The Bank of Madras was one of the three Presidency Banks of

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

, along with the Bank of Bengal and the

Bank of Bombay The Bank of Bombay was the second of the three presidency banks (others being the Bank of Calcutta and the Bank of Madras) of the Raj period. It was established, pursuant to a charter of the British East India Company, on 15 April 1840. The b ...

. It was established on 1 July 1843 through the amalgamation of a number of existing regional banks and headquartered in Madras (now

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

). It was merged with the other Presidency banks in 1921 to form the Imperial Bank of India, which later became the State Bank of India.

Origin

In 1683, Governor

William Gyfford William Gyfford was an English factor and Agent of Madras from 3 July 1681 to 8 August 1684 and the President of Madras from 26 January 1685 to 25 July 1687. William Gyfford was associated with the East India Company's factory at Madras right f ...

(1681–1687) and his Council in Madras established a bank. In 1805, Governor Sir William Bentinck convened a Finance Committee that recommended the formation of a First government bank in India; the Madras Bank, which was sometimes called the Government Bank amalgamated Lord Krishna Bank, began functioning from 1 February 1806. It initially functioned from the Exchange Building—the building housing the present Fort Museum—within Fort St. George. The Bank of Madras was formed in 1843 as a joint stock company with a capital of Rupees 3 million by the amalgamation of Madras Bank,

Carnatic Bank The Carnatic Bank was a bank founded in the year 1788 in British India. The bank was the sixth oldest bank in India. The bank was eventually merged with the Bank of Madras in 1843. History Founding The Carnatic Bank was the very first ...

The British Bank of Madras (1795) The British Bank of Madras (1795) was a bank founded in the year 1795 in British India. The bank was the seventh oldest bank in India. The bank was eventually merged with the Bank of Madras in 1843. History Founding The British Bank of ...

, and The Asiatic Bank (1804). Bank of Madras had a branch network spread into all the major cities and trade centers of

South India South India, also known as Dakshina Bharata or Peninsular India, consists of the peninsular southern part of India. It encompasses the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana, as well as the union territ ...

, including

Bangalore Bangalore (), List of renamed places in India, officially Bengaluru (), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan area, metropolitan population of a ...

, Coimbatore,

Madurai Madurai ( , also , ) is a major city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the cultural capital of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Madurai District. As of the 2011 census, it was the third largest Urban agglomeration in ...

Mangalore Mangalore (), officially known as Mangaluru, is a major port city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It is located between the Arabian Sea and the Western Ghats about west of Bangalore, the state capital, 20 km north of Karnataka–Ke ...

Calicut Kozhikode (), also known in English as Calicut, is a city along the Malabar Coast in the state of Kerala in India. It has a corporation limit population of 609,224 and a metropolitan population of more than 2 million, making it the second l ...

, Tellicherry,

Cochin Kochi (), also known as Cochin ( ) ( the official name until 1996) is a major port city on the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea, which is a part of the Arabian Sea. It is part of the district of Ernakulam in the state of K ...

, Alleppy, Cocanada, Guntur, Masulipatnam,

Ootacamund Ooty (), officially known as Udhagamandalam (also known as Ootacamund (); abbreviated as Udhagai), is a city and a municipality in the Nilgiris district of the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located north west of Coimbatore and ...

, Nagapatnam, and

Tuticorin Thoothukudi (formerly Tuticorin) is a port city, a municipal corporation and an industrial city in Thoothukudi district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The city lies in the Coromandel Coast of Bay of Bengal. Thoothukudi is the capital and ...

. It also had a branch in

Colombo Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo m ...

, British Ceylon, now called Sri Lanka.

Activities

The Bank of Madras undertook all the normal activities that are common to a

commercial bank A commercial bank is a financial institution which accepts deposits from the public and gives loans for the purposes of consumption and investment to make profit. It can also refer to a bank, or a division of a large bank, which deals with co ...

. The Bank of Madras, in the absence of any central banking authority during that time, also conducted certain functions that are ordinarily a preserve of a central bank. It also issued banknotes in the Madras Presidency. These included managing the banking business of the Presidency of Madras and offices of the colonial government of India located in South India, and managing the Public Debt Office of the Government of Madras.

Milestone

The head office of the Bank of Madras was shifted to a new building, on South Beach Road, Madras, in 1897. The site was acquired for 100,000 in 1895, building was designed by Col. Samuel Jacob, and suitably modified and adapted by Henry Irwin (1841–1922), and constructed by Namperumal Chetty, a reputed builder, for 300,000. The building is an exquisite example of

Victorian architecture Victorian architecture is a series of architectural revival styles in the mid-to-late 19th century. ''Victorian'' refers to the reign of Queen Victoria (1837–1901), called the Victorian era, during which period the styles known as Victorian we ...

. Currently, the building houses several offices of State Bank of India, including its main city office.

Epilogue

The Bank of Madras merged with the two other Presidency banks—the Bank of Calcutta and the Bank of Bombay—on 27 January 1921 and the reorganized banking entity took on the name Imperial Bank of India. In 1955, the

Reserve Bank of India The Reserve Bank of India, chiefly known as RBI, is India's central bank and regulatory body responsible for regulation of the Indian banking system. It is under the ownership of Ministry of Finance, Government of India. It is responsible f ...

, which is the central banking organization of India, acquired a controlling interest in the Imperial Bank of India. On 30 April 1955, the Imperial Bank of India became the State Bank of India.

References

External links

Bank of Madras
{{Chennai Topics Banks established in 1843 Banks disestablished in 1921 Defunct banks of India 1843 establishments in British India Heritage sites in Chennai Financial services companies based in Chennai Indian companies established in 1843 1921 disestablishments in India