Brief History Of Indian Banking

Though Indigenous banking system was active from ancient times in India, the origin of western type of commercial Banking in  India dates back to the 18th century. The first bank in India, called The General Bank of India was established in the year 1786. Three Presidency banks were set up under  charters  from  the  British  East India Company-  Bank of Calcutta, Bank of Bombay  and the Bank of Madras. These worked as quasi central banks in India for many years. The East India Company established The Bank of Bengal/Calcutta (1809), Bank of Bombay (1840) and Bank of Madras (1843).

The next bank was Bank of Hindustan which was established in 1870. These three individual units (Bank of Calcutta, Bank of Bombay, and Bank of Madras) were called as Presidency Banks. In 1921, all presidency banks were amalgamated to form the Imperial Bank of India which was run by European Shareholders. It is today's  State Bank of  India. The name was changed after India's Independence in  1955. So State Bank of India is the oldest   Bank of India.

In 1839,  Indian merchants tried to establish a Bank called Union Bank. It failed within a decade. Next   came  Allahabad  Bank  which  was established in 1865  and  operating even  today. The Oldest Joint Stock bank of India was Bank of Upper India established in 1863  and went out from business in  1913. The first bank purely managed  by Indian was Punjab  National Bank,   formed in 1894 with Lahore as Head quarter. However,  the   first  Indian commercial bank which was wholly owned and managed  by Indians was Central Bank of India which was established in 1911.  Between 1906 and 1913, Bank of India, Central Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Canara Bank, Indian Bank, and Bank of Mysore were set up.