The progenitors of the State Bank of India date back to the early
nineteenth century, when the first of three Presidency Banks
was established in 1806 as the Bank of Calcutta and received
its charter as the Bank of Bengal in 1809. The Bank of Bombay
and the Bank of Madras were established in 1840 and 1843, respectively.
The Imperial Bank of India was established in 1921 with the
amalgamation of the three Presidency banks, which then had 70
branches. Until 1935, the Imperial Bank of India also acted
as the sole banker to the Government and managed the public
debt of the Government of India. In 1935, the Reserve Bank of
India was established and took charge of central banking operations.

The State Bank of India was constituted on July 1, 1955,
by the State Bank of India Act, 1955, as successors to the
Imperial bank of India.

Later, the State Bank of India (Subsidiary Banks) Act was
passed in 1959, enabling the State Bank of India to take over
eight former State-associated banks as its subsidiaries. As
a result of merger of two of these subsidiaries, there are
now seven such associate banks.

Over the last few years, SBI has grown to be the largest
banking organisation in India, with the State Bank Group controlling
about 30% of the country’s banking business. It is among
the 100 largest banks in the world, in term of total assets.