Peerless is a household name in Bengal today. It started in 1932 as a Swadeshi insurance company, founded by Radhashyam Roy, a school headmaster from Narayanganj in Bangladesh. By the end of the twentieth century, it became the most cherished nonbanking financial company, honouring the commitment to five crore customers by its timely maturity payments of `20,000 crore. With this promise of trust and credibility, Peerless has now diversified into the hospitality, healthcare and housing sectors. For the first time comes a deeply researched history of this storied organization from its start in preIndependence India to the present day. Being Peerless charts out the evolution of retail small savings for the common man, along with related regulatory reforms to safeguard depositors? interest. This story of a resilient financial institution is an invaluable work, providing deep insights into various aspects of the Indian economy.