There are three types of commercial banks in India

  1. Public sector banks
  2. Private Banks
  3. Foreign banks

Currently, there are 88 scheduled commercial banks, including 28 public sector banks, 29 private banks and 31 foreign banks.

Public sector banks

These are banks where majority stake is held by the Government of India or Reserve Bank of India. In 2012, the largest public sector bank is the State Bank of India. This consists of 14 banks which are nationalised in the year 1969 and 6 banks which are nationalised in the year 1980.

  • Allahabad Bank
  • Andhra Bank
  • Bank of Baroda
  • Bank of India
  • Bank of Maharashtra
  • Canara Bank
  • Central Bank of India
  • Corporation Bank
  • Dena Bank
  • Indian Bank
  • Indian Overseas Bank
  • Oriental Bank of Commerce
  • Punjab & Sind Bank
  • Punjab National Bank
  • Syndicate Bank
  • UCO Bank
  • Union Bank of India
  • United Bank of India
  • Vijaya Bank
  • State bank and its associates

Private Banks

Private Banks are banks that the majority of share capital is held by private individuals. In Private sector small scheduled commercial banks and newly established banks with a network of 8,965 branches are operating. To encourage competitive efficiency, the setting up of new private bank is now encouraged.

Examples of old private sector banks are:

  • Bank of Rajasthan
  • Catholic Syrian Bank
  • Dhanalakshmi Bank
  • Federal Bank
  • ING Vysya Bank
  • Karnataka Bank
  • Karur Vysya Bank
  • Lakshmi Vilas Bank
  • Lord Krishna Bank
  • South Indian Bank
  • Tamilnad Mercantile Bank

Examples on new generation private sector banks are:

  • Bank of Punjab
  • Centurion Bank
  • HDFC Bank
  • AXIS Bank
  • ICICI Bank
  • IDBI Bank Ltd.
  • IndusInd Bank
  • Kotak Mahindra Bank
  • UTI Bank
  • Yes Bank

Foreign Banks

Foreign banks are registered and have their headquarters in a foreign country but operate their branches in India. Apart from financing of foreign trade, these banks have performed all functions of commercial banks and they have an advantage over Indian banks because of their vast resources and superior management. At the end of September, 2010, 34 foreign banks were operating in India.

Examples of foreign bank functioning in India are:

  • ABM Amro Bank
  • Bank of America
  • Bank of Bahrain & Kuwait
  • Bank of Ceylon
  • Barclays Bank
  • BNP Paribas
  • Ceylon Bank
  • Citibank
  • Hongkong & Shanghai Banking Corporation.(HSBC)
  • JP Morgan Chase Bank
  • Sonali Bank
  • Standard Chartered Bank