The evolution of State Bank of India can be traced back to the first decade of the 19th century. It began with the establishment of the Bank of Calcutta in Calcutta, on 2 June 1806. The bank was redesigned as the Bank of Bengal, three years later, on 2 January 1809. It was the first ever joint-stock bank of the British India, established under the sponsorship of the Government of Bengal. Subsequently, the Bank of Bombay (established on 15 April 1840) and the Bank of Madras (established on 1 July 1843) followed the Bank of Bengal. These three banks dominated the modern banking scenario in India, until when they were amalgamated to form the Imperial Bank of India, on 27 January 1921.
An important turning point in the history of State Bank of India is the launch of the first Five Year Plan of independent India, in 1951. The Plan aimed at serving the Indian economy in general and the rural sector of the country, in particular. Until the Plan, the commercial banks of the country, including the Imperial Bank of India, confined their services to the urban sector. Moreover, they were not equipped to respond to the growing needs of the economic revival taking shape in the rural areas of the country. Therefore, in order to serve the economy as a whole and rural sector in particular, the All India Rural Credit Survey Committee recommended the formation of a state-partnered and state-sponsored bank.
The All India Rural Credit Survey Committee proposed the take over of the Imperial Bank of India, and integrating with it, the former state-owned or state-associate banks. Subsequently, an Act was passed in the Parliament of India in May 1955. As a result, the State Bank of India (SBI) was established on 1 July 1955. This resulted in making the State Bank of India more powerful, because as much as a quarter of the resources of the Indian banking system were controlled directly by the State. Later on, the State Bank of India (Subsidiary Banks) Act was passed in 1959. The Act enabled the State Bank of India to make the eight former State-associated banks as its subsidiaries.
The State Bank of India emerged as a pacesetter, with its operations carried out by the 480 offices comprising branches, sub offices and three Local Head Offices, inherited from the Imperial Bank. Instead of serving as mere repositories of the community’s savings and lending to creditworthy parties, the State Bank of India catered to the needs of the customers, by banking purposefully. The bank served the heterogeneous financial needs of the planned economic development.
The roots of the State Bank of India rest in the first decade of 19th century, when the Bank of Calcutta, later renamed the Bank of Bengal, was established on 2 June 1806. The Bank of Bengal and two other Presidency banks, namely, the Bank of Bombay (incorporated on 15 April 1840) and the Bank of Madras (incorporated on 1 July 1843). All three Presidency banks were incorporated as joint stock companies, and were the result of the royal charters. These three banks received the exclusive right to issue paper currency in 1861 with the Paper Currency Act, a right they retained until the formation of the Reserve Bank of India. The Presidency banks amalgamated on 27 January 1921, and the reorganized banking entity took as its name Imperial Bank of India. The Imperial Bank of India continued to remain a joint stock company.
Pursuant to the provisions of the State Bank of India Act (1955), the Reserve Bank of India, which is India’s central bank, acquired a controlling interest in the Imperial Bank of India. On 30 April 1955 the Imperial Bank of India became the State Bank of India. The Govt. of India recently acquired the Reserve Bank of India’s stake in SBI so as to remove any conflict of interest because the RBI is the country’s banking regulatory authority.
In 1959 the Government passed the State Bank of India (Subsidiary Banks) Act, enabling the State Bank of India to take over eight former State-associated banks as its subsidiaries. On Sept 13, 2008, State Bank of Saurashtra, one of its Associate Banks, merged with State Bank of India.
SBI has acquired local banks in rescues. For instance, in 1985, it acquired Bank of Cochin in Kerela, which had 120 branches. SBI was the acquirer as its affiliate, State Bank of Travancore, already had an extensive network in Kerala.
There are six associate banks that fall under SBI, and together these six banks constitute the State Bank Group. All use the same logo of a blue keyhole and all the associates use the “State Bank of” name followed by the regional headquarters’ name. Originally, the then seven banks that became the associate banks belonged to princely states until the government nationalized them between October, 1959 and May, 1960. In tune with the first Five Year Plan, emphasizing the development of rural India, the government integrated these banks into State Bank of India to expand its rural outreach. There has been a proposal to merge all the associate banks into SBI to create a “mega bank” and streamline operations. The first step along these lines occurred on 13 August 2008 when State Bank of Saurashtra merged with State Bank of India, which reduced the number of state banks from seven to six. Furthermore on 19th June 2009 the SBI board approved the merger of its subsidiary, State Bank of Indore, with itself. SBI holds 98.3% in the bank, and the balance 1.77% is owned by individuals, who held the shares prior to its takeover by the government.
The acquisition of State Bank of Indore will help SBI add 470 branches to its existing network of 11,448. Also, following the acquisition, SBI’s total assets will inch very close to the Rs 10-lakh crore mark. Total assets of SBI and the State Bank of Indore stood at Rs 998,119 crore as on March 2009.
The Subsidiaries of SBI till date
- State Bank of Indore
- State Bank of Bikaner & Jaipur
- State Bank of Hyderabad
- State Bank of Mysore
- State Bank of Patiala
- State Bank of Travancore
Growth
State Bank of India has often acted as guarantor to the Indian Government, most notably during Chandra Shekhar’s tenure as Prime Minister of India. With 11,448 branches and a further 6500+ associate bank branches, the SBI has extensive coverage. State Bank of India has electronically networked all of its branches under Core Banking System (CBS). The bank has one of the largest ATM networks in the region, with more than 9000 ATMs across India. The State Bank of India has had steady growth over its history, though it was marred by the Harshad Mehta scam in 1992. In recent years, the bank has sought to expand its overseas operations by buying foreign banks. It is the only Indian bank to feature in the top 100 world banks in the Fortune Global 500 rating and various other rankings.
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