About this stamp
India’s Own National Bank
India Post issued this ₹5 stamp on 12 April 2019, the 125th foundation day of Punjab National Bank. PNB was founded by nationalists who wanted Indians to have a bank of their own, among them Lala Lajpat Rai, E. C. Jessawala, Babu Kali Prosonno Roy, Lala Harkishan Lal and Sardar Dyal Singh Majithia. Incorporated under the Indian Companies Act of 1882, it began business in Lahore on 12 April 1895 with an authorised capital of ₹2 lakh.
Through Crisis and Partition
The bank survived the bank failures of 1913, the Great Depression and two world wars. At Partition in 1947 it had to close 92 offices in West Pakistan, a third of its branches holding 40 per cent of its deposits, and lost 15 staff in the violence. After the nationalisation of banks in 1969 it expanded quickly into unbanked areas, and in 1993 New Bank of India was merged into it, the first merger of two nationalised banks. India Post put its network at more than 7,000 branches, the largest among the nationalised banks.
On the Stamp
The stamp shows the bank’s headquarters building with the number 125, and a portrait of Lala Lajpat Rai on the right. Stamp, first day cover, brochure and cancellation were designed by Nenu Gupta; 605,095 stamps were printed by wet offset at the Security Printing Press, Hyderabad.
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