Saraswat Co-operative Bank Ltd. is an urban co-operative banking institution, having its headquarter in

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the secon ...

Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the second-most populous state in India and the second-most populous country subdi ...

, India and operating as a co-operative society since 1918. The Founding Members of the society were J. K. Parulkar as chairman, N. B. Thakur as vice-chairman, P. N. Warde as Secretary, and Shivram Gopal Rajadhyaksha as Treasurer. In 1988, the bank was conferred with the Scheduled status by 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 for ...

. It is the first co-operative bank to provide merchant banking services. The bank got a permanent license to deal in foreign exchange in 1979. Presently, the bank has a correspondent relationship in 58 countries covering nine currencies with over 162 banks. The bank's total business which was around in the year 2000, has reached to in 2020.https://www.saraswatbank.com/Assets/ANNUAL%20REPORT%202020_12112020_1131.pdf In the year 2008, the bank launched a new logo branding. In the last two decades, the bank has witnessed a steady growth in business and also taken several strategic business initiatives such as undertaking

business process reengineering Business process re-engineering (BPR) is a business management strategy originally pioneered in the early 1990s, focusing on the analysis and design of workflows and business processes within an organization. BPR aims to help organizations fundam ...

initiative, merging seven cooperative banks and then consciously nurturing them. The bank tied up with

VISA International Visa Inc. (; stylized as ''VISA'') is an American multinational financial services corporation headquartered in San Francisco, California. It facilitates electronic funds transfers throughout the world, most commonly through Visa-branded cre ...

for issuance of debit cards. The bank launched

RuPay RuPay ''(portmanteau of Rupee and Payment)'' is an Indian multinational financial services and payment service system, conceived and launched by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) on 26 March 2012. It was created to fulfil th ...

EMV Debit Card in 2013–14. The bank was the first to achieve this milestone in respect of RuPay EMV card along with the

Bank of Baroda Bank of Baroda (BOB or BoB) is an Indian public sector bank headquartered in Vadodara, Gujarat. It is the second largest public sector bank in India after State Bank of India, with 132 million customers, a total business of US$218 billion, a ...

. In 2011, the bank was granted permission for All India Area of Operation by the

. The bank has an ambitious business expansion plan in place to have a presence in all major cities of the country and is well poised to double total business to over the next few years. The bank has a network of 284 fully computerized branches and 311 ATMs (

Automated teller machine An automated teller machine (ATM) or cash machine (in British English) is an electronic telecommunications device that enables customers of financial institutions to perform financial transactions, such as cash withdrawals, deposits, fun ...

) as on 31 March 2020 covering six states viz.

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (, ; meaning 'central province') is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal, and the largest city is Indore, with Jabalpur, Ujjain, Gwalior, Sagar, and Rewa being the other major cities. Madhya Pradesh is the seco ...

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...

Goa Goa () is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is located between the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north and Karnataka to the ...

and

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

. In 2018, the bank also introduced their ''Bank on WhatsApp'' facility to help customers receive updates and avail various banking services via the chat platform. From th
annual report
for financial year 2020–2021, the bank's business is .https://www.saraswatbank.com/Assets/80175_Sarswat%20AR%202020_High%20Resoultion_Website_07092021_0400.pdf It received The Best Cooperative Bank Award in 2016. and ranked second-best bank in India by The World's Best Banks 2020 survey conducted by the

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...

, an American

business Business is the practice of making one's living or making money by producing or Trade, buying and selling Product (business), products (such as goods and Service (economics), services). It is also "any activity or enterprise entered into for pr ...

magazine A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...

References

{{Banking in India Banks based in Mumbai Banks established in 1918 Cooperative banks of India Indian companies established in 1918