Banks in India

India has a well developed banking system. Most of the banks in India were founded by Indian entrepreneurs and visionaries in the pre-independence era to provide financial assistance to traders, agriculturists and budding Indian industrialists. Indian banks have played a significant role in the development of Indian economy by inculcating the habit of saving in Indians and by lending finance to Indian industry.

The commercial banking structure in India consists of: Scheduled Commercial Banks and Unscheduled Banks. Scheduled commercial Banks constitute those banks, which have been included in the Second Schedule of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Act, 1934. RBI includes only those banks in this schedule, which satisfy the criteria laid down vide section 42 (6) (a) of the Act.

Indian banks can be broadly classified into nationalised banks/public sector banks, private banks and foreign banks.