India:

India's 15 best banks

Last updated on: November 21, 2011 09:57 IST

1. Bank of BarodaDeposits: Rs 305,439 crore (Rs 3,054.39 billion)Operating profit: Rs 6,982 crore (Rs 69.82 billion)

Bank of Baroda has a network of over 3,000 branches and offices, and about 1,100 ATMs.

The Maharajah of Baroda, Sir Sayajirao Gaekwad III, founded the bank on July 20, 1908 in the princely state of Baroda, in Gujarat.

The bank, along with 13 other major commercial banks of India, was nationalised on July 19, 1969, by the government of India.

2. HDFC BankDeposits: Rs 208,586 crore (Rs 2,085.86 billion)Operating profit: Rs 7,725 crore (Rs 77.25 billion)

HDFC Bank is a major Indian financial services company incorporated in August 1994, after the Reserve Bank of India allowed establishing private sector banks.

The bank was promoted by the Housing Development Finance Corporation.

HDFC Bank has over 1,725 branches and 4,232 ATMs, in 779 cities in India, and all branches of the bank are linked on an online real-time basis.

3. Axis BankDeposits: 189,238 crore (Rs 1,892.38 billion)Operating profit: 6,416 crore (Rs 64.16 billion)

Formerly UTI Bank, Axis Bank is a financial services firm that began operations in 1994, after the Government of India allowed new private banks to be established.

The bank was promoted jointly by the Administrator of the Specified Undertaking of the Unit Trust of India, Life Insurance Corporation of India, General Insurance Corporation, National Insurance Company, The New India Assurance Company, The Oriental Insurance Corporation and United India Insurance.

The bank changed its name to Axis Bank in April 2007 to avoid confusion.

The bank's registered office is at Ahmedabad and its central office is located at Mumbai.

At the end of September 2010, the bank has a very wide network of more than 1,095 branches and over 4,846 ATMs.

4. Yes BankDeposits: Rs 45,939 crore (Rs 459.39 billion)
Operating profit: Rs 1,190 crore (Rs 11.9 billion)

The bank was founded in 2003-04 by Ashok Kapoor and Rana Kapoor.

Headquartered in Mumbai, it is involved in corporate and institutional banking, financial markets, investment banking, corporate finance, branch banking, business and transaction banking, and wealth Management business lines

The bank employs about 3,034 people.

5. State Bank of HyderabadDeposits: Rs 88,628 crore (Rs 886.28 billion)Operating profit: 2,319 crore (Rs 23.19 billion)

It was established in 1942, during the reign of the last Nizam of Hyderabad, Mir Osman Ali Khan.

The bank also managed the Osmania Sicca, the currency of Hyderabad state, which had the distinction of having its own currency during British rule.

In 1956, the bank absorbed, by merger, the Mercantile Bank of Hyderabad, which Raja Pannalal Pitti had founded in 1935.

Hyderabad State Bank was renamed State Bank of Hyderabad in 1956, and its entire share capital was vested with the Reserve Bank of India.

Later, after the Subsidiary Banks Act was passed in 1959, it and the other banks of the princely states became subsidiaries of SBI.

SBH was the first subsidiary of State Bank of India.

6. Punjab National BankDeposits: Rs 312,899 crore (Rs 3,128.99 billion)Operating profit: Rs 9,056 crore (Rs 90.56 billion)

Punjab National Bank is the third largest bank in India.

It was registered on May 19, 1894 under the Indian Companies Act with its office in Anarkali Bazaar, Lahore.

Today, the bank is the second largest state owned commercial bank in India with about 5,000 branches across 764 cities.

PNB has a banking subsidiary in the UK, as well as branches in Hong Kong, Dubai and Kabul, and representative offices in Almaty, Dubai, Oslo, and Shanghai.

7. Canara Bank
Deposits: Rs 293,973 crore (Rs 2,939.73 billion)Operating profit: Rs 6,107 crore (Rs 61.07 billion)

Founded as Canara Bank Hindu Permanent Fund in 1906, by late Ammembal Subba Rao Pai, a philanthropist, it blossomed into a limited company as Canara Bank Ltd in 1910.

It became Canara Bank in 1969 after nationalisation.

The bank's branch network crossed the 3,000 mark.

8. Andhra Bank
Deposits: Rs 92,156 crore (Rs 921.56 billion)Operating profit: Rs 2,413 crore (Rs 24.13 billion)
Andhra Bank was founded by the eminent freedom  fighter and a multifaceted genius, Dr Bhogaraju Pattabhi Sitaramayya.

The bank was registered on November 20, 1923 and commenced business on November 28 the same year with a paid up capital of Rs 100,000 and an authorised capital of Rs 10 lakh (Rs 1 million).

It has 1,611 branches in India, and two outside the country.

9. Corporation bankDeposits: Rs 116,747 crore (Rs 1,167.47 billion)Operating profit: Rs 2,622 (Rs 26.22 billion)

Nationalised in 1980, Corporation Bank was the second public sector bank in the country to enter capital market.

Its IPO in 1997 was over-subscribed by 13 times.

The bank has many 'firsts' to its credit -- cash management services, gold banking, m-commerce, etc.

CorpBank prides itself on maintaining highest standards of service backed by innovative products.

10. Indian Bank
Deposits: Rs 105,804 crore (Rs 1,058.04 billion)
Operating profit: Rs 3,292 crore (Rs 32.92 billion)
A premier bank owned by the government of India, Indian Bank was established on August 15, 1907 as part of the Swadeshi movement.

Today it serves the nation with a team of over 19,000 dedicated staff.It has overseas branches in Singapore and Colombo, including a foreign currency banking unit at Colombo.

11. Oriental bank of CommerceDeposits: Rs 139,054 crore (Rs 1,390.54 billion)Operating profit: Rs 3,245 crore (Rs 32.45 billion)
Oriental Bank of Commerce was established on February 19, 1943, in Lahore (then a city of British India, and now in Pakistan).

It made a modest beginning under its founding father, Late Rai Bahadur Lala Sohan Lal, the first chairman of the bank.

The bank was nationalised on April 15, 1980.

At that time total working capital of the bank was Rs 483 crore (Rs 4.83 billion) having 19th position among the 20 nationalised banks.

The bank has to its utmost credit lowest staff cost with highest productivity in the Indian banking industry.

12. IDBI Bank
Deposits: 180,486 crore (Rs 1,804.86 billion)Operating profit: 4,158 crore (Rs 41.58 billion)

It was established in 1964 by an Act of Parliament to provide credit and other facilities for the development of the fledgling Indian industry.

It is currently 10th largest development bank in the world in terms of reach with 1,300 ATMs, 758 branches and 513 centres.

Some of the institutions built by IDBI are the National Stock Exchange of India, the National Securities Depository Services Ltd, the Stock Holding Corporation of India, the Credit Analysis & Research Ltd, the Export-Import Bank of India, the Small Industries Development Bank of India, the Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India.
IDBI Bank, today, is owned by the Indian government, though for a brief period it was a private scheduled bank.

13. ICICI BankDeposits: Rs 225,602 crore (Rs 2,256.02 billion)
Operating profit: Rs 9,048 crore (Rs 90.48 billion)

ICICI Bank (formerly Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India) is the second largest bank and the largest private sector bank in India by market capitalisation.

The bank also has a network of 2,016 branches and about 5,219 ATMs in India and presence in 18 countries.

ICICI Bank offers a wide range of banking products and financial services to corporate and retail customers.

It is also the largest issuer of credit cards in India.

ICICI Bank's shares are listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange, National Stock Exchange, Calcutta Stock Exchange and Vadodara (formerly Baroda) Stock Exchange.

Its ADRs trade on the New York Stock Exchange.

14. Allahabad BankDeposits: Rs 131,887 crore (Rs 1,318.87 billion)
Operating profit: Rs 3,055 crore (Rs 30.55 billion)
This bank was founded on April 24, 1865, by a group of Europeans at Allahabad.

In 1923, the head office of the bank shifted to Calcutta (now Kolkata).

On July 19, 1969 it was nationalised along with 13 other banks.

In October, 2002, the bank came out with an initial public offer 10 crore (100 million) share of face value Rs 10 each, reducing government shareholding to 71.16 per cent.

In February, 2007, the bank opened its first overseas branch at Hong Kong.

15. Jammu and Kashmir Bank
Deposits: Rs 44,676 crore (Rs 446.76 billion)Operating profit: Rs 1,149 crore (Rs 11.49 billion)

The Jammu & Kashmir Bank was founded on October 1, 1938 under letters patent issued by the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir, Hari Singh.

The bank was established as a semi-state bank with participation in capital by State and the public under the control of state government.

The Maharaja invited eminent Kashmiri investors to become founding directors and shareholders of the bank, the most notable of which were Abdul Aziz Mantoo, Pesten Gee and the Bhaghat Family, all of whom acquired major shareholdings.

The Bank commenced business on July 4, 1939.

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