Banking in India has a long and fascinating history that goes back several centuries. Long before the Reserve Bank of India was established in 1935, private and presidency banks were already playing a crucial role in managing trade, commerce, and credit. These early banks were not just financial institutions; they were symbols of India’s growing economic importance during the colonial era. Some of them were founded to support trade in port cities like Madras (now Chennai), Calcutta (now Kolkata), and Bombay (now Mumbai), while others came up to facilitate business in different presidencies of British India. Although many of these early banks no longer exist in their original form, they laid the foundation of modern Indian banking.

When we talk about the oldest bank in India, the answer is The Madras Bank which was founded in 1683. However, the bank doesn’t exist today but it is the first bank that was established in India. Over time, several other banks came into existence, some lasting for decades while others were short-lived. Many of these banks eventually merged into larger institutions, paving the way for what we now know as the State Bank of India (SBI), the country’s oldest surviving bank.