through the Imperial Bank of India, to the founding in 1806 of the Bank of Calcutta, making it the oldest commercial bank in the Indian Subcontinent. Bank of Madras merged into the other two presidencies banks—Bank of Calcutta and Bank of Bombay—to form the Imperial Bank of India, which in turn became the State Bank of India. The Government of India nationalized the Imperial Bank of India in 1955, with the Reserve Bank of India taking a 60% stake, and renamed it the State Bank of India. In 2008, the government took over the stake held by the Reserve Bank of India. SBI has been ranked 285th in the Fortune Global 500 rankings of the world’s biggest corporations for the year 2012.

The State Bank of India has the distinction of serving 97721 BPL families in the north eastern circle through its 609 branches in the north eastern region. This bank has also mitigated the problem of unemployment in the region by providing jobs to 10275 people from the North East.

Even though it boasts of credit deposits to the tune of 47794.11 crores (as on Jan 2013), total credits amounting to 17128.58 crores and a credit deposit ratio of 36.03 (as on Jan 2013), the State Bank of India does not limit its activities to the banking sector. It has also contributed immensely to the social sector.

Corporate Responsibilities: During the current financial year, SBI has organized 80 major events covering far flung areas of north eastern states in the spheres of art & culture, educational activities, quiz contests, sports, medical & blood donation camps etc. In the current year, The Bank has sanctioned an amount of Rs 8.61 crore as donation which includes donation of 13 ambulances, 3 school buses, 2 multipurpose utility vehicles, one mortuary van and various medical equipment. Ceiling fans to 580 schools and water purifiers to 4930 schools in all the seven states of the North East have also been donated by the bank. Besides all this, the State Bank of India has also sanctioned `340.14 crores in crop loans to 97221 BPL borrowers covering the entire North East Circle.