Who Owns the Crisis? Indian Banking from Nationalization to Crony Regime
Who Owns the Crisis? Indian Banking from Nationalization to Crony Regime Posted on 1st April, 2026 (GMT 07:50 hrs) ABSTRACT This article traces the historical transformation of Indian banking from postcolonial state-led social banking to the contemporary regime of what it terms “resolution capitalism,” foregrounding the shifting configurations of power, distribution, and knowledge. Beginning with the pre-1969 era of private concentration and systemic fragility, it examines how bank nationalization sought to democratize credit and align finance with developmental and redistributive goals, albeit with embedded contradictions of bureaucratic inefficiency and political interference. The post-1991 liberalization phase introduced prudential norms and market discipline within a hybrid structure, delivering growth and crisis resilience—most notably during the 2008 global financial crisis—while simultaneously generating latent vulnerabilities through corporate over-leverage and regul...