Written by: Lex Protector|March 3, 2019
The State Bank of India (SBI) has a sterling legacy of over 200 years, standing today as the largest financial services conglomerate in India with its Headquarter in Mumbai. The journey started back in the 19th century when Bank of Bengal was founded on 2nd June 1806. The Bank of Bengal along with Bank of Madras and Bank of Bombay was the three Presidency banks until the said banks were amalgamated into Imperial Bank of India on 27th January 1921.
Subsequently, on 1st July 1955, the Imperial Bank of India was nationalized and renamed as the State Bank of India through the State Bank of India Act 1955. Thereafter, the Government of India in the year 2008 bought stake of Reserve Bank of India in SBI with the object to remove foreseeable conflicts in the future, RBI being the banking regulatory authority of the nation.
On 1st April 2017, the five associated banks of SBI namely, State Bank of Bikaner & Jaipur, State Bank of Hyderabad, State Bank of Mysore, State Bank of Patiala and State Bank of Travancore and Bharatiya Mahila Bank were merged into single. This was the first ever large scale consolidation in the chronicle of the Indian Banking Industry.
Following the merger, SBI made to the list of 500 fortune global banks with a balance sheet of Rs 30 Lakh Crore, over 24,000 branch and more than 54,000 ATMs serving over 42 crore customers.
SBI apart from oldest commercial bank in the Indian subcontinent, also the largest in terms of assets, deposits, branches, number of customers and employees. The bank provides non-subsidiary/ joint venture services as well spanning over varied services for life insurance, merchant banking, mutual funds, credit cards, factoring services, universal insurance, securities trading, pension funds, payment solutions to custodial services etc.
Over the years, the bank has attempted and successfully introduced plans and schemes like village adoption scheme, agricultural finance, State bank and rural credit and many similar initiatives to support the rural sector of the country. It includes mainstream services- providing home loan, personal loan, car loan, education loan with credit and debit card facilities. This resulted in better feasibility and standard of living in the society.
Today, SBI has a global presence with 206 offices spread across 36 nations. In the list of Fortune Global 500, SBI ranked 216th as one of the biggest corporations in 2018, which makes this esteemed corporation ‘Trademark of the month’ having registration no. 2155442 under Intellectual Property India.
By Lex Protector ')}
