Page 213 - A Banker Down the Rabbit Hole

had been functioning on this pattern and there were never any disputes
about executed transactions.

This was not the case in India. The person had to be physically present
in the branch or must arrange to submit the hard copy duly signed by
authorized signatory beforehand for initiating any transactions. It took a
lot of time in transit, initiating and executing the transactions. Hence
there was always an avoidable delay. Even when fax machines were
available and faxing came into vogue, such faxes for executing
transactions were never accepted.

The vast contrasts in working systems of two countries
The vast contrast became apparent when I got transferred from Hong
Kong branch to an Indian branch. A Finance Manager of one of our good
corporate borrower approached me and informed that there were some
bills of exchange covering sale of goods for Rs. 4 Crore lying in bills
department. These could not be discounted, processed and dispatched
to buyers for last 3 days due to credit department not sending the
approval for interchange-ability of Cash Credit line to Bills Discounted line
of credit. He requested to expedite the process.

I simply picked up the sanction file from my filing cabinet to check
whether interchange-ability had already been allowed in the sanction
letter by Head Office (H.O.) or we had to initiate the recommendation
to them. I found that H.O. had already permitted 100% interchange-ability
from Cash Credit line to Bills Discounted line. Only action we had to take,
was to prepare 3 copies of half page printed memo by filling the blanks
on this that read:

"Cash Credit limit of Rs. 4 crore has been approved to be interchanged
with Rs. 4 crore Bills Discount line of credit w.e.f. from ………(date) till
further instructions."

One copy each of this memo jointly signed by Head - Credit Department

210 | A Banker down the Rabbit Hole