However, the organisers promptly filled in the gap by promoting former Bank of India chairman MG Bhide, who is now on the Crisil board, up the order. Bhide, who was scheduled to speak at the second session, gladly shared the podium with his former colleagues Dipankar Basu and SR Iyer.

Party-time
After a hard day's work, bankers let their hair down at the poolside of the Ashok Hotel as booze flowed and plates of kebabs found their way into hungry stomachs. Whisky was the general choice while some even preferred beer despite the chill in the air. There was yet another group who was seen drinking fresh lime soda and insisted that there was no vodka in the glasses. Now you know, thequantum of NPA is not the only thing that the bankers want to hide.

Identity crisis
Hosts Canara Bank did not appoint any professional compere and instead depended on in-house talents. On the first day, when Sridharan presented a bouquet to MS Verma, the compere identified Verma as RV Gupta. When Gupta's turn came, the lady promptly made the amendment of her earlier mistake by identifying him as Verma! Canara Bank, predictably, was not impressed even though the audience burst out into hearty laughter. On the second day, there was a new compere who asked Basu "to do his opening remarks"!

Press has its way
Banking secretary CM Vasudev expressed his displeasure about the way the Mumbai presswallahs report things. During the day, he refused to talk to a correspondent - who came from Mumbai to cover the conference -- for fear of being misquoted. However, as Vasudev appeared at the poolside fo dinner well past 11 pm, Mumbai journalists did not let the opportunity pass. Vasudev ended upspending over half an hour with them. It is, of course, a different story that the particular journalist who invoked the banking secretary's ire was not present in the group.

A study in contrast
Two new chairmen (new in their present assignments) presented a study in contrast at the conference. One is S Rajagopal, who took over as Bank of India chairman after a three-year stint at the Indian Bank. And the other one is TS Raghavan, who went south from west, from Bank of Maharashtra in Pune to the hot seat at Indian Bank. While Rajagopal was ready to lay his cards on the table and said want he wants to do at Bank of India, Raghavan maintained a studied silence saying it's too early to talk about his plans in Indian Bank.

BOTTOMLINE

Oops!
"Mr Nilekani, apologise. You said the Indian banking sector's NPA is Rs 45,000 crore. Actually, it is Rs 25,000 crore." -- Indian Banks' Association chairman AT Pannir Selvam.

I am sorry. I will never talk about Rs 45,000 croreNPA." -- Infosys Technologies Ltd DMD Nandan M Nilekani.

King customer
"Customers' service is no longer a strategy. It is a mission. It will also add to the shareholders' value in terms of increasing business and profitability of banks." -- State Bank of India DMD (associate banks and subsidiaries) SR Iyer

Food for thought
"Whoever grabs the microphone first is eligible to ask a question. Time is running out. I can't run the risk of missing my lunch." -- STCI chairman Dipankar Basu

Tit for tat
"When the real economy is bad, you cannot expect the banking sector to perform well." -- CM Vasudev, special secretary, department of banking, ministry of finance.