State Bank of Travancore (SBT) was a major Indian bank headquartered in

Thiruvananthapuram Thiruvananthapuram (; ), also known by its former name Trivandrum (), is the capital of the Indian state of Kerala. It is the most populous city in Kerala with a population of 957,730 as of 2011. The encompassing urban agglomeration populati ...

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

, and was a major associate of

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 ...

. SBT was a subsidiary of the State Bank Group, but also had private share-holders. It was the premier bank of

. Overall, as of 31 March 2015 SBT had a network of 1,157 branches and 1,602 ATMs, covering 18 states and three union territories. On 15 February 2017, the Union Cabinet approved a proposal to merge SBT and four other associate banks with SBI. It finally merged with its parent bank on 31 March 2017.

History

Foundation

SBT was established in 1945 as the Travancore Bank Ltd., at the initiative of

Travancore The Kingdom of Travancore ( /ˈtrævənkɔːr/), also known as the Kingdom of Thiruvithamkoor, was an Indian kingdom from c. 1729 until 1949. It was ruled by the Travancore Royal Family from Padmanabhapuram, and later Thiruvananthapuram. At ...

Diwan

C. P. Ramaswami Iyer Sir Chetput Pattabhiraman Ramaswami Iyer (12 November 1879 – 26 September 1966), popularly known as Sir C. P., was an Indian lawyer, administrator and politician who served as the Advocate-General of Madras Presidency from 1920 to 1923, Law m ...

. Following popular resentment against his dictatorial rule, the bank never credited his role. Instead, the Bank considered the

Maharaja of Travancore The Maharaja of Travancore was the principal title of the ruler of the Kingdom of Travancore in the southern part of Kerala, India. The Maharaja of Travancore was the topmost ruler of Travancore until 1949, when Travancore was annexed into Indi ...

Sri Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma as the founder, though the king had little to do with the founding. Although the Travancore government put up only 25% of the capital, the bank undertook government treasury work and foreign exchange business, apart from its general banking business. Its head office was at

. In 1960, it became a subsidiary of

under the SBI Subsidiary Banks Act, 1959, enacted by the

Parliament of India The Parliament of India (International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: ) is the supreme legislative body of the Republic of India. It is a bicameralism, bicameral legislature composed of the president of India and two houses: the R ...

., and thus achieved the name 'State Bank of Travancore'.

Merger

On 15 February 2017, the Union Cabinet approved a proposal to merge SBT and four other associate banks with

. It was merged with its parent bank on 31 March 2017.

Acquisitions

Between 1959 and 1965, SBT acquired numerous small, private banks in Kerala. *1959: SBT acquired the assets and liabilities of Indo-Mercantile Bank, which Sri Popatlal Goverdhan Lalan had helped found in

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 ...

in 1937. *1961: SBT acquired Travancore Forward Bank (est. 1929), Kottayam Orient Bank (est. 1926), and Bank of New India (est. 1944) after 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 ...

put the banks under moratorium. *1963: SBT acquired Vasudeva Vilasam Bank (est. 1930). *1964: SBT acquired Cochin Nayar Bank (est. 1929) and Latin Christian Bank (est. 1928 in

Ernakulam Ernakulam () is the Central Business District of the city of Kochi in Kerala, India and has lent its name to the Ernakulam district. Many major establishments, including the Kerala High Court, the office of the Kochi Municipal Corporation a ...

), after the

put the banks under moratorium. It also acquired Champakulam Catholic Bank, which had been established in 1929 in

Alleppey Alappuzha or Alleppey () is the administrative headquarters of Alappuzha district in state of Kerala, India. The Backwaters of Alappuzha are one of the most popular tourist attractions in India which attracts millions of domestic and internat ...

. *1965: SBT acquired Bank of Alwaye (est. 1942), and Chaldean Syrian Bank, which several leading families of Syrian Christian origin had founded in 1918.M.A. Ooman. 1976. "Rise and Growth of Banking in Kerala". ''Social Scientist'' 5 (3), pp. 24–46.

References

External links