State Bank of India

State Bank of India (SBI), state-owned commercial bank and financial services company, nationalized by the Indian government in 1955. SBI maintains thousands of branches throughout India and offices in dozens of countries throughout the world. The bank’s headquarters are in Mumbai.

The oldest commercial bank in India, SBI originated in 1806 as the Bank of Calcutta. Three years later the bank was issued a royal charter and renamed the Bank of Bengal. Along with the Bank of Bombay (founded 1840) and the Bank of Madras (founded 1843), it was one of three so-called presidency banks, each of which was jointly owned by the provincial government and private subscribers. In 1921 the presidency banks were merged to form the Imperial Bank of India (IBI), which then became the largest commercial enterprise in the country. In 1955 the government of India and the country’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (founded 1935), assumed joint ownership of IBI, which was renamed the State Bank of India. Four years later, by the State Bank of India (Subsidiary Banks) Act, banks earlier operated by individual princely states became subsidiaries of SBI. The Reserve Bank’s share of SBI was transferred to the government in 2007. Since nationalization, SBI has served the needs of Indian economic development through rural-development initiatives and microcredit programs and by financing major agricultural and industrial projects and raising loans for the government.

SBI is governed by a board of directors headed by a chairman. The chairman and managing directors of the bank are appointed by the government.