someone who dismissed borrowers who came to his office wearing white shoes. Are all bankers this quirky?
No, no. They’re exceptions and not the rule. This particular person whom I wrote about told me about his methods. He had a replica of a temple inside his office. And every time a loan proposal came, he would put the file at the goddess’s feet; if the file stayed there the loan would be approved, and if it fell the proposal would be rejected. And it’s a pretty old story.

Similarly, the other person I wrote about would say no to anyone who came asking for a loan wearing a pair of white shoes. He found people who wore white shoes “odd”. Again, I tell you, It’s not the norm, but some of the idiosyncrasies of the bankers.

This book is more about the psychology of bankers than about banking. I use these anecdotes to give the readers some idea about the people who manage our money, warts and all.

A book on banking that is sure to tickle the funny bone of the readers. Banking and funny seldom figure in the same sentence. How did you manage to do this?
This is my seventh book. All of my previous books are different from one another. They are all very data-heavy and analytical. But I have always tried to tell a story that can be easily understood by a lay reader.

Being a student of English literature, I have always had an edge when it comes to storytelling. And also, the fact that I do not have any academic background in economics and finance has been equally helpful. I have had to make sure I am reaching out to the right people who can tell me what’s happening in the world of finance. I always had to be absolutely sure what I’m writing is accurate. So, you see, that only made me a better reporter.

If I am writing on banking, and only bankers are reading it, then I’m a complete failure. My articles should be equally appealing to doctors, lawyers or even to school kids. This has been my guiding principle from the start.

During the Covid-19 lockdown, I produced two books. The first one was research-oriented, which took a lot of time and effort – Pandemonium: The Great Indian Banking Tragedy. And then, I thought why not do something different and have a little fun while at it. So I began writing Roller Coaster. I call it creative non-fiction. Whether I have been able to make it a fun read or not is up to readers to decide.

But it’s not always humorous. There are certain underlying messages. For instance, who is bigger, a bank or a banker? If a banker thinks that the person is bigger than a bank, then that person is inviting his or her downfall.

Despite its tongue-in-cheek narrative, Roller Coaster has seriously documented the evolution of the Indian banking system from the early 1990s. Is that what you set out to do?
No, that’s not the case. My idea was, as I said, to write on the psychology of bankers, and how one banker is different from another. Now I had to begin somewhere. I started my career in 1995. I have been a party to a lot of things that transpired in the banking world during the 1990s. But I could not just begin the book abruptly from 1995. So, I decided to begin with the liberalisation of the Indian economy in 1991.

The book can easily be a go-to guide for an early-career finance journalist. Did you have this in mind when you were writing the book?
No, I didn’t mean it to be a guide. But it does deal with the psychology of reporters as well, be it business reporting or general reporting. I personally feel it’s crucial for reporters to understand how to crack a source. It’s like making love or finding the right switch to put on the light. If you know how to do it, you will be able to crack eight out of ten people. You have to know how to cultivate your sources.

You need to find out what your potential source likes and dislikes. That is how I have been doing it. For instance, there was this person who really liked cats and, incidentally, I was a cat lover too. So, we struck a chord. That’s how you get stories out of people.

Similarly, let’s say there was someone whose son was pursuing a PhD in Harvard University. What do you do? You talk about the education system in the US, you talk about how it’s a privilege to study at an ivy league school such as Harvard. And you will see the ice starting to melt, and then you can get down to business. Will you be successful every time? No, but most of the time you will be.

I don’t want to beat my own drum, but I have done many big-ticket stories this way. It’s very important, particularly in business journalism, to earn the confidence of the person sitting opposite you. You need to earn their trust, so that you get trustworthy information. Because based on what you write people can earn money or lose it. You have to be absolutely accurate. In a very casual way I have mentioned how I got my stories and how I progressed in my career. But this book is definitely not a dossier for journalists. If someone finds it useful, It’s great. But that was not my intention.

Roller Coaster banks on real-life stories about your encounters with the mavericks of the Indian banking industry. Have you held back some stories? Perhaps for another volume?
I have held back certain stories because they’re not so palatable. That’s the reason, not because they’re meant for another book. My objective is not to name and shame people, my objective is to present the readers with the fun part of the stories.

However, for every episode involving the Reserve Bank of India, I have named the governors. Because it would be futile to conceal their names. There have only been a handful of governors since the economic liberalisation.

With the banking sector it’s different. There are so many people involved in so many places. Here, I have concealed some of the names. But there were many other incidents which I have restrained myself from disclosing because they are not too palatable. And as I said, my objective is not to name and shame them.

You have written about the Reserve Bank of India governors. What has been your experience with them been like?
They’re all special in their own ways. For example, Bimal Jalan was like a general physician. He would take a look at you, try to find out what’s wrong, and then make a prognosis. On the other hand, Venugopal Reddy was a specialist. He would straight away go for specific diagnostic tests.

Again, I have written about them using anecdotes. It’s meant to be fun. Duvvuri Subbarao danced to a popular foot-tapping song, Lungi Dance, at his farewell function. While visiting China, C Rangarajan looked for idlis at a Beijing restaurant. So the book, in a very light-hearted way, tries to give readers a glimpse of what the governors are like in their personal lives.

Roller Coaster is a very interesting choice of title. How has the ride been so far?
It has been great. It could not have been better. As I said, I do not have a background in finance. And before getting into bank reporting, I used to think that a bank’s assets are its deposits and loans, its liabilities. So you see, I have come a long way. I started as a reporter; from there I went on to working as a senior reporter, an editor, a columnist, and an author. I should not have any complaints.

But if you think of me as an expert, I would say that’s hardly the case. I consider myself a Swiggy or Zomato delivery executive. Instead of food, I deliver what my readers want to know.

In retrospect, would you have done anything differently?
That’s a very personal question. I am impatient and adventurous by nature. I personally feel that a journalist’s world should not be confined within a newsroom. And that is why I tried my hand at many different things. I did a television series for Bloomberg, in which I interviewed top bankers and economists, among others. Then I got into writing columns. It’s been almost two decades. Then I started writing books.

So, I always look for intellectual stimulation and the excitement to do things in a different way. I could have done something else too. But could I have been a doctor and scientist? No, that’s not how my mind works.

But I think if you have common sense, and if you’re willing to learn, and if you are keen to interpret and understand human psychology, you can do a lot of interesting things.

And of course, hard work is essential in any field. Also, emotional quotient is as important as intelligence quotient, even more so really. So, if you have those things, then you can experiment, and I did exactly that. And I have no regrets because I’ve probably got more love and affection than I deserve from my readers.

What will your next adventure be?
Now I would like to stay away from finance and try my hand at fiction. I don’t know whether it will work out, but let’s hope it does.