Banking in India originated in the last decades of the 18th century. The oldest bank in existence in India is the State Bank of India, a government-owned bank that traces its origins back to June 1806 and that is the largest commercial bank in the country. Central banking is the responsibility of the Reserve Bank of India, which in 1935 formally took over these responsibilities from the then Imperial Bank of India, relegating it to commercial banking functions. After India's independence in 1947, the Reserve Bank was nationalized and given broader powers. In 1969 the government nationalized the 14 largest commercial banks; the government nationalized the six next largest in 1980.
Origin of the word:
The name bank derives from the Italian word banco "desk/bench", used during the Renaissance by Florentine bankers, who used to make their transactions above a desk covered by a green table cloth. However, there are traces of banking activity even in ancient times.
In fact, the word traces its origins back to the Ancient Roman Empire, where moneylenders would set up their stalls in the middle of enclosed courtyards called macella on a long bench called a bancu, from which the words banco and bank are derived. As a moneychanger, the merchant at the bancu did not so much invest money as merely convert the foreign currency into the only legal tender in Rome that of the Imperial Mint.
The earlierst evidence of money changing activity is depicted on a silver drachm coin from ancient hellenic colony Trapezus on the Black Sea, modern Trabzon, c. 350-325 BC, presented in the British Museum in London. The coin shows a banker's table (trapeza) laden with coins, a pun on the name of the city.
In fact, even today in Modern Greek the word Trapeza means both a table and a bank.
List of Nationalized Banks in India:
1. Allahabad Bank
2. Andhra Bank
3. Bank of Baroda
4. Bank of India
5. Bank of Maharashtra
6. Canara Bank
7. Central Bank of India
8. Corporation Bank
9. Dena Bank
10. Indian Bank
11. Indian Overseas Bank
12. Oriental Bank of Commerce
13. Punjab and Sind Bank
14. Punjab National Bank
15. State Bank Of India
16. Syndicate Bank
17. UCO Bank
18. Union Bank of India
19. United Bank of India
20. Vijaya Bank
List of State Bank of India and Associate Banks:
1. State Bank of India
2. State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur
3. State Bank of Hyderabad
4. State Bank of Indore
5. State Bank of Mysore
6. State Bank of Patiala
7. State Bank of Saurashtra
8. State Bank of Travancore
