Bank to Bank

1969: 14 banks nationalised by the Indira Gandhi government.

1980: 6 more banks nationalised.

1994: Private banks like ICICI, HDFC, and UTI take off as a result of the then Prime Minister Narsimha Rao's liberelisation policy.

And since then, the number of banks has been increasing and today there are 19 nationalised banks, excluding State Bank of India and its associate banks whereas the number of private banks is almost 30, that include the foreign banks, Citibank, HSBC and Deutsch Bank.

With a number of banks providing good service, the competition among the banks is at its best now. Previously it was ICICI an HDFC banks which gave other banks a good competition. Especially ICICI bank came to the second spot in terms of total assets, just behind the State Bank of India.

Later, the competition grew fierce with other private banks also joining the race. But a new turn in the banking sector came when nationalised banks started to gear up themselves for the race. It was started by the Bank of Baroda when it changed its logo along with colors and established a series in June 2005. Then in May 2007, UTI Bank decided to go through a change of name and logo and soon it was Axis Bank.

And recently, Canara Bank joined the series. With the beginning of the 2008, Canara Bank turned a bright blue with two crossing triangles and a beautiful tagline 'Together We Can'. Mind Can.

And now the State Bank of India is all set to go through the merger that has been on cards for a long time. The largest bank of India, with more than 9500 branches, is all set to grow larger with the proposed mergers of its seven associate banks. If the mergers take place as expected, the bank will be South Asia's largest bank with more than 14,000 branches. The first merger, with the State Bank of Saurastra, may complete this month itself.