Book Title: The Great Bank Robbery
Author(s): V. Pattabhi Ram & Sabyasachee Dash
Publisher: Rupa Publications
Book Review
The Harshad Mehta scam, also known as the Securities Scam of 1992, was a major financial scandal that shook the Indian stock market. For the first time as a child, I learned a new word – scam. Though he was a State Government Employee, my father was interested in the stock market and shares. I remember him buying some shares, and when the 1992 scam went like fire, there was some tense situation at home.
Later, in 2020 during the Covid lockdown, the web series on the Harshad Mehta scam, though interesting to watch, also showcased weaknesses in the country’s financial regulatory system and led to several reforms aimed at improving transparency and accountability in the financial sector.
The Great Bank Robbery by V. Pattabhi Ram & Sabyasachee Dash is a unique piece of writing where the contents of the book wake up the brains that forgot the biggest scams that happened in India. Using fiction as a weapon, weaving a story with some characters with conflicting central points as actual incidents is fascinating.
This book clearly describes the nuances and complexities of banking, which anybody dealing with economic crimes and banking experts must comprehend. Economic offenses and financial crimes have been prominent in India’s criminal justice system. To avoid forgetting about the 11 frauds, it is essential to understand and document them. I would advise any banker and anyone who works with financial crimes to read this book.
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The book starts with the main character Krishna and swiftly moves towards the scams in the past. The readers travel across the scams and frauds India has witnessed to date with Krishna and other characters in the book. This process also provides straightforward explanations of several terms used in banking jargon while describing the methodology behind such scandals.
Simple, non-technical phrases have been employed to describe the ideas and occurrences. This encourages readers to pick this book up to have access to condensed facts about poor loans, which are otherwise distributed in numerous places, making it challenging to build a thorough grasp of such schemes.
The book by two specialists reviews what must be done to prevent repeating that horrible history and a post-mortem of past errors and wrongdoings. Everyone who wants to understand the present and future of banking in India must read the book. We should applaud V. Pattabhi Ram and Sabyasachee Dash for their research and factual portrayal.
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