The history of Tamilnad Mercantile Bank Ltd., the then Nadar Bank Ltd., dates back to 1921. The thought of establishing a bank under the guidance of the able Nadar business community was mooted out in the Anniversary of Nadar Mahajana Sangam held at Tuticorin in 1920. The proposal was effected soon. The bank was registered on May 11, 1921 as “The Nadar Bank Ltd”.

A group of dedicated men with shrewd acumen and sound integrity had been constituted as Board of Directors and they elected Shri M.V. Shanmugavel Nadar as Chairman on Nov 04, 1921. The bank was opened by Shri T.V. Balagurusamy Nadar, the then President of the Nadar Mahajana Sangam and the bank threw open its door to the public on Nov 11, 1921 at 9am in Ana Mavanna Building at South Raja Street, Tuticorin.

Tamilnad Mercantile Bank Ltd., focused its attention on the customers from the very beginning and the bank is known for its personalised service. The team of management and staff members of the bank are having the practice of meeting people from various walks of life and hear their requirements on a regular basis.

The bank was having only 4 branches until the year 1947 at Tuticorin, Madurai, Sivakasi and Virudhunagar. The bank had also a branch at Colombo in the year 1937 and the same was closed in the year 1939. The bank has now 488 full fledged branches all over India, 12 Regional Offices, 11 Extension Counters, 6 Central Processing Centres, 1 Service Branch, 4 Currency Chests and 1048 Automated Teller Machines. All the 488 branches are computerised and interconnected. The first branch outside the State of Tamilnadu was opened in the year 1976 at Bangalore. The first fully computerized branch was opened at WGC Road, Tuticorin on Dec 09, 1984. The bank had established its first currency chest in 1993 at Madurai & has industrial finance branches at Coimbatore, Chennai and Secunderabad. The Bank has launched ATM Card from Nov 11, 2003. Our Branch Network Map is here.

The bank, which had a Net Profit of Rs. 6,984.00 in the year 1921 had spurted its profit to Rs. 5.05 Lakhs in the year 1971 and Rs. 250.90 Crores for the year ended March 2011. The high level of profit earned by the bank enabled to build up and sustain the high level of reserve base. The Profitability trend continues this year also.

Tamilnad Mercantile Bank Ltd., is one of the very few banks having very high reserve base and its earnings per share remains the highest.

Tamilnad Mercantile Bank Ltd., is the only bank in India declaring consistently higher rate of dividend to its shareholders from the very beginning. The bank had declared 6% dividend to its shareholders in 1921. The rate of dividend has been on increasing trend. The Bank declared a dividend of 1000% for each of the financial year ended on Mar 31, 2006 and 2007. The dividend proposed by the Board of Directors for the financial year ended Mar 31, 2008 was 5000%. Further an interim dividend of 9000% was also proposed in Oct 2011.