The country's largest government bank SBI has turned 100 years old. On this special day, the Finance Minister of the country has given return gifts to more than 50 crore customers of the country. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced on the 100th birthday of SBI that the bank will open 500 more branches for the common people in the current financial year. This means that the reach of SBI will increase further from cities to remote areas in the country. Let us also tell you what he said…
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday said that State Bank of India (SBI) will open 500 more branches in the current financial year to take its total network to 23,000. Sitharaman said in a program organized on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the main branch of the public sector bank in Mumbai that the size of the bank has increased significantly since the year 1921. At that time, Imperial Bank of India (IBI) was formed by merging three Presidency banks. He said that the government passed a law in Parliament in 1955 to convert Imperial Bank of India into SBI. The network of 250 branches in 1921 has now increased to 22,500.
Sitharaman said that SBI has 22,500 branches today and I understand that 500 more branches will be opened in the financial year 2024-25. That is, the number of branches will increase to 23,000. The growth that SBI has achieved in the banking sector should be a global record. He said that SBI holds 22.4 percent share in the total deposits in the country. Also, it accounts for one-fifth of the total loans and serves more than 50 crore customers. Sitharaman said the digital investment in the bank is strong and it can handle 20 crore UPI transactions in a day. The Finance Minister said that this has gone far beyond the objective of the merger of the three Presidency Banks in 1921. The purpose of the century-old integration was to expand bank services to the people.
SBI's main branch in Mumbai is located in a heritage building. It was inaugurated in 1924. The Finance Minister released a commemorative coin of Rs 100 for the branch and said that 43 SBI branches across the country are more than a century old. Sitharaman also released a document detailing the history of the bank between 1981 and 1996 during the programme. He said that another such document will be issued. This will reflect the rapid growth in SBI's efforts to reach every citizen since 2014.
