| Company type | Private company |
|---|---|
| Industry | Banking, Insurance, Capital Markets and allied industries |
| Founded | 1 April 1773 (as The General Bank of Bengal and Bihar) |
| Founder | Warren Hastings |
| Defunct | 31 March 1775 |
| Fate | Defunct |
| Headquarters | |
Number of locations | Bengal Presidency |
Area served | India |
Key people | Warren Hastings |
| Products | Deposits, Personal Banking Schemes, C & I Banking Schemes, Agri Banking Schemes, SME Banking Schemes |
| Services | Banking, Trade Finance |
The General Bank of Bengal and Bihar (alternate spelling: General Bank of Bengal and Bahar) was a bank in British India that operated between 1773 and 1775.
It was founded in the year 1773 when India was under control of the East India Company. The bank was the fourth oldest bank in India. [1] The bank became defunct March 31st, 1775 having operated for only two years.
The bank was established in 1773 by Warren Hastings, the first Viceroy of India. [2]
During the early years of the British rule in India, a need was felt for a bank that would service the British employees of the East India Company. Many banks were founded as a result, and the General Bank of Bengal and Bihar was one such bank. [3]
Although the bank was largely a private bank, it enjoyed patronage from the then government of India, the East India Company. [2]
The bank was staffed by mostly British nationals who were drawn mainly from the East India Company. [2] [4]
The bank lasted in business for only two years and was finally closed in 1775. [2]
The bank also issued its own currency notes in its two years of existence. [2]
The bank is notable for being the fourth oldest bank in India. [1] It is also notable for being one of the first institutions in India to issue its own paper banknotes or currency notes. [2]
The ability of private banks to issue their own currency notes was taken away by The Paper Currency Act, 1861. [5] [6]
The Reserve Bank of India, abbreviated as RBI, is India's central bank and regulatory body responsible for regulation of the Indian banking system. Owned by the Ministry of Finance, Government of India, it is responsible for the control, issue and maintaining supply of the Indian rupee. It also manages the country's main payment systems and works to promote its economic development. Bharatiya Reserve Bank Note Mudran (BRBNM) is a specialised division of RBI through which it prints and mints Indian currency notes (INR) in two of its currency printing presses located in Mysore and Salboni. The RBI, along with the Indian Banks' Association, established the National Payments Corporation of India to promote and regulate the payment and settlement systems in India. Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation was established by RBI as one of its specialized division for the purpose of providing insurance of deposits and guaranteeing of credit facilities to all Indian banks.
State Bank of India (SBI) is an Indian multinational public sector bank and financial services statutory body headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra. SBI is the 45th largest bank in the world by total assets and ranked 221st in the Fortune Global 500 list of the world's biggest corporations of 2020, being the only Indian bank on the list. It is a public sector bank and the largest bank in India with a 23% market share by assets and a 25% share of the total loan and deposits market. It is also the tenth largest employer in India with nearly 250,000 employees. In 2023, the company’s seat in Forbes Global 2000 was 77.
The Indian rupee is the official currency in India. The rupee is subdivided into 100 paise. The issuance of the currency is controlled by the Reserve Bank of India. The Reserve Bank manages currency in India and derives its role in currency management based on the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934.
The Imperial Bank of India (IBI) was one of the oldest and the largest commercial banks in India, and was subsequently renamed and nationalised as the State Bank of India in 1955. Initially, as per its royal charter, it acted as the central bank for India prior to the formation of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in 1935.
The history of the rupee traces back to ancient times in the Indian subcontinent. The mention of rūpya by Pāṇini is seemingly the earliest reference in a text about coins. The term in Indian subcontinent was used for referring to a coin.
Commonwealth banknote-issuing institutions also British Empire Paper Currency Issuers comprises a list of public, private, state-owned banks and other government bodies and Currency Boards who issued legal tender: banknotes.
Bank of Hindostan (1770–1832), a now defunct bank, was the third oldest bank in India.
The paper money of the Qing dynasty was periodically used alongside a bimetallic coinage system of copper-alloy cash coins and silver sycees; paper money was used during different periods of Chinese history under the Qing dynasty, having acquired experiences from the prior Song, Jin, Yuan, and Ming dynasties which adopted paper money but where uncontrolled printing led to hyperinflation. During the youngest days of the Qing dynasty paper money was used but this was quickly abolished as the government sought not to repeat history for a fourth time; however, under the reign of the Xianfeng Emperor, due to several large wars and rebellions, the Qing government was forced to issue paper money again.
The Currency Building is an early 19th-century building in the B. B. D. Bagh central business district of Kolkata in West Bengal, India. The building was originally built in 1833 to house the Calcutta branch of the Agra Bank. In 1868, it was converted for use by the Office of the Issue and Exchange of Government Currency, an office of the Controller of the Currency under the British Raj. From 1935 until 1937, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) used the building as its first central office. The building remained in use, and was used at one time by the Central Public Works Department (CPWD) as a storehouse. Authorities decided to demolish it in 1994.
The Bengal Bank was a bank founded in 1784 in British India. The bank was the fifth oldest bank in India.
The Union Bank was a bank founded in the year 1828 in British India by Prince Dwarkanath Tagore. The bank was the fourteenth oldest bank in India.
The Paper Currency Act, 1861 is an act in India dating from the British colonial rule, that is currently no longer in force.
Many European trading companies came to India's during the 18th century. These trading companies set up private banks which issued paper currencies in Indian subcontinent first. But these notes were text-based. Charles Canning, 1st Earl Canning first introduced paper currency in Indian subcontinent in 1861 officially.
The Commercial Bank was a bank founded in the year 1819 in British India. The bank was the eleventh oldest bank in India.
The Calcutta Bank was a bank founded in the year 1824 in British India. The bank was the twelfth oldest bank in India.
The Bank of India was a bank founded in the year 1828 in British India and was closed down one year later in 1829. It was the thirteenth oldest bank in India.
The Government Savings Bank (1833) was an Indian bank founded in 1833 in British India and operated until it was liquidated in 1843. The bank was the fifteenth oldest bank in India.
The Bank of Mirzapore (1835) was a bank founded in the year 1835 in British India. The bank was the seventeenth oldest bank in India. It was liquidated in 1937.
The Asiatic Bank (1804) was a bank founded in the year 1804 in British India. The bank was the ninth oldest bank in India.
The Cawnpore Bank (1845) was an Indian bank that operated between 1845 and 1852 in British India. It was founded in the year 1845 under the company rule in India and became defunct in the year 1852 with the winding down of its operations. The bank was notable for being the thirty first oldest bank in India.
