Brief History of Indian Banks and City of Kolkata

●RBI was set up in Kolkata but its headquarters was shifted to Mumbai in 1937. 

●SBI, the nation’s largest lender, originated as the Bank of Calcutta on 2 June 1806 with a capital of Rs 50 lakh, primarily to fund General Wellesley’s wars against Tipu Sultan and the Marathas. It was renamed Bank of Bengal on 2 January 1809 and opened branches at Rangoon (1861), Patna (1862), Mirzapur (1862) and Benares (1862). 

●In 1823, the government, which picked up 20 per cent stake in the bank and enjoyed the power to appoint its directors, gave Bank of Bengal the right to issue currency notes. This bank and two other Presidency banks—Bank of Bombay (set up in 1842 with a capital of Rs 52 lakh) and Bank of Madras (July 1843, Rs 30 lakh)—were merged on 27 January 1921 to form Imperial Bank of India, which was made State Bank of India on 30 April 1955 after RBI acquired a controlling stake in Imperial Bank of India. Imperial Bank of India acted as a central bank till the establishment of RBI in 1935, performing three functions: commercial banking, central banking and as a banker to the government. 

●The Presidency banks were governed by royal charters and issued currency notes till the Paper Currency Act of 1861 was enacted, giving the government the right to issue currency. 

●Kolkata was also the first port of call for major foreign banks in India. Standard Chartered Bank started its Indian operations by opening its first branch here in April 1858, a year after the first war of Independence in which sepoys of the British East India Company rebelled against the rulers. 

●The origin of Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Ltd (HSBC) can be traced to October 1853 when Mercantile Bank of India, London and China was founded in Mumbai, with an authorized capital of Rs 50 lakh. By 1855, Mercantile Bank had offices in London, Chennai (erstwhile Madras), Colombo, Kandy, Kolkata, Singapore, Hong Kong, Guangzhou and Shanghai. It was acquired by HSBC in 1959. 

●Citibank NA began its India operations in 1902, in Kolkata, and ABN AMRO Bank NV, which came to India in 1920, had its first branch in Kolkata too.

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