Kolkata: Whether it is a peek into the personal finances of the celebrated personalities of the past or an idea of what an 1893 bank note, one of the earliest paper money in India, looked like, the archive of the State Bank of India, which was inaugurated by its Chairman O.P. Bhatt here on Sunday, has enough items to satisfy the curiosities of the ardent antiquarian.

So while one can pore over the personal financial transactions of Rabindranath Tagore or Dadabhai Naoroji, one can also marvel at the neatly documented evolution of the banking system in India from the time when the European merchants were assisted by local bankers and shroffs to the emergence of the earliest banks in the beginning of the 18th century.

The advent of modern banking began with the setting up of the Bank of Bengal in 1806, followed by the Bank of Bombay in 1840 and the Bank of Madras in 1843.

Soon, in accordance with their charter, the bank notes issued by them became legal tender, benefiting the likes of Dwarkanath Tagore who borrowed Rs. 60,000 in 1817 or Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, who borrowed Rs. 6,200 in 1873 against government securities.

Not all were so lucky. Governor-General William Bentinck's cheque was returned by the Bank of Bengal as it proved to be "four annas beyond the sum at his credit," prompting him to applaud the bank for not violating its rules even for the Governor-General.

The Presidency banks later merged to form the Imperial Bank in 1921 that later became the State Bank of India on July 1, 1955.

The turbulence of the times is mirrored through the bank documents— a half-yearly report that talks of the disastrous impact of Swadeshi and boycott of goods following the Partition of Bengal that saw many a company collapse.

Apart from the seals, insignia, murals and statues, there are documents that bear the signature of Viceroys Canning and Lytton and the account opening forms of J.R.D. Tata and Rajendra Prasad among others.

The archive is spread across two floors, covering an area of about 7,500 square feet and invoking the ambience of what the interiors of the Bank of Bengal— located at the same premises on the river front— may have once looked like with their quaint fireplaces and stained glass windows.

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