Happy Birthday, State Bank of India

Who says the elephant can't dance? The theme that runs through the bank's 70-year life is its willingness to change in sync with time

- TAMAL BANDYOPADHYAY

On Tuesday, July 1, the nation's largest lender, the State Bank of India, will turn 70. Happy Birthday, SBI.

The roots of SBI lie in the first decade of the 19th century, when the Bank of Calcutta (later renamed the Bank of Bengal) was set up in June 1806. Its current avatar is the result of the conversion of the Imperial Bank of India, following recommendation of the All-India Credit Survey Committee, via the State Bank of India Act, 1955. The mandate was to extend banking facilities to unbanked regions and serve the credit needs of rural India.

A July 1, 1955 press release of the bank reads: "...our policy, as always, will be guided by this ideal — to further your interests and those of the entire nation, now and in the years to come."

The chairman's message to the shareholders, in its latest annual report, reiterates its commitment to customers, describing it as a bank of choice — yesterday, today and tomorrow. A proxy for the Indian economy, and the only Indian bank among the top 50 global banks by assets, SBI is the banker for one out of every three Indians.

With a consolidated net profit of ₹77,561 crore in 2024-25 (FY25), it's also among the top 100 global corporations in terms of annual earnings. It's the third Indian company to enter this league after ONGC Ltd and Reliance Industries.

Let's revisit its journey from 1955 to 2025.

On June 30, 1955, the last day of the Imperial Bank, it had ₹210.94 crore of deposits and ₹116.24 crore credit. The size of the Indian economy at the time was ₹10,977 crore.

By March 2025, India's GDP has risen 3,000 times—₹330.68 trillion. During this period, SBI's deposit portfolio has grown 25,000 times, to ₹53.82 trillion, and advances, 35,800 times, to ₹41.63 trillion. All figures are rounded off.