HISTORY OF BANKING IN INDIA

Without a sound and effective banking system in India it cannot have a healthy economy. The banking system of India should not only be hassle free but it should be able to meet new challenges posed by the technology and any other external and internal factors. For the past three decades India's banking system has several outstanding achievements to its credit. The most striking is its extensive reach. It is no longer confined to only metropolitans or cosmopolitans in India. In fact, Indian banking system has reached even to the remote corners of the country. This is one of the main reasons of India's growth process. The government's regular policy for Indian bank since 1969 has paid rich dividends with the nationalisation of 14 major private banks of India. Not long ago, an account holder had to wait for hours at the bank counters for getting a draft or for withdrawing his own money. Today, he has a choice. Gone are days when the most efficient bank transferred money from one branch to other in two days. Now it is simple as instant messaging or dial a pizza. Money have become the order of the day. There are three different phases in the history of banking in India. 1) Pre-Nationalization Era. 2) Nationalization Stage. 3) Post Liberalization Era. 1) Pre-Nationalization Era: In India the business of banking and credit was practices even in very early times. The remittance of money through Hundies, an indigenous credit instrument, was very popular. The hundies were issued by bankers known as Shroffs, Sahukars, Shahus or Mahajans in different parts of the country. The modern type of banking, however, was developed by the Agency Houses of Calcutta and Bombay after the establishment of Rule by the East India Company in 18th and 19th centuries. During the early part of the 19th Century, ht volume of foreign trade was relatively small. Later on as the trade expanded, the need for banks of the European type was felt and the government of the East India Company took interest in having its own bank. The government of Bengal took the initiative and the first presidency bank, the Bank of Calcutta (Bank of Bengal) was established in 180. In 1840, the Bank of Bombay and IN 1843, the Bank of Madras was also set up. These three banks also known as Presidency Bank. The Presidency Banks had their branches in important trading centers but mostly lacked in uniformity in their operational policies. In 1899, the Government proposed to amalgamate these three banks in to one so that it could also function as a Central Bank, but the Presidency Banks did not favor the idea. However, the conditions obtaining during world war

period (1914-1918) emphasized the need for a unified banking institution, as a result of which the Imperial Bank was set up in1921. The Imperial Bank of India acted like a Central bank and as a banker for other banks. The RBI (Reserve Bank of India) was established in 1935 as the Central Bank of the Country. In 1949, the Banking Regulation act was passed and the RBI was nationalized and acquired extensive regulatory powers over the commercial banks. In 1950, the Indian Banking system comprised of the RBI, the Imperial Bank of India, Cooperative banks, Exchange banks and Indian Joint Stock banks. 2) Nationalization Stages: After Independence, in 1951, the All India Rural Credit survey, committee of Direction with Shri. A. D. Gorwala as Chairman recommended amalgamation of the Imperial Bank of India and ten others banks into a newly established bank called the State Bank of India (SBI). The Government of India accepted the recommendations of the committee and introduced the State Bank of India bill in the Lok Sabha on 16th April 1955 and it was passed by Parliament and got the presidents assent on 8th May 1955. The Act came into force on 1st July 1955, and the Imperial Bank of India was nationalized in 1955 as the State Bank of India. The main objective of establishing SBI by nationalizing the Imperial Bank of India was to extend banking facilities on a large scale more particularly in the rural and semi-urban areas and to diverse other public purposes. In 1959, the SBI (Subsidiary Bank) act was proposed and the following eight stateassociated banks were taken over by the SBI as its subsidiaries. Name of the Bank Subsidiary with effect from 1. State Bank of Hyderabad 1st October 1959 2. State Bank of Bikaner 1st January 1960 3. State Bank of Jaipur 1st January 1960 4. State Bank of Saurashtra 1st May 1960 5. State Bank of Patiala 1st April 1960 6. State Bank of Mysore 1st March 1960 7. State Bank of Indore 1st January 1968 8. State Bank of Travancore 1st January 1960 With effect from 1st January 1963, the State Bank of Bikaner and State Bank of Jaipur with head office located at Jaipur. Thus, seven subsidiary banks State Bank of India formed the SBI Group. The SBI Group under statutory obligations was required to open new offices in rural and semi-urban areas and modern banking was taken to these unbanked remote areas. On 19th July 1969, then the Prime Minister, Mrs. Indira Gandhi announced the nationalization of 14 major scheduled Commercial Banks each having deposits worth Rs. 50 crore and above. This was a turning point in the history of

commercial banking in India. Later the Government Nationalized six more commercial private sector banks with deposit liability of not less than Rs. 200 crores on 15th April 1980, viz. i) Andhra Bank. ii) Corporation Bank. iii) New Bank if India. iv) Oriental Bank of Commerce. v) Punjab and Sind Bank. vi) Vijaya Bank. In 1969, the Lead Bank Scheme was introduced to extend banking facilities to every corner of the country. Later in 1975, Regional Rural Banks were set up to supplement the activities of the commercial banks and to especially meet the credit needs of the weaker sections of the rural society. Nationalization of banks paved way for retail banking and as a result there has been an alt round growth in the branch network, the deposit mobilization, credit disposals and of course employment. The first year after nationalization witnessed the total growth in the agricultural loans and the loans made to SSI by 87% and 48% respectively. The overall growth in the deposits and the advances indicates the improvement that has taken place in the banking habits of the people in the rural and semi-urban areas where the branch network has spread. Such credit expansion enabled the banks to achieve the goals of nationalization, it was however, achieved at the coast of profitability of the banks. Consequences of Nationalization: The quality of credit assets fell because of liberal credit extension policy. Political interference has been as additional malady. Poor appraisal involved during the loan meals conducted for credit disbursals. The credit facilities extended to the priority sector at concessional rates. The high level of low yielding SLR investments adversely affected the profitability of the banks. The rapid branch expansion has been the squeeze on profitability of banks emanating primarily due to the increase in the fixed costs. There was downward trend in the quality of services and efficiency of the banks. 3) Post-Liberalization Era---Thrust on Quality and Profitability: By the beginning of 1990, the social banking goals set for the banking industry made most of the public sector resulted in the presumption that there was no need to look at the fundamental financial strength of this bank. Consequently they remained undercapitalized. Revamping this structure of the banking industry was

of extreme importance, as the health of the financial sector in particular and the economy was a whole would be reflected by its performance. The need for restructuring the banking industry was felt greater with the initiation of the real sector reform process in 1992. the reforms have enhanced the opportunities and challenges for the real sector making them operate in a borderless global market place. However, to harness the benefits of globalization, there should be an efficient financial sector to support the structural reforms taking place in the real economy. Hence, along with the reforms of the real sector, the banking sector reformation was also addressed. The route causes for the lackluster performance of banks, formed the elements of the banking sector reforms. Some of the factors that led to the dismal performance of banks were. Regulated interest rate structure. Lack of focus on profitability. Lack of transparency in the banks balance sheet. Lack of competition. Excessive regulation on organization structure and managerial resource. Excessive support from government. Against this background, the financial sector reforms were initiated to bring about a paradigm shift in the banking industry, by addressing the factors for its dismal performance. In this context, the recommendations made by a high level committee on financial sector, chaired by M. Narasimham, laid the foundation for the banking sector reforms. These reforms tried to enhance the viability and efficiency of the banking sector. The Narasimham Committee suggested that there should be functional autonomy, flexibility in operations, dilution of banking strangulations, reduction in reserve requirements and adequate financial infrastructure in terms of supervision, audit and technology. The committee further advocated introduction of prudential forms, transparency in operations and improvement in productivity, only aimed at liberalizing the regulatory framework, but also to keep them in time with international standards. The emphasis shifted to efficient and prudential banking linked to better customer care and customer services. Private Sector Banks The concept of private banking was introduced about 15 years ago. These are the banks that do not have any government stakes. Private Banks have gained quite a strong foothold in the Indian banking industry over the last few years especially because of optimum use of technology. The Private Banks are accountable for a share of 18.2 percent of the Indian banking industry. IndusInd Bank was the first private bank in India. Currently the bank is among the fastest growing Bank Private Banks in the country. IDBI which is

ranked as the tenth largest global development bank is counted as one of the finest financial institutions in the subcontinent. The first Private Bank in India to receive an in principle approval from the Reserve Bank of India was Housing Development Finance Corporation Limited, to set up a bank in the private sector banks in India as part of the RBI's liberalization of the Indian Banking Industry. It was incorporated in August 1994 as HDFC Bank Limited with registered office in Mumbai and commenced operations as Scheduled Commercial Bank in January 1995. ING Vaysya, yet another Private Bank of India was incorporated in the year 1930. Bangalore has a pride of place for having the first branch inception in the year 1934. With successive years of patronage and constantly setting new standards in banking, ING Vaysya Bank has many credits to its account. Entry of Private Sector Banks: There has been a paradigm shift in mindsets both at the Government level in the banking industry over the years since Nationalization of Banks in 1969, particularly during the last decade (1990-2000). Having achieved the objectives of Nationalization, the most important issue before the industry at present is survival and growth in the environment generated by the economic liberalization greater competition with a view to achieving higher productivity and efficiency in January 1993 for the entry of Private Sector banks based on the Nationalization Committee report of 1991, which envisaged a larger role for Private Sector Banks. The RBI prescribed a minimum paid up capital of Rs. 100 crores for the new bank and the shares are to be listed at stock exchange. Also the new bank after being granted license under the Banking Regulation Act shall be registered as a public limited company under the companies Act, 1956. Subsequently 9 new commercial banks have been granted license to start banking operations. The new private sector banks have been very aggressive in business expansion and is also reporting higher profile levels taking the advantage of technology and skilled manpower. In certain areas, these banks have even our crossed the other group of banks including foreign banks. Current scenario Currently, overall, banking in India is considered as fairly mature in terms of supply, product range and reach-even though reach in rural India still remains a challenge for the private sector and foreign banks. Even in terms of quality of assets and capital adequacy, Indian banks are considered to have clean, strong and transparent balance sheets-as compared to other banks in comparable economies in its region. The Reserve Bank of India is an autonomous body, with minimal pressure from the government. The stated policy of the Bank on the Indian Rupee is to manage volatility-without any stated exchange rate-and this has mostly been true. With the growth in the Indian economy expected to be strong for quite some

time-especially in its services sector, the demand for banking services-especially retail banking, mortgages and investment services are expected to be strong. M&As, takeovers, asset sales and much more action (as it is unraveling in China) will happen on this front in India.
Private Sector Banks Old Pvt. Sector Banks (25) New Pvt. Sector Banks (9)

In March 2006, the Reserve Bank of India allowed Warburg Pincus to increase its stake in Kotak Mahindra Bank (a private sector bank) to 10%. This is the first time an investor has been allowed to hold more than 5% in a private sector bank since the RBI announced norms in 2005 that any stake exceeding 5% in the private sector banks would need to be vetted by them. Currently, India has 88 scheduled commercial banks (SCBs) - 27 public sector banks (that is with the Government of India holding a stake), 31 private banks (these do not have government stake; they may be publicly listed and traded on stock exchanges) and 38 foreign banks. They have a combined network of over 53,000 branches and 17,000 ATMs. According to a report by ICRA Limited, a rating agency, the public sector banks hold over 75 percent of total assets of the banking industry, with the private and foreign banks holding 18.2% and 6.5% respectively. BANKING SERVICES Banking covers so many services that it is difficult to define it. However, these basic services have always been recognized as the hallmark of the genuine banker. These are The receipt of the customers deposits The collection of his cheques drawn on other banks The payment of the customers cheques drawn on himself There are other various types of banking services like: 1) Advances Overdraft, Cash Credit, etc. 2) Deposits Saving Account, Current Account, etc. 3) Financial Services Bill discounting etc. 4) Foreign Services Providing foreign currency, travelers cheques, etc. 5) Money Transmission Funds transfer etc. 6) Savings Fixed deposits, etc. 7) Services of place or time ATM Services. 8) Status Debit Cards, Credit Cards, etc. Customer Services in Commercial Banks: Customer service is the service provided in support of a banks core products. Customer service often includes answering questions; handling complaints.

Customer service can occur on site (as when an onstage employee helps a customer or answers a question) or it can occur over the phone or the Internet. Quality customer service is essential to building cordial customer relationship. Banking being a service industry, a lot depends on efficient and prompt customer service. Customer service is the most important duty of the banking operations. Prompt and efficient service with smile will develop good public relations reduce complaints and increase business. Why is Customer Service Important? Changing customer expectations: Today the customer is more demanding and more sophisticated than he or she was thirty years ago. The increased importance of customer service: With changing customer expectations, competitors are seeing customer service as a competitive weapon with which they differentiate their products and services. The need for a relationship strategy: To ensure that a customer service strategy that will create a value preposition for customers should be formulated implemented and controlled. It is necessary to give it a central role and not one that is subsumed in the various elements of the marketing mix. The customer is the kingpin in growth organizations like commercial banks. Only those institutions which work according to his dictates will flourish. Quality, Consistency and Durability at low price are the final expectations of a customer. Quality will have to be unambiguous, of world class quality. Quality cannot be of minimum acceptable standards. Customer responsiveness must be quick and also competent. Speed, performance and cost will be the new values mantra for success. The ten key areas of customers services to be attended timely and regularly are: i. Submission of statement of A/Cs to customers ii. Updating of savings pass books. iii. Teller system efficiency. iv. Cleanliness and Upkeep of premises. v. Intermediate Credit for institution cheques/land bills. vi. Advance intimation to customers for rewards of Term Deposits Receipts on maturity. vii. Advance for Debit/credit to accounts. viii. Punctuality of staff.