Punjab National Bank

There are few leaders of the pre-independence era who, after having plunged themselves into the political struggle, continued to take an active interest in social, cultural and educational work. Lala Lajpat Rai was one of such leader. Born on 28th January, 1865 at a small village, Dhudike in the Ferozpur district of Punjab, he belonged to the Agarwal Baniya caste and it was perhaps because of this, in addition to taking part in social and political life of the country, he took keen interest in industrial and financial matter also. His father was a teacher of Persian and Urdu in a government school.





(1865-1928)

Having passed the final examination in Law from Punjab University, he started his practice in1883, when he was barely 18 years old. Endowed with a rich legacy of moral and intellectual background, Lala Lajpat Rai had benefit of education in his the practical rationalism of western science combined with the religious purity and moral elevation of Eastern literature put on him the hallmark of true culture. While sympathizing with and aiding every movement made for progress, Lala Lajpat Rai identified himself very closely with Arya Samaj, in which he found ample scope for the exercise of his patriotism, philanthropy and religious zeal.

Having qualified as a pleader, Lala Lajpat Rai started practice at Hissar and soon became a leading lawyer of the district. He organized the Arya Samaj there and put it on proper lines. In 1892, he transferred his practice to the wider field at Lahore.

Education, both secular and religious, was in Lala Lajpat Rai’s view an important factor in national development. HE took part in the foundation of the D.A.V. College at Lahore.

Lalaji and Politics

Lala Lajpat Rai always felt drawn towards politics. It was in 1888 that he joined the Indian National Congress when it met at Allahabad under the presidency of Mr. G. Yule.

In 1905, the Indian National Congress Committee having recognized in him an austere, sincere and selfless devoted worker selected him as one of its delegates to place before the British public the political grievances of the Indian people. He met the expenses of his trip from his own pocket. He along with Gokhale carried on the political campaign in various parts of England and brought home to the mind of the British, the evils of an unsympathetic and bureaucratic government under which India was labouring and pleaded in eloquent language, adding facts and figures in supporting their contention, cause of the half starving and half dying people of India. Lala Lajpat Rai created an impression on the public of England.

After his return from England, he was busy devising and organizing ways and means for political advancement and industrial emancipation of the country.

The movement of “Swadeshi” was in the offing and he put his heart and soul into it. He preached the message of swadeshi to the people of Punjab and made it very popular. This naturally enraged the bureaucracy and he came to be regarded as a revolutionary by the Bitishers and the Anglo-Indian press. He was openly dubbed as a Revolutionary and an instigator of the armed forces.

The Jalianwala Bagh tragedy and the Government's denial to censure the conduct of its officers made him a complete non cooperator. He lost his faith in the British and threw himself whole heartedly into the non-cooperation movement.

In 1925, he joined the Swaraj Party and became its deputy leader. He took active part in the deliberations of the debates of the Assembly. It was he, who moved the resolution for the Boycott of the Simon Commission in the Assembly. It was while leading the boycott procession at Lahore on the 30th October, 1928 that he received lathi blows on his chest which ultimately brought about his death on the 17th November, 1928.

Lala Lajpat Rai and PNB

Lalaji was keenly concerned with the fact that though Indian capital was being used to run English Banks and companies, the profits went entirely to the British, while Indians had to contend themselves with a small interest on their capital. He echoed this sentiment in one of his writing while concurring with Rai Mul Raj of Arya Samaj who had long cherished the idea that Indians should have a National Bank of their own. At the instance of Rai Mul Raj, Lala Lajpat Rai sent a circular to selected friends insisting on an Indian joint stock Bank as the first step in constructive Swadeshi and the response was satisfactory.

After filing and registering the memorandum and Articles of Association on 19 May, 1894, the bank was incorporated under Act VI of the 1882 Indian Companies Act. The prospectus of the bank was published in the Tribune, and the Urdu Akhbar-e-Am and Paisa Akhbar. On 23rd May, 1894, the founders met at the Lahore residence of Sardar Dyal Singh Majithia, the first Chairman of PNB, and resolved to go ahead with the scheme. They decided to hire a house in the famous Anarkali Bazar of Lahore opposite the post office and near well known stores of Rama Brothers.

On 12th April 1895, the bank opened for business, a day before the great Punjabi festival of Baishakhi. The essence of the Bank’s culture was clear at this first meeting itself. The fourteen original shareholders and seven directors took only a modest number of shares; the control of the bank was to lie with the large, dispersed shareholding, a purely professional approach that was as uncommon then as it is today.