Established in 1911, Central Bank of India was the first Indian commercial bank which was wholly owned and managed by Indians. The establishment of the Bank was the ultimate realisation of the dream of Sir Sorabji Pochkhanawala, founder of the Bank.
Sir Pherozesha Mehta was the first Chairman of a truly ‘Swadeshi Bank’. In fact, such was the extent of pride felt by Sir Sorabji Pochkhanawala that he proclaimed Central Bank of India as the ‘property of the nation and the country’s asset’. He also added that ‘Central Bank of India lives on people’s faith and regards itself as the people’s own bank’.
During the past 99 years of history the Bank has weathered many storms and faced many challenges. The Bank could successfully transform every threat into business opportunity and excelled over its peers in the Banking industry.
A number of innovative and unique banking activities have been launched by Central Bank of India and a brief mention of some of its pioneering services are as under:
|
1921 |
Introduction to the Home Savings Safe Deposit Schemeto build saving/thrift habits in all sections of the society. |
|
1924 |
An Exclusive Ladies Department to cater to the Bank’s women clientele. |
|
1926 |
Safe Deposit Locker facility and Rupee Travellers’ Cheques. |
|
1929 |
Setting up of the Executor and Trustee Department. |
|
1932 |
Deposit Insurance Benefit Scheme. |
|
1962 |
Recurring Deposit Scheme. |
Subsequently, even after the nationalisation of the Bank in the year 1969, Central Bank continued to introduce a number of innovative banking services as under:
|
1976 |
The Merchant Banking Cell was established. |
|
1980 |
Centralcard, the credit card of the Bank was introduced. |
|
1986 |
‘Platinum Jubilee Money Back Deposit Scheme’ was launched. |
|
1989 |
The housing subsidiary Cent Bank Home Finance Ltd. was started with its headquarters at Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh. |
|
1994 |
Quick Cheque Collection Service (QCC) & Express Service was set up to enable speedy collection of outstation cheques. |
Further in line with the guidelines from Reserve Bank of India as also the Government of India, Central Bank has been playing an increasingly active role in promoting the key thrust areas of agriculture, small scale industries as also medium and large industries. The Bank also introduced a number of Self Employment Schemes to promote employment among the educated youth.
Among the Public Sector Banks, Central Bank of India can be truly described as an All India Bank, due to distribution of its large network in 27 out of 29 States as also in 3 out of 7 Union Territories in India.
Central Bank of India holds a very prominent place among the Public Sector Banks on account of its network of 3967 branches and 27 extension counters at various centres throughout the length and breadth of the country.
Customers’ confidence in Central Bank of India’s wide ranging services can very well be judged from the list of major corporate clients such as ICICI, IDBI, UTI, LIC, HDFC as also almost all major corporate houses in the country.
