HSBC House in Kol marks 100 yrs with heritage walk
Times of India | 25 January 2025
123456 Kolkata: HSBC House in Kolkata's Dalhousie Square celebrated its centenary year on Friday, with bank executives and customers joining in a ‘heritage walk' around the square, which played a key role in the bank's rise to prominence.
The building, in the south-western corner of the square, is a stunning example of Edwardian and Neo-Georgian design. It was constructed by Sir Rajen Mookerjee's firm Martin & Co at a sum of Rs 12 lakh, a princely sum 100 years ago. Construction was completed in 1923 and operations commenced in 1924. The architect firm was Palmer & Turner of Hong Kong, which went on to design the bank's Shanghai Bund branch in 1926 and the main branch in Hong Kong in 1935.
Martin & Co also constructed Howrah Bridge, Victoria Memorial and the General Post Office, all iconic buildings in the city.
Kolkata was one of the first overseas offices of the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, set up in 1865. Among its founders were two Indian merchants: Rustomjee Dhunjeeshaw and Pallanjee Framjee. The first customer was also an Indian, Ebrahim Abdoolally. It was in 1868 that the bank opened an agency in Kolkata, which became an office in 1870. The agency in Mumbai opened in 1969. These offices initially focused on exchange business. Silver coin and bullion were in high demand across India, and HSBC became a leader in the sector.
Iftekhar Ahsan, who conducted the walk on Friday morning, said Kolkata was an obvious choice of location for a start-up bank looking to expand its global reach in the 1860s, as it was the headquarters of the East India Co and, later, the British govt. "It was from Dalhousie that Hong Kong and Shanghai were controlled, and it made business sense to be present here. In addition, there was huge demand around the world for exports — such as tea from Assam, cotton from Mumbai and jute from Kolkata," Ahsan explained.
Sandeep Batra, the head of HSBC India wealth and personal banking, said: "For a century now, the building in Dalhousie has been the bank's office, and the oldest branch in operation. While the building is heritage, we have invested in modernising it with the integration of technology, such as AI, to make it as state-of-the-art as the Whitefield branch in Bengaluru."
The bank is also celebrating 75 years of its MG Road branch in Mumbai this year. At both sites — Kolkata and Mumbai — it has set up history walls showcasing not only the bank's legacy, but also the history of the area surrounding these branches.
In 1987, HSBC became the first bank in India to introduce ATMs. HSBC House in Dalhousie was one of the first branches to get an ATM. The next ATM in Kolkata was set up next to Air Conditioned Market on Theatre Road.