Pre-Independence: The General Bank of India was set up in 1786. Next came the Bank of Hindustan and Bengal Bank. The East India Company established Bank of Bengal (1809), Bank of Bombay (1840) and Bank of Madras (1843) as independent units and called them presidency Banks. These three banks were amalgamated in 1920 and the Imperial Bank of India, which started as private shareholders banks, was established with mostly European shareholders.

In 1865, the Allahabad Bank was established, and, for the first time, exclusively by Indians, Punjab National Bank Ltd. was set up in 1894 with headquarters at Lahore. Between 1906 and 1923, Banks of India, Central Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Canara Bank, Indian Bank and Bank of Mysore were set up. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) was established in 1935.

Post Independence: The government took major steps in the Indian Banking Sector Reforms after independence. In 1955, it nationalized the Imperial Bank of India (the State Bank of India Act) with extensive banking facilities on a large scale, especially in rural and semi-urban areas as the first phase of nationalization. It formed the State Bank of India (SBI) to act as the principal agent of RBI and to handle banking transactions of the Union and the State Governments of the Country.

In 1969, seven subsidiary banks of the State Bank of India were nationalized as a major process of nationalization due to the effort of then Prime Minister Mrs. Indira Gandhi, Later in 1969, 14 Major Private Commercial Banks in the country were nationalized. Again in 1980, 6 more banks were nationalized. In 1993, New bank is merged will Punjab National Bank. So, there are 19 nationalized banks in our country at present.

PHASE III

The third phase of development of Indian banking introduced many more products and facilities in the banking sector in its reform measures. In 1991, under the chairmanship of M. Narsimham, a committee was set up under his name, which worked for the liberalization of banking practices.