SBI

State Bank of India (SBI) is an Indian multinational, public sector banking and financial services statutory body headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra. SBI is ranked 236th in the Fortune Global 500 list of the world's biggest corporations. A nationalised bank, it is the largest 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 2024, the company’s seat in Forbes Global 2000 was 55. As of 2024, SBI has 500 million customers.

The bank descends from the Bank of Calcutta, founded in 1806 via the Imperial Bank of India, making it the oldest commercial bank in the Indian subcontinent. The Bank of Madras merged into the other two presidency banks in British India, the Bank of Calcutta and the Bank of Bombay, to form the Imperial Bank of India, which in turn became the State Bank of India in 1955. The Government of India took control of the Imperial Bank of India in 1955, with Reserve Bank of India (India's central bank) taking a 60% stake, renaming it State Bank of India.

The roots of 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 (incorporated on 15 April 1840) and the Bank of Madras (incorporated on 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.

Pursuant to 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 so as 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 at the time of 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 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 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. The new bank's first manager was Jall N. Broacha, a Parsi. 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.

There was, even before it actually happened, a proposal to merge all the associate banks into SBI to create a single very large bank and streamline operations.

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%. (Individuals who held the shares prior to its takeover by the government held the balance of 1.7%.)

The acquisition of State Bank of Indore added 470 branches to SBI's existing network of branches. Also, following the acquisition, SBI's total assets approached ?10 trillion. The total assets of SBI and the State Bank of Indore were ?9,981,190 million as of March 2009. The process of merging of State Bank of Indore was completed by April 2010, and the S B Indore branches started functioning as SBI branches on 26 August 2010.

On 7 October 2013, Arundhati Bhattacharya became the first woman to be appointed Chairperson of the bank. Mrs. Bhattacharya received an extension of two years of service to merge into SBI the five remaining associate banks.

IDBI

Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI Bank Limited or IDBI Bank or IDBI) was established in 1964 by an Act to provide credit and other financial facilities for the development of the fledgling Indian industry. Many national institutes find their roots in IDBI like SIDBI, Exim Bank, NSE and NSDL. As of 1 September 2023, the bank had 18,283 employees, out of which 197 were employees with disabilities. As of July 2025, the bank has an aggregate balance sheet size of ?4,11,661.

Initially it operated as a subsidiary of Reserve Bank of India and later RBI has transferred it to Government of India. On 29 June 2018 Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) has got a technical go-ahead from Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) to increase stake in IDBI Bank up to 51%. LIC completed acquisition of 51% controlling stake on 21 January 2019 making it the majority shareholder of the IDBI Bank. Reserve Bank of India has clarified vide a Press Release dated 14 March 2019, that IDBI Bank stands re-categorized as a Private Sector Bank for regulatory purposes with effect from 21 January 2019.

The bank has an aggregate balance sheet size of INR 3.74 trillion as on 31 March 2016. It has 3,683 ATMs, 1892 branches, including one overseas branch in Dubai, 58 e-lounges and 1407 centers as of 1 February 2020.

HDFC

HDFC Bank Limited is an Indian banking and financial services company headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra. It has a base of 1,04,154 permanent employees as of 30 June 2019. HDFC Bank is India’s largest private sector bank by assets. It is the largest bank in India by market capitalisation as of March 2020. It is the world's tenth-largest bank by market capitalization as of May 2024.

A subsidiary of the Housing Development Finance Corporation, HDFC Bank was incorporated in 1994, with its registered office in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. Its first corporate office and a full-service branch at Sandoz House, Worli were inaugurated by the then Union Finance Minister, Manmohan Singh.

As of 30 June 2019, the Bank's distribution network was at 5500 branches across 2,764 cities. The bank also installed 430,000 POS terminals and issued 23570,000 debit cards and 12 million credit cards in FY 2017.

Products and service

HDFC Bank provides a number of products and services including wholesale banking, retail banking, treasury, auto loans, two-wheeler loans, personal loans, loans against property, consumer durable loan, lifestyle loan and credit cards. Along with this various digital products are Payzapp and SmartBUY.

Mergers

HDFC Bank merged with Times Bank in February 2000. This was the first merger of two private banks in the New Generation private sector banks category. Times Bank was established by Bennett, Coleman and Co. Ltd., commonly known as The Times Group, India's largest media conglomerate.

In 2008, Centurion Bank was acquired by HDFC Bank. HDFC Bank Board approved the acquisition of CBoP for ?95.1 billion in one of the largest mergers in the financial sector in India.