Banking Institutions and History

Foreign banks operating in India are considered part of the private sector, as they are not owned by the government.

HSBC (Hongkong & Shanghai Banking Corporation) acquired a significant stake in UTI Bank, which was later rebranded as Axis Bank.

Standard Chartered Bank acquired Korea First Bank in 2005 to expand its presence in the South Korean market.

Standard Chartered has acquired several banks in India, including Grindlays and the Indian operations of Bank of Bahrain and Kuwait, but it did not acquire Mizuho Bank.

Overseas Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC) is a major financial services organization headquartered in Singapore.

Habib Bank of Pakistan has expressed interest and received permissions at various times to operate in the Indian banking sector.

Maharashtra has historically had the highest concentration of urban cooperative banks in India.

Ahmedabad Mercantile Co-operative Bank and Bharat Co-operative Bank are scheduled cooperative banks, while Development Co-operative Bank (now DCB Bank) is a private sector commercial bank.

Bank of Baroda surpassed Canara Bank in 2009 to become the third-largest public sector bank in India at that time.

Andhra Bank was the first public sector bank in India to introduce credit cards, including the Visa card.

ICICI has launched I-Express, an instant cross-border money transfer option for non-resident Indians(NRIs) in Gulf countries in Oct 2010.

Reliance Money was the first Indian financial services company to enter the Chinese and Hong Kong retail investment markets.

BHEL (Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited) is a government-owned engineering and manufacturing enterprise, making it a public sector unit. TCS is a private company, and ICICI is a private bank.

The South Asian Development Fund was established by the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) to promote regional development.

Following the restructuring of the Unit Trust of India (UTI), UTI-I was retained under government control to manage the assured return schemes, while UTI-II was transferred to the private sector.