The Imperial Bank of India (IBI) was the oldest and the largest commercial bank of the Indian subcontinent, and was subsequently transformed into SBI (State Bank of India) in 1955.

The Imperial Bank of India came into existence on 27 January 1921 by J.M. Keynes. When 3 Presidency Banks of colonial India, were reorganised and merged to form a single banking entity. 3 Presidency banks were the Bank of Bengal, established on 2 June 1806, the Bank of Bombay (incorporated on 15 April 1840) and the Bank of Madras (incorporated on 1 July 1843).

Imperial Bank of India performed all the normal functions which a commercial bank was expected to perform. In the absence of any central banking institution in India until 1935, the Imperial Bank of India also performed a number of functions which are normally carried out by a central bank.

SBI

State Bank of India (SBI) is an Indian multinational, public sector banking and financial services company. It is a government-owned corporation with its headquarters in Mumbai, Maharashtra. It is ranked 232nd on the Fortune Global 500 list of the world's biggest corporations as of 2016.

Recent Awards and Recognition

• It was ranked as the top bank in India based on tier 1 capital by The Banker magazine in a 2014 ranking.
• It was ranked 232nd in the Fortune Global 500 rankings of the world's biggest corporations for the year 2016.
• It was named the 29th most reputed company in the world according to Forbes 2009 rankings
• It was 50th Most Trusted brand in India as per the Brand Trust Report 2013, an annual study conducted by Trust Research Advisory, a brand analytics company and subsequently, in the Brand Trust Report 2014, SBI finished as India's 19th Most Trusted Brand in India.


Listings and Shareholding
As on 31 March 2017, Government of India held around 61.23% equity shares in SBI. Life Insurance Corporation of India is the largest non-promoter shareholder in the company with 8.82% shareholding.

Shareholders Shareholding
Promoters: Government of India 61.23%
FIIs/GDRs/OCBs/NRIs 11.17%
Banks & Insurance Companies 10.00%
Mutual Funds & UTI 8.29%
Others 9.31%
Total 100.00%