One person who begged to differ with Jalan on the issue (of who is dictating the term: The government or the RBI) was banking secretary CM Vasudev. Scheduled to kick off the post-lunch session with his speech, Vasudev appeared at the venue 10 minutes late. And this is how he explained his sudden disappearance after the inauguration and coming late in the second session: "I had to go out with Jalan... Sorry for being late... Now you know, who is driving whom."

Amartya makes mark

Guess who dominated the first day of the 21st Bank Economists' Conference in Bangalore. No, it was neither Reserve Bank governor Bimal Jalan nor banking secretary CM Vasudev. The person who stole the show -- and without being present at that -- was Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen. Speaker after speaker referred to the guru of welfare economics at the August conference. One banker said following Sen's advice, the business of banking should be oriented and not business-related while emphasising theimportance of customers' service. Another senior banker went one step ahead and took the opportunity of congratulating all bank economists on the occasion of Sen's winning the Nobel prize!

Jalan's needles

Canara Bank, the host of the conference, left no stone unturned in putting up a great show. It greeted the RBI governor with a traditional welcome by crowning him with a "Mysore fetta" -- the traditional head gear, Karnataka style. Jalan, it seemed, was suitably impressed and took this opportunity to throw a few stones at the "glass houses" where the bank economists live. He urged them to come out of the cocoon of theories and take part at the operational level. "The traditional keepers of macro data should actively participate in operational aspects, even treasury and foreign exchange operations," he said. The message did not go down well. Or, so we presume. As one back economist later stood up and told Jalan that they (economists) are taking active role in operations. Jalan was heardsaying: "I am just suggesting something... It is up to you on how to go about it."

Live-wires singe

Talking about the "lively interacative sessions" (read question-answer sessions) which Jalan and the later Talwar conducted after delivering their customary speeches, both the governor and his deputy were curt and to the point while answering queries of bankers present at the conference. Once as one banker insisted that RBI must come out with clear-cut guidelines on how to tackle the Y2K problems and the Indian Banks' Association is not competent enough in this field, pat came Talwar's retort: Then God is the only competent person to tackle the problem!"

One-liners, literally

The length of Jalan's answers varied between a few sentences and monosyllables, depending on the nature of the questions. Sample this one: Question: Is competition crucial in the new environment? Answer: Oh yes, absolutely crucial. Or, this one: Question: What is the point in having these subsidised small loans whichhave been there for sometime. Answer: They should continue as you said they are there for quite sometime! Jalan profusely thanked Canara Bank chairman TR Sridharan who indicated time was up and no more questions for the governor. "The RBI governor is not meant to be heard, you know," was Jalan's parting shot.

Deficit blues

Whether the banking division officials present there liked it or not, the shadow of burgeoning fiscal deficit loomed large over the conference as a host of bankers wanted to know why the RBI is supporting the government's borrowing programme while the M3 is going up and up.