Banking business has a history of over 200 years.

From the times of theBank of Bengal

(1806) the sector has been witnessing qualitative and quantitativechanges. Main players
during the pre-independence period were Credit

Lyonnais,Allahab
ad Bank, Punjab
National Bank
and Bank of
India. With 1935
regulation
theReserve Bank
of India was

proclaimed the
Central Bank of
India and was
vestedwith
controlling
powers over the
commercial
banks.The drastic

development
taken place
during the first
25 years
sinceindependenc
e was
Nationalization
of many private

banks. With this,

the
centralgovernmen
t became major
policy maker for
these nationalized
banksWith
economic

liberalization
measures many
private and
foreign
bankingcompanie
s were allowed to
operate in the
country.

Favorable
economic climate
anda variety of
other factors such
as demand for
wide range of
financial products
fromvarious

sections of the
society led to
mutually
beneficial growth
to the
bankingsector an
d economic gro
wth process. Th

is was coincided
by technologyde
velopment
in the banking op
erations. Today
most of the India
n cities havenetw
orked banking fa

cility as well as I
nternet banking f
acility. A custom
er isempowered
to operate his
account from any
part of the
country. UTI

Bank,
ICICI,HDFC
Bank and Bank of
Punjab are the
main winners of
the race
.

BANKING
IN INDIA
Banking in India
originated in the
first decade of
18th century with

TheGeneral Bank
of India coming
into existence in
1786. This was
followed by Bank
of Hindustan.
Both these banks
are now defunct.

The oldest bank

in existence in
India is12
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theState Bank of
Indiabeing
established as

"The Bank of
Bengal"
inCalcuttain
June1806. A
couple of
decades later,
foreign banks
likeCredit

Lyonnaisstarted
their Calcuttaoper
ations in
the 1850s. At
that point of
time, Calcutta
was the most
activetrading

port, mainly due

to the trade of
theBritish
Empire, and due
to which
bankingactivity
took roots there
and prospered.

The first fully

Indian owned
bank was
theAllahabad
Bank , which was
established in
1865.By the
1900s, the market

expanded with
the establishment
of banks such
asPunjab National
Bank,in 1895 in
Lahore andBank
of India, in 1906,
inMumbai- both

of which were
founded under
private
ownership.
TheReserve Bank
of India formally
took on the
responsibility of

regulating the
Indian banking
sector from
1935.After
India's independe
nce in 1947,
the Reserve Bank
was nationalized

and given broader

powers.13
INDIAN INSTITUTE
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TECHNOLOGY

Reserve Bank of
India
Scheduled Banks

Commerci
al BanksC
oOerative
B a n k s Foreig
nBanks(40)Regio
nalRuralBank Urb
an Co-

operatives(52)Stat
e Cooperatives(16)