History of State Bank of India(SBI)

State Bank of India is an Indian multinational, public sector banking and financial services company. It is agovernment-owned corporation with its headquarters in Mumbai, Maharashtra. As of 2014-15, it has assets of INR 20,48,080 crores and 16,333 branches, including 191 foreign offices spread across 36 countries, making it the largest banking and financial services company in India by assets.

State Bank of India is one of the Big Four banks of India, along with Bank of Baroda, Punjab National Bank and ICICI Bank.

The bank traces its ancestry to British India, through the Imperial Bank of India, to the founding, in 1806, of the Bank of Calcutta, making it the oldest commercial bank in the Indian Subcontinent. Bank of Madras merged into the other two "presidency banks" in British India, Bank of Calcutta and Bank of Bombay, to form the Imperial Bank of India, which in turn became the State Bank of India. Government of India owned the Imperial Bank of India in 1955, with Reserve Bank of India (India's Central Bank) taking a 60% stake, and renamed it the State Bank of India. In 2008, the government took over the stake held by the Reserve Bank of India.

State Bank of India is a regional banking behemoth and has 20% market share in deposits and loans among Indian commercial banks.

History

The roots of the State Bank of India lie in the first decade of the 19th century, when the Bank of Calcutta, later renamed the Bank of Bengal, was established on 2 June 1806. The Bank of Bengal was one of three Presidency banks, the other two being 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 royal charters. These three banks received the exclusive right to issue paper currency till 1861 when, with the Paper Currency Act, the right was taken over by the Government of India. The Presidency banks amalgamated on 27 January 1921, and the re-organised banking entity took as its name Imperial Bank of India. The Imperial Bank of India remained a joint stock company but without Government participation.

Pursuant to the provisions of the State Bank of India Act of 1955, the Reserve Bank of India, which is India's central bank, acquired a controlling interest in the Imperial Bank of India. On 1 July 1955, the imperial Bank of India became the State Bank of India. In 2008, the Government of India 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. This made SBI subsidiaries of eight that had belonged to princely states prior to their nationalization and operatonal take-over between September 1959 and October 1960, which made eight state banks associates of SBI. This acquisition was in tune with the first Five Year Plan, which prioritised the development of rural India. The government integrated these banks into the State Bank of India system to expand its rural outreach. In 1963 SBI merged State Bank of Jaipur (est. 1943) and State Bank of Bikaner (est.1944).

SBI has acquired local banks in rescues. The first was the Bank of Bihar (est. 1911), which SBI acquired in 1969, together with its 28 branches. The next year SBI acquired National Bank of Lahore (est. 1942), which had 24 branches. Five years later, in 1975, SBI acquired Krishnaram Baldeo Bank, which had been established in 1916 in Gwalior State, under the patronage of Maharaja Madho Rao Scindia. The bank had been the Dukan Pichadi, a small moneylender, owned by the Maharaja. The new bank's first manager was Jall N. Broacha, a Parsi. In 1985, SBI acquired the Bank of Cochin in Kerala, which had 120 branches. SBI was the acquirer as its affiliate, the State Bank of Travancore, already had an extensive network in Kerala.

There has been a proposal to merge all the associate banks into SBI to create a "mega bank" and streamline the group's operations.

The first step towards unification occurred on 13 August 2008 when State Bank of Saurashtra merged with SBI, reducing the number of associate state banks from seven to six. Then on 19 June 2009 the SBI board approved the absorption of State Bank of Indore. SBI holds 98.3% in State Bank of Indore. (Individuals who held the shares prior to its takeover by the government hold the balance of 1.7%.)

The acquisition of State Bank of Indore added 470 branches to SBI's existing network of branches. Also, following the acquisition, SBI's total assets will inch very close to the ₹10 trillion mark (10 billion long scale). The total assets of SBI and the State Bank of Indore stood at ₹9,981,190 million as of March 2009. The process of merging of State Bank of Indore was completed by April 2010, and the SBI Indore branches started functioning as SBI branches on 26 August 2010.

On October 7, 2013, Arundhati Bhattacharya became the first woman to be appointed Chairperson of the bank.

Operations

SBI provides a range of banking products through its network of branches in India and overseas, including products aimed at non-resident Indians (NRIs). SBI has 14 regional hubs and 57 Zonal Offices that are located at important cities throughout India.

Domestic presence

SBI has nearly 16000 branches in India presently, of which 9,851 (66%) were in Rural and Semi-urban areas. In the financial year 2012-13, its revenue was INR 200,560 Crores (US$36.9 billion), out of which domestic operations contributed to 95.35% of revenue. Similarly, domestic operations contributed to 88.37% of total profits for the same financial year.

Under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana of financial inclusion launched by Government in August 2014, SBI held 11,300 camps and opened over 30 lakhs accounts by September, which included 21.16 lakh accounts in rural areas and 8.8 lakh accounts in urban areas.

International presence

As of 2014-15, the bank had 191 overseas offices spread over 36 countries having the largest presence in foreign markets among domestic banks. It has branches of the parent in Moscow, Colombo, Dhaka, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Tehran,Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Male in the Maldives, Muscat, Dubai, New York, Osaka, Sydney, and Tokyo. It hasoffshore banking units in the Bahamas, Bahrain, and Singapore, and representative offices in Bhutan and Cape Town.

The Canadian subsidiary, State Bank of India (Canada) also dates to 1982. It has seven branches, four in the Toronto area and three in the Vancouver area.

SBI operates several foreign subsidiaries or affiliates. In 1990, it established an offshore bank: State Bank of India (Mauritius). SBI (Mauritius) has 15 branches in major cities/towns of the country including Rodrigues.

SBI Sri Lanka now has three branches located in Colombo, Kandy and Jaffna. The Jaffna branch was opened on 9 September 2013. SBI Sri Lanka, the oldest bank in Sri Lanka, celebrated its 150th year in Sri Lanka on 1 July 2014.

In 1982, the bank established a subsidiary, State Bank of India (California), which now has ten branches – nine branches in the state of California and one in Washington, D.C. The 10th branch was opened in Fremont, California on 28 March 2011. The other eight branches in California are located in Los Angeles, Artesia, San Jose, Canoga Park, Fresno, San Diego, Tustin and Bakersfield.

In Nigeria, SBI operates as INMB Bank. This bank began in 1981 as the Indo-Nigerian Merchant Bank and received permission in 2002 to commence retail banking. It now has five branches in Nigeria.

In Nepal, SBI owns 49% of SBI Nepal (State Bank in Nepal) share with Nepal Government owing the rest and SBI NEPAL has branches throughout the country in each and every city as banking has become the major part of daily life for Nepalesepeople. In Moscow, SBI owns 60% of Commercial Bank of India, with Canara Bank owning the rest. In Indonesia, it owns 76% of PT Bank Indo Monex.

The State Bank of India already has a branch in Shanghai and plans to open one in Tianjin.

In Kenya, State Bank of India owns 76% of Giro Commercial Bank, which it acquired for US$8 million in October 2005.

In January 2016, SBI opened it's first branch in Seoul,South Korea following the continuous and significant increase in trade due to the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement signed between New Delhi and Seoul in 2009.

Associate banks
Main Branch of SBI in Mumbai.

SBI now has five associate banks, down from the eight that it originally acquired in 1959. All use the State Bank of India logo, which is a blue circle, and all use the "State Bank of" name, followed by the regional headquarters' name:

·         State Bank of Bikaner & Jaipur

·         State Bank of Hyderabad

·         State Bank of Mysore

·         State Bank of Patiala

·         State Bank of Travancore

The State Bank of India and all its associate banks are identified by the same blue keyhole logo. The State Bank of Indiawordmark usually has one standard typeface, but also utilises other typefaces.

Non-banking subsidiaries

Apart from its five associate banks, SBI also has the following non-banking subsidiaries:

·         SBI Capital Markets Ltd

·         SBI Funds Management Pvt Ltd

·         SBI Factors & Commercial Services Pvt Ltd

·         SBI Cards & Payments Services Pvt. Ltd. (SBICPSL)

·         SBI DFHI Ltd

·         SBI Life Insurance Company Limited

·         SBI General Insurance

In March 2001, SBI (with 74% of the total capital), joined with BNP Paribas (with 26% of the remaining capital), to form a joint venture life insurance company named SBI Life Insurance company Ltd. In 2004, SBI DFHI (Discount and Finance House of India) was founded with its headquarters in Mumbai.

Other SBI service points

As of 31 March 2014: SBI has 43,515 ATMs .SBI group (including associate banks) has 53,000 plus ATMs presently.. SBI has become the first bank to install an ATM at Drass in the Jammu & Kashmir Kargil region. This was the Bank's 27,032nd ATM on 27 July 2012.

Logo and slogan

·         The logo of the State Bank of India is a blue circle with a small cut in the bottom that depicts perfection and the small man the common man - being the center of the bank's business. The logo came from National Institute of Design(NID), Ahmedabad and it was inspired by Kankaria lake,

·         Slogans: "PURE BANKING, NOTHING ELSE", "WITH YOU - ALL THE WAY", "A BANK OF THE COMMON MAN", "THE BANKER TO EVERY INDIAN", "THE NATION BANKS ON US"

Listings and shareholding

As on 31 March 2014, Government of India held around 58.59% equity shares in SBI. Life Insurance Corporation of India is the largest non-promoter shareholder in the company with 14.99% shareholding.

Shareholders	Shareholding
Promoters: Government of India	58.60%
Banks & Insurance Companies	16.79%
FIIs/GDRs/OCBs/NRIs	12.04%
Mutual Funds & UTI	03.78%
Private Corporate Bodies	02.87%
Others	5.92%
Total	100.0%

The equity shares of SBI are listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange, where it is a constituent of the BSE SENSEX index, and the National Stock Exchange of India,^[23] where it is a constituent of the CNX Nifty. 

Its Global Depository Receipts (GDRs) are listed on the London Stock Exchange.

Employees

SBI is one of the largest employers in the country having 222,033 employees as on 31 March 2014, out of which there were 45,132 female employees (20%) and 2,610 (1%) employees with disabilities. On the same date, SBI had 42,744 Schedule Caste (19%) and 17,243 Schedule Tribe (8%) employees. The percentage of Officers, Assistants and Sub-staff was 36%, 46% and 18% respectively on the same date Hiring drive: 1,776 Assistants and 1,394 Officers joined the Bank in FY 2013-14, for expansion of the branch network and to mitigate staff shortage, particularly at rural and semi-urban branches. Staff productivity: As per its Annual Report for FY 2013-14, each employee contributed net profit of INR 4.85 lakhs.

Recent awards and recognitions

SBI won the Best Bank award in the 'ASiAMONEY FX POLL OF POLLS 2014’ for best overall performance as domestic provider of Forex services over the last 10 years.

SBI was ranked as the top bank in India based on tier 1 capital by The Banker magazine in a 2014 ranking.

SBI was ranked 298th in the Fortune Global 500 rankings of the world's biggest corporations for the year 2012.

SBI won "Best Public Sector Bank" award in the D&B India's study on 'India's Top Banks 2013'.

State Bank of India won three IDRBT Banking Technology Excellence Awards 2013 for “Electronic Payment Systems”, “Best use of technology for Financial Inclusion”, and “Customer Management & Business Intelligence” in the large bank category.

SBI won National Award for its performance in the implementation of Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP) scheme for the year 2012.

SBI was the only bank featured in the "top 10 brands of India" list in an annual survey conducted by Brand Finance and The Economic Times in 2010.

SBI was named the 29th most reputed company in the world according to Forbes 2009 rankings.

SBI was 50th Most Trusted brand in India as per the Brand Trust Report 2013,an annual study conducted by Trust Research Advisory, a brand analytics company and subsequently, in the Brand Trust Report 2014, SBI finished as India's 19th Most Trusted Brand in India.

Major competitors

Some of the major competitors for SBI in the banking sector are Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda, IndusInd Bank, Canara Bank, Bank of India and Union Bank of India. However, in terms of average market share, SBI is by far the largest player in the market.