Bank of Bengal rate
5.45%
−0.5 pts on 1913
Bank of Bombay rate
5.4%
−0.52 pts on 1913
Bank of Madras rate
5.89%
−0.76 pts on 1913
run · 1 August 1914
80000000
"There was also a run on the banks, but this proved of short duration"; net withdrawal of Savings Bank deposits in the first two months of the war Rs 6 crores out of Rs 24½ crores on 31 July 1914, with further withdrawals of Rs 2 crores in September-October and net withdrawals for 1914-15 of over Rs 8 crores
ReportedOfficial record. Source: BS1920 para 9
run · 31 July 1914
100000000
Net return of currency notes of Rs 10 crores between 31 July 1914 and 31 March 1915; net circulation fell from Rs 66.28 crores to Rs 55.65 crores; silver in the Paper Currency Reserve fell from Rs 33.94 crores (31 July) to Rs 29.87 crores (31 December 1914)
VerifiedOfficial record. Source: BS1920 para 10
failed · 1 January 1914
43 banks; Rs 1.0912 crore paid-up
Banks failing in calendar 1914 with aggregate paid-up capital Rs 1,09,12,000
VerifiedOfficial record. Source: STBI1926 1916 issue, and 1915 issue for the monthly detail
liquidated · 1 January 1914
Went into liquidation after the outbreak of war; excluded from the exchange-bank returns from 1914
ReportedOfficial record. Source: SA1924 Table 138 footnote (a)
run · 1 March 1914
Rs 90 lakhs paid out in cash
Run on the bank: it paid out Rs 90 lakhs in cash in a few weeks, which impressed the public with its promptitude while critics noticed the reserve fund of Rs 15 lakhs in Government securities had disappeared and deposits had fallen Rs 48 lakhs.
ReportedPeer-reviewed. Source: MURANJAN, Modern Banking in India, 3rd edn 1952, ch. 21
Government of India / all banks · regulation · 5 August 1914
VerifiedOfficial record. Source: BS1920 para 10
Not named · 1 January 1914
The 1910-20 Statistical Abstract's table of money coined at the Calcutta and Bombay mints shows rupee coinage collapsing from Rs 6.67 crores (1913-14) to Rs 1.49 crores (1914-15) and Rs 1.04 crores (1915-16), the currency consequence of the August 1914 shock
ReportedOfficial record. Source: SA1922 Table 86 (OCR)
Indian Specie Bank · scandal · 1 March 1914
net loss on silver speculation Rs 111 lakh; total loss Rs 165 lakh (silver 111, pearls 36, budla 14, imprudent loans 4); deficit Rs 79 lakh against unpaid capital of Rs 74 lakh; dividends of Rs 22 lakh paid out of capital since 1909
Nanabhai & Co., which was the fixed ring or syndicate of the aforesaid speculators"; before each balance-sheet the firm "used to disappear to make room for fictitious debtors who passed appropriate promissory notes"; the directors "took good care to show their liabilities to the bank as nil" but on closure admitted Rs 12 lakh and "hurried immediately to pay off". Muranjan reports the trial judge describing this as "a miserable tale of the lowest form of fraud", the creation of fictitious debtors and demand promissory notes.
ReportedPeer-reviewed. Source: Muranjan, Modern Banking in India, pp. 310–313
Bombay Banking Company · scandal · 1 March 1914
This discretion was used by the agents to give liberal loans to themselves and to prepare entirely false balance-sheets." Dividends of 12 per cent were paid. On failure the agents declared themselves insolvent. The liquidators reported that "the bank failed to keep even such books as are generally kept by private banking firms" and expressed "the suspicion that the registers of securities and pro-notes were suppressed".
ReportedPeer-reviewed. Source: Muranjan, Modern Banking in India, pp. 299–300
Indian Specie Bank · scandal · 1 March 1914
Net loss on silver speculation Rs 111 lakhs; paid-up capital about Rs 75 lakhs; loans rose Rs 30 lakhs to Rs 2.25 crores
Failure in which the trying judge found fabricated debtors supported by demand promissory notes, operated through the ring "Mr. Nanabhai & Co." which disappeared at balance-sheet dates. Judge's characterisation, as quoted: "a miserable tale of the lowest form of fraud".
ReportedPeer-reviewed. Source: MURANJAN, Modern Banking in India, 3rd edn 1952, ch. 21
gold convertibility
On 1-4 August 1914 the Government of India lost about £1,800,000 of gold; on 5 August it suspended the issue of gold to private persons, and thereafter notes presented for encashment were paid in silver coin only
VerifiedOfficial record. Source: BS1920 para 10
exchange rate
Sale in India of bills on London at 1s 3 3/4d per rupee (a peacetime practice, used here to arrest the fall of exchange); £8,707,000 sold to 28 January 1915
VerifiedOfficial record. Source: BS1920 paras 7, 9
