'Insult to Indians': When JRD Tata resigned from Imperial Bank over Britain's discriminatory hiring policy

Britishers were harsh and followed discriminatory policies in pre-Independent India, but that did not deter some from resisting such practices. One such incident has come to light where former Tata Sons chairman JRD Tata took on Britishers for their discriminatory hiring policy in banking.

The incident dates back to the early 1940s, said Tata Sons' Brand Custodian Head Harish Bhat, who shared the story on LinkedIn. JRD Tata was appointed as the Director of the country's largest bank -  Imperial Bank of India (now State Bank of India or SBI). At that time, the policy of the bank was that 50 per cent of all officers would be recruited from the UK/Europe.

In addition, Indians were excluded from all high positions in the management of the Bank. Tata was strongly against this policy and considered it "an insult to Indians". His view was that the clients and shareholders of Imperial Bank of India were predominantly Indian, hence control and management should be in the hands of Indians, Bhat writes.

Upset with the policy, JRD Tata took up the matter with the Bank's Managing Governor Sir William Lamond in 1943 and urged him to "Indianise the officer staff of the Bank". However, there was no immediate response to his letter. He wrote to the Governor again on 2nd April 1943.

In his letter, JRD Tata, who founded some of the biggest companies like TCS and Air India, said the complete exclusion of Indians in the past from all high positions in the Bank, and the insistence on the reservation in the future of 50 per cent of the senior posts for Europeans can only be justified by the assumption that "Indians are inferior in ability to the Europeans, or, if they have the ability, they cannot be trusted".

"As an Indian, I cannot accept either of these assumptions. Unless, therefore, I felt that they (these assumptions) no longer governed the policy of the Board and of the Management, it would be unfair to myself and to other Directors if I were to continue as a member of the Board," he wrote.

After writing the second letter, Tata held his resignation in abeyance for a few days, waiting for the response. "When this did not happen, he resigned from the Board of Imperial Bank of India," Bhat writes, adding that Tata insisted on resigning from the Board of the most powerful Bank in the country because he believed in India and in the capability of Indians.

Tata did this despite the fact that his action would have been considered provocative by the British Government of India at that time. Bhat said this incident offers an invaluable lesson - to have courage in our own convictions and act without fear, and very importantly - "to put our nation first".