BANKING IN INDIA

BANKING IN INDIA

Overview

Ø       Organized banking in India originated in the late 18th century

Ø      The State Bank of India, headquartered in Mumbai, is the largest bank in India

Ø      Currently, India has 88 Scheduled Banks – 27 public sector banks, 31 private banks and 38 foreign banks

Ø      The public sector banks hold over 75% of banking assets in the country, followed by private banks (18.2%) and foreign banks (6.5%)

Ø      Central banking in India is the responsibility of the Reserve Bank of India

Ø      Banking in India is the responsibility of the Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance

Ø      Currently there are 170 scheduled commercial banks, which includes 91 regional rural banks, 19 nationalised banks, 8 banks in the SBI group and the IDBI

Ø      There are 4 non-scheduled commercial banks in the country

History of banking in India

Ø      The oldest banks in India were the General Bank of India and the Bank of Hindustan, both founded in 1786. However both banks are now defunct

Ø      The oldest existing bank in India is the State Bank of India. The origins of the SBI go back to the Bank of Calcutta (founded 1806, renamed Bank of Bengal in 1809)

Ø      The Bank of Madras was established in 1843 and the Bank of Bombay in 1868

Ø      The Bank of Bengal, Bank of Bombay and Bank of Madras merged to form the Imperial Bank of India in 1921. The Imperial Bank of India was renamed the State Bank of India in 1955. Although a normal commercial bank, the Imperial Bank of India also functioned as a central governmental until 1935

Ø      The Reserve Bank of India was established in 1935

Ø      The oldest joint stock bank is the Allahabad Bank, established in 1865.

Ø      The first entirely Indian joint stock bank was the Oudh Commercial Bank (Faizabad, 1881). However, it failed in 1958. The next oldest is the Punjab National Bank (Lahore, 1895)

Ø      The Dakshina Kannada and Udipi districts of Karnataka (called South Canara), is known as the Cradle of Indian Banking