The Carnatic Bank was a bank founded in the year 1788 in

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 ...

. The bank was the sixth oldest bank in India. The bank was eventually merged with the

Bank of Madras The Bank of Madras was one of the three Presidency Banks of British India, along with the Bank of Bengal and the Bank of Bombay. It was established on 1 July 1843 through the amalgamation of a number of existing regional banks and headquartered ...

in 1843.

History

Founding

The Carnatic Bank was the very first bank founded in the

Madras Presidency The Madras Presidency, or the Presidency of Fort St. George, also known as Madras Province, was an administrative subdivision (presidency) of British India. At its greatest extent, the presidency included most of southern India, including the ...

and served many cities in South India. The founders of the bank were

Josias Du Pré Porcher Josias Du Pré Porcher (''ca.'' 1761 – 4 May 1820) was an English politician. After following his uncle into the service of the British East India Company, he became wealthy and returned to England, although he was frustrated in an attempt to o ...

and Thomas Redhead. Both were European merchants from Calcutta.

Management

The bank was staffed by mostly British nationals who were drawn mainly from the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...

. The bank had most of its offices and branches in the

Final years

The bank was one of four banks that were merged to form the

in 1843: the Madras Bank, the Carnatic Bank,

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). The

is one of the precursors of the

Imperial Bank of India The Imperial Bank of India (IBI) was one of the oldest and the largest commercial bank of the Indian subcontinent, and was subsequently transformed into the State Bank of India in 1955. Initially, as per its royal charter, it acted as the cen ...

and eventually the

State Bank of India State Bank of India (SBI) is an Indian multinational public sector bank and financial services statutory body headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra. SBI is the 49th largest bank in the world by total assets and ranked 221st in the ''Fortune ...

Legacy

The bank is notable for being the sixth oldest bank in India. The bank is also notable for being one of the precursors of the

, through its predecessors the

and the

References

External links

Oldest Banks in India

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carnatic Bank Defunct banks of India Companies based in Chennai Banks established in 1788