The State Bank of India is a government owned bank
and the largest commercial bank in India in terms of profits, assets,
deposits, branches and employees. The global bank in terms of branches
is believed to be the second largest bank in the world. The origins of
State Bank of India date back to 1806, when the Bank of Calcutta (later
called the Bank of Bengal) was established. In 1921, the Bank of Bengal
and two other banks (Bank of Madras and Bank of Bombay) known as the
Presidency Banks were merged to form the Imperial Bank of India. In
1955, the controlling interests of the Imperial Bank of India were
acquired by the Reserve Bank of India and the State Bank of India was
created by an act of Parliament to succeed the Imperial Bank of India.
Currently the State Bank of India is found in 32 countries with 10,000
branches spread across these countries.
Structure and Organization
The Banks Corporate Office is located at Mumbai. Its domestic
operational area is divided in 14 Circles, each with one Local Head
Office and a few Zonal and Regional Offices. The Bank is present not
just in the major metropolises of India but has wide reach in the
villages of India. The Bank's top management consists of the Chairman,
group executives for National Banking Group, Corporate Banking Group,
International Banking Group and Associates & Subsidiaries, and four
staff functionaries in charge of finance, credit, human resources &
technology management and inspection & audit.
Three Strategic Business Units (SBUs) under the Corporate Banking Group
have been set up by SBI to pay attention to big corporate customers,
lease finance and project finance all reporting directly to the
corporate office. Distinguishing features of the SBUs are assimilation
of operational planning with operations within each SBU, an alert
delivery system with suitable specialist inputs and focused attention on
profitability.
The staff and functionaries at various levels have been delegated higher
financial powers to ensure quicker decision making in credit areas and
disposal of a large number of credit proposals at operating units'
level. A committee approach has been adopted, both at the apex and
circle levels, for sanction of large advances and loans. Keeping this in
mind Central Office Credit Committee and Circle Credit Committees have
been set up to ultimately ensure faster delivery. Credit and systemic
risk processes have thus accordingly been restructured. Simplified and
concise credit appraisal formats have been designed to ensure
improvement in the quality of credit decisions, better quality of assets
and reduction of Non Performing Assets or NPAs.
