The Nath Bank () was an Indian-owned bank founded by Kshetra Nath Dalal in 1926 in

Noakhali Noakhali District (), historically known as Bhulua (), is a Districts of Bangladesh, district in southeastern Bangladesh, located in Chattogram Division. It was established as a district in 1821, and officially named Noakhali in 1868. The distr ...

, now in Bangladesh but then in undivided India. By 1947, when the

Partition of India The partition of India in 1947 was the division of British India into two independent dominion states, the Dominion of India, Union of India and Dominion of Pakistan. The Union of India is today the Republic of India, and the Dominion of Paki ...

was imminent, the bank had its head office and three branches in Noakhali district, and a branch in

Comilla Comilla (), officially spelled Cumilla, is a metropolis on the banks of the Gomti River in eastern Bangladesh. Comilla was one of the cities of ancient Bengal. It was once the capital of Tripura kingdom. Comilla Airport is located in the Duli ...

in Tipperah District. Noakhali and Tipperah districts became part of Pakistan, so the bank moved its head office to Kolkata. At that time, Indian banks were facing a severe crisis. In 1949, the Nath Bank had to be bailed out by the Reserve Bank of India. That failed to resolve the crisis and the bank was finally liquidated in 1950. The economist Arun Ghosh attributes its collapse to its over-aggressive expansion of branch banking. The failure of the bank created a panic among depositors.

References

{{Banking in India Defunct banks of India Banks disestablished in 1950 Banks established in 1926 1950 disestablishments in India Indian companies established in 1926