Roller Coaster: An Affair with Banking | Tamal Bandyopadhyay

Do you know what Indian bankers really mean when they whisper about “Chinese cuisine”, “Punjabi food”, or a “Gujarati thali”?

Think banking is all about dry spreadsheets, cold numbers, and formal boardrooms? Think again. In Roller Coaster, India’s foremost banking journalist, Tamal Bandyopadhyay, pulls back the heavy velvet curtains of India's financial sector to reveal the wildly entertaining, eccentric, and deeply human side of the country's financial titans.

Spanning over two and a half decades of first-hand observation—from his days as a rookie reporter to becoming a celebrated editor, columnist, and author—Bandyopadhyay shares a stunning string of insider stories and candid revelations. You’ll read about an RBI governor letting his hair down at a farewell dinner to swing to the “Lungi Dance”, a financial institution chairman who relied on "signals" from a goddess idol in his cabin to clear multimillion-dollar loan proposals, and a public sector bank chief whose dedicated kitchen help had to mop the sweat from his bald head while he munched on hot chilies at lunch!

This book explicitly steers away from dry debates on monetary policies, fiscal deficits, or corporate successes and failures. Instead, it is an intimate look at the real personas, warts and all, of the men and women who shaped the culture, ethos, and destiny of Indian banking.

Inside this captivating corporate chronicle, you will get a front-row seat to:

• Unfiltered Portraits: Deeply personal and humorous insights into legendary commercial leaders like Uday Kotak, Sandeep Bakhshi, Amitabh Chaudhry, and V. Vaidyanathan.

• The Central Bank Masters: Rare, behind-the-scenes glimpses into the lives and leadership styles of RBI Governors, including C. Rangarajan, Bimal Jalan, Y.V. Reddy, D. Subbarao, Raghuram Rajan, Urjit Patel, and Shaktikanta Das.

• The Secret Culture: Discover the hidden jargon, peculiar rituals, and boardroom eccentricities that drive India’s financial powerhouses.