C.R.L. Narasimhan, former associate editor who also served as the business editor of The Hindu , passed away here on Wednesday after an illness, aged 71.
Before joining The Hindu in December 1993, he was with the State Bank of India group. A former merchant banker, CRL (as he was known to many in the field) quickly repositioned himself in his new role as a journalist. CRL, the financial writer, was tempered in his writing.
Yet, he was effective in pushing across his view point. His writing style was simple, subtle and reader-friendly in terms of articulation. His understanding of the financial sector often pitchforked him into a privileged position of providing informal, but critical, feed to policy planners on assorted issues affecting this crucial sector. He ran a weekly column titled ‘Financial Scene’ which used to appear every Monday in the Business Review pages of The Hindu .
A popular column, it had wide readership and elicited quite a response — formal as well informal — from discerning readers across the spectrum.
His knowledge of business and finance aside, what stood out in CRL was the consistency with which he churned out his column week after week with very few misses, even when he was going through trying times. He was tenacious in the face of persistent health issues. A jovial person, CRL had the uncanny ability to relate to people.
