Introduction Banking in India

Introduction Banking in India Banking in India originated in the last decades of the 18th century. The first banks were The General Bank of India which started in 1786, and the Bank of Hindustan, both of which are now defunct. The oldest bank in existence in India is the State Bank of India, which originated in the Bank of Calcutta in June 1806, which almost immediately became the Bank of Bengal. This was one of the three presidency banks, the other two being the Bank of Bombay and the Bank of Madras, all three of which were established under charters from the British East India Company. For many years the Presidency banks acted as quasi-central banks, as did their successors. The three banks merged in 1921 to form the Imperial Bank of India, which, upon India’s Independence became the State Bank of India. Origin of Banking in India Indian merchants in Calcutta established the Union Bank in 1839, but it failed in 1848 as a consequence of the economic crisis of 1848-49. The Allahabad Bank, established in 1865 and still functioning today, is the oldest Joint Stock bank in India. (Joint Stock Bank: A company that issues stock and requires shareholders to be held liable for the company’s debt) It was not the first though. That honor belongs to the Bank of Upper India, which was established in 1863, and which survived until 1913, when it failed, with some of its assets and liabilities being transferred to the Alliance Bank of Simla. When the American Civil War stopped the supply of cotton to Lancashire from the Confederate States, promoters opened banks to finance trading in Indian cotton. With large exposure to speculative ventures, most of the banks opened in India during that period failed. The depositors lost money and lost interest in keeping deposits with banks. Subsequently, banking in India remained the exclusive domain of Europeans for next several decades until the beginning of the 20th century. Company Profile of SBI: State Bank of India (SBI) is India's largest commercial bank. SBI has a vast domestic network of over 9000 branches (approximately 14% of all bank branches) and commands one-fifth of deposits and loans of all scheduled commercial banks in India. The State Bank Group includes a network of eight banking subsidiaries and several non-banking subsidiaries offering merchant banking services, fund management, factoring services, primary dealership in government securities, credit cards and insurance. The eight banking subsidiaries are: 1-State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur (SBBJ) 2-State Bank of Hyderabad (SBH) 3-State Bank of India (SBI) 4-State Bank of Indore (SBIR) 5-State Bank of Mysore (SBM) 6-State Bank of Patiala (SBP) 7-State Bank of Saurashtra (SBS) 8-State Bank of Travancore (SBT) The origins of State Bank of India date back to 1806 when the Bank of Calcutta (later called the Bank of Bengal) was established. In 1921, the Bank of Bengal and two other Presidency banks (Bank of Madras and Bank of Bombay) were amalgamated to form the Imperial Bank of India. In 1955, the controlling interest in the Imperial Bank of India was acquired by the Reserve Bank of India and the State Bank of India (SBI) came into existence by an act of Parliament as successor to the Imperial Bank of India. Today, State Bank of India (SBI) has spread its arms around the world and has a network of branches spanning all time zones. SBI's International Banking Group delivers the full range of cross-border finance solutions through its four wings - the Domestic division, the Foreign Offices division, the Foreign Department and the International Services division. State Bank of India (SBI) (LSE: SBID) is the largest bank in India. If one measures by the number of branch offices and employees, SBI is the largest bank in the world. Established in 1806 as Bank of Calcutta, it is the oldest commercial bank in the Indian subcontinent. SBI provides various domestic, international and NRI products and services, through its vast network in India and overseas. With an asset base of $126 billion and its reach, it is a regional banking behemoth. The government nationalized the bank in 1955, with the Reserve Bank of India taking a 60% ownership stake. In recent years the bank has focused on three priorities, 1), reducing its huge staff through Golden handshake schemes known as the Voluntary Retirement Scheme, which saw many of its best and brightest defect to the private sector, 2), computerizing its operations and 3), changing the attitude of its employees (through an ambitious programme aptly named 'Parivartan' which means change) as a large number of employees are very rude to customers. Associate banks: There are seven other associate banks that fall under SBI. They all use the "State Bank of" name followed by the regional headquarters' name. These were originally banks belonging to princely states before the government nationalized them in 1959. In tune with the first Five Year Plan, emphasizing the development of rural India, the government integrated these banks with the State Bank of India to expand its rural outreach. The State Bank group refers to the seven associates and the parent bank. All the banks use the same logo of a blue keyhole. Currently, the group is merging all the associate banks into SBI, which will create a "mega bank", and one hopes, streamline operations and unlock value. State Bank of Bikaner & Jaipur State Bank of Hyderabad State Bank of Indore State Bank of Mysore State Bank of Patiala State Bank of Saurashtra State Bank of Travancore Foreign Offices: State Bank of India is present in 32 countries, where it has 84 offices serving the international needs of the bank's foreign customers, and in some cases conducts retail operations. The focus of these offices is India-related business. e – Banking The concept of online banking as we know it today dates back to the early 1980s, when it was first envisioned and experimented with. However, it was only in 1995 that Presidential Savings Bank first announced the facility for regular client use. The idea was quickly snapped up by other banks like Wells Fargo, Chase Manhattan and Security First Network Bank. Today, quite a few banks operate solely via the Internet and have no 'four-walls' entity at all. In the beginning, its inventors had predicted that it would be only a matter of time before online banking completely replaced the conventional kind. Facts now prove that this was an overoptimistic assessment - many customers still harbor an inherent distrust in the process. Others have opted not to use many of the offered facilities because of bitter experience with online frauds and inability to use online banking services. Be that as it may, it is estimated that a total of 55 million families in America will be active users of online banking by the year 2010. Despite the fact that many American banks still do not offer this facility to customers, this may turn out to be an accurate prediction. The number of online banking customers has been increasing at an exponential rate. Forms of e - Banking Internet banking is gaining ground. Banks increasingly operate websites through which customers are able not only to inquire about account balances and interest and exchange rates but also to conduct a range of transactions. Unfortunately, data on Internet banking are scares, and differences in definitions make cross-country comparisons difficult. Even so, one finds that Internet banking is particularly widespread in Austria, Korea, the Scandinavian countries, Singapore, Spain, and Switzerland, where more than 75 percent of all banks offer such services. The Scandinavian countries have the largest number of Internet users, with up to One-third of bank customers in Finland and Sweden taking advantage of E-banking. Different forms of E-banking are as follows: (i) Internet Banking (ii) Automated Teller Machines (ATM) (iii) Tele Banking (iv) Smart Card (v) Debit Card (vi) E-Cheque .

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