State Bank of India (SBI)

India’s largest bank began as a 1806 loan office, funding a British general’s wars against Tipu Sultan. Over two centuries, three colonial banks became one, then that one became a nation’s bank. Today it serves more customers than most countries have people.

📑 Contents

1Must Know
2Good to Know
3Test Yourself
4Great to Know
5Current Affairs
6Previous Year Questions

✊ Must Know

Three Colonial Banks, One National One

The State Bank of India (SBI) traces its roots to the Bank of Calcutta, founded on 2 June 1806.
The Bank of Calcutta, Bank of Bombay, and Bank of Madras were the three colonial “Presidency Banks.” They merged on 27 January 1921, forming the Imperial Bank of India.
Under the State Bank of India Act, 1955, the RBI took a controlling stake in the Imperial Bank of India. It was renamed State Bank of India on 1 July 1955.
In 2008, the Government of India took over RBI’s stake in SBI. This removed a conflict of interest, since RBI also regulates banks.
SBI is headquartered in Mumbai. As of 2026, the Government of India owns about 55.5% of the bank.
SBI is India’s largest bank, with about 23% market share by assets, and 25% share of loans and deposits combined.

📘 Good to Know

How SBI Grew After Independence

On 1 April 2017, five associate banks and Bharatiya Mahila Bank merged into SBI. The associates were the State Banks of Bikaner & Jaipur, Hyderabad, Mysore, Patiala, and Travancore.
SBI runs over 23,000 branches and more than 63,000 ATMs across India, serving over 500 million customers.
Its subsidiaries include SBI Life Insurance, SBI Mutual Fund, SBI Cards and Payment Services, and SBI General Insurance.
The RBI classifies SBI as a Domestic Systemically Important Bank (D-SIB), alongside HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank. These are banks considered “too big to fail.”
See IndEco0072 — SIDBI: Small Industries Development Bank of India for how a specialised public-sector lender compares to a full-scale bank like SBI.

Test Yourself

🌟 Great to Know

A Story of Continuous Consolidation

SBI’s 1955 renaming didn’t fully separate it from its regulator. The RBI held a controlling stake until 2008, when the government took that stake over instead — a real conflict-of-interest fix, not just a rebrand.
Even after nationalisation, SBI kept growing mainly by absorbing other banks. Banks from Bihar, Lahore, Gwalior, and Cochin were each folded in at different points in its history.
SBI’s scale gives it outsized influence on Indian banking benchmarks. Its own lending and deposit rates often set the pace other banks follow.

📰 Current Affairs

Current Affairs

7 August 2026: SBI Chairman C.S. Setty said the bank expects to raise $10 billion through FCNR(B) deposits from overseas Indians. It has already raised $6 billion. Setty also said SBI targets 14-15% credit growth for FY27. (Source: Business Today)
May 2026: SBI became India’s 4th most valuable company by market capitalisation, surpassing TCS. The jump followed record Q3 FY26 results: net profit of ₹21,028 crore, up 24.5% year-on-year. (Source: PSU Connect)

📝 Previous Year Questions

Where SBI’s Renaming Fits Among Four Events

Answer: (b) The correct chronological order is 3-2-1-4.
3, Air India nationalised Happened in 1953, the earliest of the four.
2, Imperial Bank renamed SBI Happened in 1955, this article’s own subject.
1, Kerala’s communist government Formed in 1957, the first democratically elected communist government in any Indian State.
4, Goa liberation Happened in 1961, the most recent of the four.
View this question on the full 2018 paper →