The origin of the State Bank of India goes back to the first decade of the nineteenth century with the establishment of the Bank of Calcutta in 1806 in Calcutta. Three years later the bank received its charter and was re-designed as the Bank of Bengal (January 02, 1809). A unique institution, it was the first joint-stock bank of British India sponsored by the Government of Bengal. The Bank of Bombay (April 15, 1840) and the Bank of Madras (July 01, 1843) were opened followed the Bank of Bengal. These three banks remained at the apex of modern banking in India till their amalgamation as the Imperial Bank of India on January 27, 1921. The presidency Banks of Bengal, Bombay and Madras with their 70 branches were merged in 1921 to form the Imperial Bank of India. The establishment of the Reserve Bank of India as the central bank of the country in 1935 ended the quasi-central banking role of the Imperial Bank.

In 1951, when the First Five Year Plan was launched, the development of rural India was given the highest priority. The commercial banks of the country including the Imperial Bank of India had till then confined their operations to the urban sector and were not equipped to respond to the emergent needs of economic regeneration of the rural areas. In order, therefore, to serve the economy in general and the rural sector in particular, the All India Rural Credit Survey Committee recommended the creation of a state-partnered and state-sponsored bank by taking over the Imperial Bank of India, and integrating with it, the former state-owned or state-associate banks. An act was accordingly passed in Parliament in May 1955 and the State Bank of India was constituted on July 01, 1955. The State Bank of India was thus born with a new sense of social purpose. The State Bank of India was destined to act as the pacesetter in this respect and lead the Indian banking system into the exciting field of national development.

State Bank of India is an Indian multinational, public sector banking and financial services statutory body. For SBI, the interests of the common man have always remained at the core of its business. The Bank has a strong portfolio of distinctive products & services, and leverages technology to deliver and manage them in a personalized and customer centric way. State Bank of India is actively involved since 1973 in non-profit activity called Community Services Banking. All its branches and administrative offices throughout the country sponsor and participate in large number of welfare activities and social causes. The bank’s business is more than banking because it touch the lives of people anywhere in many ways.

Business area of the bank

SBI provides a wide range of products and services to individuals, commercial enterprises, large corporates, public bodies, and institutional customers through its various branches and outlets, joint ventures, subsidiaries, and associate companies. It has always been in the forefront to embrace changes without losing sight of its values such as Service, Transparency, Ethics, Politeness and Sustainability

Products and Services 

• Personal Banking: The Bank offers integrated Personal Banking services through a wide range of loan products, Savings Accounts, Current Accounts, Salary Packages, Digital Loan offerings, NRI Business, and Wealth Management services, amongst others.
• Rural Banking: The Bank addresses the needs of India’s rural populace through financial inclusion, microcredit, and agricultural business support.
• International Banking Group: The Bank is at the forefront of International Banking in India, consistently shaping the banking landscape through our Overseas Branches, Overseas Banking Subsidiaries, Joint Ventures, and Associates.
• SME Banking: The Bank is a leader in SME financing, offering innovative financial solutions to its SME clientele.
• Corporate Banking: The Bank’s Corporate Accounts Group and Commercial Credit Group offer a diverse range of financial products and services to top corporates of the country including Navratna PSUs.
• Government Business: The Bank remains the undisputed market leader in Government business, significantly contributing to support e-governance initiatives of the Government of India and playing a key role in developing e-solutions for both Central and State Governments.

Awards

• 2007: Asian Centre for Corporate Governance & Sustainability and Indian Merchants Chamber has awarded the Transformational Leader Award 2007.
• 2008: June ’08 Awards & Recognitions CNN IBN Network 18 has selected Shri O. P. Bhatt as Indian of the Year - Business 2007.
• 2009: State Bank of India ranked as NO.1 in the 4Ps B & M & ICMR Survey on India's Best Marketed Banks in August-2009.
• 2009: Shri Om Prakash Bhatt declared as one of the '25 Most Valuable Indians' By The Week Magazine For 2009.
• 2009: State Bank of India has been adjuged The Best Bank 2009 By Business India in August-2009.
• 2009: It bagged ‘Most Preferred Bank’ and ‘Most Preferred Brand for Home Loan’ at CNBC Awaaz Consumer Awards.
• 2009: It became the only Indian bank to get listed in the Fortune Global 500 List.
• 2009: SBI was at the 70th slot in the top 1000 bank survey by Banker Magazine.
• 2009: It was awarded Golden award for being among the two most trusted banks in India by Readers Digest.
• 2009: SBI is ranked 6th in the Economic Times Market Cap List.
• 2009: SBI ranked as no.1 in the 4Ps B & M & ICMR Survey on India's Best Marketed Banks (August-2009).
• 2013: Asia’s Best CSR Practices Award-2013- Singapore Asian BFSI Awards-2013- Dubai India’s Most Ethical Companies Award-2013 Asian Green Future Leadership Awards-2013.
• 2014: '2013-14 Innovation in Customer Data Management (DWP)Financial Inclusion (IT-RB), Electronic Payment (INB, MB &W, ATM, PSG) and CRM&BI (DWP)Best IT adoption BEST IT Team, CSR and Corporate Excellence AWARD for change management for managing high scale IT projects.
• 2014: State Bank of India ranked 155 in Forbes list of Global 2000 firms in 2014.
• 2016: SBI was ranked 232nd in the Fortune Global 500 rankings of the world's biggest corporations 2016.
• 2018: Best Transaction Bank in India by “The Asian Banker” for the second time in a row.
• 2018: The Best Trade Finance Bank (India)-2019 for the eighth consecutive year by Global Finance Magazine.
• 2018: ‘Green Bond Pioneer Award’ for being the largest new emerging markets Certified Climate Bond issuer of 2018 by Climate Bond Initiative.
• 2018: ‘Best MSME Bank Award-Large bank’ by CIMSME.
• 2018: YONO, its digital initiative, won the ‘Mobile Banking Initiative of the Year -India’ at the Asian Banking and Finance Retail Banking Awards, Singapore and ET BFSI Innovation Awards.
• 2018: At the Asian Banker Financial Technology Innovation Awards 2018 SBI received awards in a number of categories including The Risk Data and Analytics Technology Implementation of the Year for OFSAA.
• 2019: SBI wins Asian Banker’s ‘Best Transaction Bank & Best Payment Bank in India’ Award for 2019. 
• 2022: SBI honoured with India’s Best Annual Report Awards-2022 by Free Press Journal. 
• 2022:SBI honoured with three Gold Awards at ET Human Capital Awards.
• 2022: HR Leader of the Year - Large Scale Organisations
• 2022: Excellence in Business Continuity Planning & Management
• 2022: Most Valuable Employer During COVID-19
• 2022: SBI won two Awards from NASSCOM -DSCI
• 2022: Best Security Operations Centre of the Year
• 2022: Cyber Security Awareness 
• 2022: Gold & Silver awards in The ET HR World Future Skill Awards 
• 2022: SBI awarded “Issuer of the Year - Private Placement” at the 5th National Summit & Awards on Corporate Bond Market 2022 by ASSOCHAM 
• 2022: SBI won Gold category in Public Sector Bank in Outlook Money Awards 2022.
• 2023-24: SBI featured among the Top 25 Strongest Brands Globally for 2024 - Brand Finance Report - Global 500 2024 Most Valuable and Strongest Global Brands
• 2023-24: SBI was awarded Company of the Year Award – 2023 by the ET Awards for Corporate Excellence 2023
• 2023-24: SBI was recognised as the Best Bank in India for the year 2023 by Global Finance Magazine at its 30th Greentech HR Awards Annual Best Banks Awards event at Marrakech, Morocco
• 2023-24: SBI awarded the Best Annual Report Award under Public Sector Bank category for 2023 by Free Press Journal
• 2023-24: SBI received the most prestigious accolade for being the Most Preferred Workplace 2023-24 by Marksmen’s Group
• 2023-24: SBI received the Iconic Banking Brand award at the 3rd edition of Navbharat BFSI 2023
• 2023-24: SBI received the Dunn & Bradstreet Award in the Category - PSU Banks over 4 lakh crore assets size at the PSU & Government Summit 2023
• 2023-24: SBI awarded ‘Most trusted BFSI Brands 2023-24’, by the Marksmen Daily
• 2023-24: SBI received the ‘ICAI Awards for Excellence in Financial Reporting’ Award

Milestones

1806

• The establishment of the Bank of Calcutta in Calcutta.

1809

• The bank received its charter and was re-designed as the Bank of Bengal.

1921

• The presidency Banks of Bengal, Bombay and Madras with their 70 branches were merged to form the Imperial Bank of India.

1955

• State Bank of India was constituted.

2011

• The government issued the 'Acquisition of SBICI Bank Order 2011'

2014

• The Bank launched three digital banking facilities for the convenience of SBI customers.

2015-16

• Bank launched a Priority Banking Centre at Bengaluru.
• Bank launched ‘SBI eforex’ platform, which would enable customers to book forex rates to hedge their exposure in foreign currency.
• Bank has designed, developed and launched ‘SBI Exclusif’, a unique suite of Wealth Management services (WMS) for its high net worth customers.
• Bank has launched a Mobile App ‘State Bank Samadhaan’ on Google Play Store.
• Another Mobile App “State Bank No Queue” has been launched.
• Launched FlexiPay Home Loan
• Launched Corporate Home Loan

2016-17

• Bank has launched merchant payment acceptance solutions like Bharat QR and Aadhaar Based Payments viz. BHIM-AadhaarSBI.
• Bank has launched the concept of “SBI Digital Village” to convert certain identified villages into a cashless eco system. 21 villages were launched on July 01, 2016 across the country under the scheme.
• SBI has partnered with Flipkart to ffer its consumers the facility of preapproved EMI Facility on purchases.
  Under this partnership, Bank will provide overdraft facility to pre-qualified set of customers for transacting on Flipkart for a minimum purchase of Rs 5,000.
• Bank also launched ‘SBI Mingle’ - the social media banking platform for Facebook and Twitter users. Using SBI Mingle, the Bank’s customers can do a host of banking services like checking account balance and requesting mini statements on their Facebook or Twitter accounts.

2017-18

• Bank has also launched, the facility of instant issuance of personalised Photo Debit Card - ‘Quick Photo Debit Card’ within five minutes to Saving Bank (SB) account holder of any branch of SBI.
  State Bank of India launched India’s first comprehensive digital service platform “YONO”, an acronym for ‘You Only Need One’.
• ‘SBI Grih Nirman Affordable Housing Project Finance Scheme’ has been launched to tap the emerging potential for financing affordable Housing Projects and is especially geared towards first-time home buyers.
• Bank has launched Wealth Management Services for NonResident Indians.
• The launch of ‘SBI Grih Nirman Affordable Housing Project Finance Scheme’ with attractive features to tap the emerging potential for financing affordable Housing Projects and is especially geared towards first-time home buyers.
• Bank has acquired five domestic banking subsidiaries (DBS) of SBI; namely (i) State Bank of Bikaner & Jaipur (SBBJ), (ii) State Bank of Mysore (SBM), (iii) State Bank of Travancore (SBT), (iv) State Bank of Patiala (SBP), (v) State Bank of Hyderabad (SBH); and Bharatiya Mahila Bank Limited (BMBL) with effect from April 01, 2017.

2018-19

• The bank launched a co-branded Card ‘Apollo SBI’, offering benefits on health and wellness services.
• The bank launched the ‘SBI Doctors Card’, exclusively for doctors, in association with the Indian Medical Association.
• The Bank has launched various innovations and functionalities around Debit Cards such as Contactless Debit  Cards, Bharat QR, Samsung Pay, Visa Checkout and Personalized Image Debit Card ‘My Card’.
• Bank has set up over 2,200 e-Corners across the country where customers can avail the entire gamut of services through ATMs, ADWMs, SWAYAMs, Check deposit Kiosk and online banking kiosk.

2019-20

• SBI has launched various functionalities around Debit Cards such as launch of NCMC compliant RuPay Card, RuPay JCB (for international conveniences), usage of RuPay Card in Bhutan and launch of MasterCard World for premier customers.
• The Bank has launched SBI IOCL Co-branded Debit Card for digitizing fuel transactions and tied up with Madurai Kamaraj University for launching Co-branded Combo Debit Card.
• Launched Near-real time outward remittance facility (from NRE accounts) to 209 overseas destinations through internet banking in five international currencies viz. USD, EUR, GBP, SGD and AUD with a daily ceiling of Rs 10 lakh or equivalent.
• Launched SBI Tax Savings Scheme for NRIs (NRO Deposits) up to Rs 1.5 lakh per annum with 5-year maturity available on Internet Banking, which can be used by the customers to avail Tax benefits under section 80C of Income Tax Act.
• Cardless and paperless withdrawals at ‘YONO cash Points’ (ATM) were launched across Pan India in March, 2019.
  YONO Krishi platform envisioned to be the digital partner in farmers progress was launched.
• The Bank has launched a new product ‘Standby Line of Credit’ for MSMEs having Limits up to Rs 5 crore to meet temporary liquidity mismatch arising out of the delayed realisation of receivables, receipts of GST Inputs tax credits (including for Exports) and other Business requirements.
• The Bank has acquired a total stake of 48.21% in Yes Bank Limited.