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 (est. 15 April 1840) and the Bank of Madras (est. 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.
Under 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 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 eight banks that had belonged to princely states into subsidiaries of SBI. This was during 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 the 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 the 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. 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.
The proposal to merge all the associate banks into SBI to create a single very large bank and streamline operations started in the mid-2000s.[24]
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. On 19 June 2009, the SBI board approved the absorption of State Bank of Indore, in which SBI held 98.3%.[25] The acquisition of State Bank of Indore added 470 branches to SBI's existing network of branches. The process of merging of State Bank of Indore was completed in 2010.[26]
In 2009, SBI and Macquarie Group established the Macquarie-SBI Infrastructure Fund to invest in infrastructure projects in India.[27] In 2011, SBI and Oman's sovereign wealth fund SGRF launched a 50:50 joint venture private equity firm called the Oman India Joint Investment Fund.[28]
On 7 October 2013, Arundhati Bhattacharya became the first woman to be appointed chairperson of the bank.[29]
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 lakh (3 million) accounts by September, which included 21 lakh (2.1 million) accounts in rural areas and 15.7 lakh (1.57 million) accounts in urban areas.[30]
In March 2020, as part of an RBI-directed rescue deal, the State Bank of India acquired a 48.2% stake in Yes Bank.[35] As of 8 February 2024, the shareholding has decreased to 26.13%.[36]
On 16 August 2022, in an attempt to facilitate and support India's start-ups, SBI launched a dedicated branch for start-ups in Bengaluru.[37]
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 17 regional hubs known as local head offices (LHOs), under whom are 57 administrative offices (AOs), that are located in important cities throughout India, under whom are furthermore administrative sub-offices known as regional business offices (RBOs), with each RBO having, under its direct administrative control, some 40 to 50 branches.
As per SBI website, SBI has 22,405 branches in India.[38][39] In the financial year 2012–13, 95.35% of its revenue and 88.37% of total profits came from domestic operations.[38]
As of July 2023, the SBI group had 65,627 ATMs.[40] In November 2017, SBI launched an integrated digital banking platform named YONO.[41] SBI YONO has 87.7 million users in FY25[42]
International
State Bank of India branch at Southall, United KingdomStamp dedicated to the State Bank of India in 2005
As of 2024–25, the bank had 241 overseas offices spread over 36 countries having the largest presence in foreign markets among Indian banks.[43]
SBI Canada Bank[47] was incorporated in 1982 as a subsidiary of the State Bank of India. SBI Canada Bank is a Schedule II Canadian Bank listed under the Bank Act and is a member of the Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation.
PT Bank SBI Indonesia SBI acquired a 76% stake in PT Bank Indo Monex for $6 million in 2006.[50] In 2009, the bank was renamed PT Bank SBI Indonesia.[51]
SBI (Mauritius) Ltd SBI established an offshore bank in 1989, State Bank of India International (Mauritius) Ltd. This then amalgamated with The Indian Ocean International Bank (which had been doing retail banking in Mauritius since 1979) to form SBI (Mauritius) Ltd. Today, SBI (Mauritius) Ltd has 14 branches – 13 retail branches and 1 global business branch at Ebene in Mauritius.[52]
Nepal SBI Bank Limited SBI owns 55% stake, while the state-owned Employees Provident Fund of Nepal owns 15% and the general public owns the remaining 30%. Nepal SBI Bank Limited has branches throughout the country.
Commercial Indo Bank LLC, Moscow was established as a 60:40 joint venture between SBI and Canara Bank. In 2022, SBI acquired Canara Bank's 40% stake for $14.67 million.[53]
SBI Singapore In 1977, SBI established an offshore bank in Singapore providing commercial and wholesale banking services. In October 2008, it obtained a qualified full banking license.[54]
SBI South Korea In January 2016, SBI opened its first branch in Seoul, South Korea.[55]
SBI South Africa
SBI Sri Lanka[56] was founded in 1864 and is the oldest bank in Sri Lanka.[57] It has three branches located in Colombo, Kandy and Jaffna.
SBI US In 1982, the bank established a subsidiary, State Bank of India (California). It has ten branches—nine branches in the state of California and one in Washington, D.C., as of 28 March 2011.
The plans for making SBI a single very large bank by merging all associate banks started in 2008, when SBS merged with SBI. The very next year, SBN also merged with SBI. The merger of the five remaining associate banks, namely SBBJ, SBH, SBM, SBP, and SBT, with the SBI received approval in 2016.[59][60] The merger completed in April 2017, with SBI's fully owned subsidiary Bharatiya Mahila Bank also merging with SBI.[61]
In Nigeria, SBI operated as INMB Bank, which began in 1981 as the Indo–Nigerian Merchant Bank and received permission in 2002 to commence retail banking. It later merged with NAL Bank.[62] In Kenya, State Bank of India acquired 76% of Giro Commercial Bank for US$8 million in October 2005.[63] In 2015, Giro Commercial Bank was acquired by I&M Holdings.[64] In Botswana, SBI registered a subsidiary on 27 January 2006 and was issued a banking licence by the Bank of Botswana on 29 July 2013. The subsidiary handed over its banking licence and closed its operations in 2021.[65]
As of June 2024,[68] the Government of India held around 57.54% equity shares in SBI. The Life Insurance Corporation of India, itself state-owned, is the largest non-promoter shareholder in the company with 9.02% shareholding.[69]
SBI is one of the largest employers in the world with 232,296 employees as of 31 March 2024. Out of the total workforce, the representation of women employees is nearly 27%. The percentage of officers, associates, and subordinate staff was 47%, 38%, and 13% respectively on the same date. Each employee contributed a net profit of ₹2,620,460 (US$31,000) during FY 2023–24.[75]
Logo
State Bank of India logo was designed by NID in 1971
The SBI logo was designed by the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad in 1971.[76] The logo was designed by Shekhar Kamat and the logotype in 14 Indian languages was designed by Mahendra Patel.[77][78] State Bank of India and all its associate banks used the same blue keyhole logo.[79] The State Bank of India wordmark usually had one standard typeface, but also utilised other typefaces. The wordmark now has the keyhole logo followed by "SBI".
Philanthropy
State Bank of India maintains a philanthropic arm named SBI Foundation which supports development initiatives in India and also with initiatives that comply under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs under corporate social responsibility.[80][81]
↑ "Monetary and Credit Information Review". Reserve Bank of India. 31 January 2024. Retrieved 1 September 2024. Domestic Systemically Important Banks (D-SIBs) - The Reserve Bank on January 2, 2023 released the list of Domestic Systemically Important Banks (D-SIBs). State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, and HDFC Bank continue to be identified as D-SIBs, under the same bucketing structure as in the 2021 list of D-SIBs.
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₹ 5.24 trillion (US$62 billion) [3] (2025)
