Bank of Madras
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The Bank of Madras, one of the three Presidency Banks, the other two being, the Bank of Bengal and the Bank of Mumbai, was established on 1st July 1843, and was headquartered in Madras, now Chennai.
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[edit] Origin
The Bank of Madras came into existence when Madras Bank (1680s), Carnatic Bank (1788), Bank of Madras (1795), and the Asiatic Bank (1804) were reorganized and amalgamated to form the Bank of Madras, as a joint stock company. Bank of Madras had a branch network spread into all the major cities and trade center s of South India, including Bangalore, Coimbatore, Mangalore, Calicut, Tellicherry, Cochin, Alleppy, Cocanada, Guntur, Masulipatnam, Ootacamund, Negapatanam, and Tuticorin. It also has a branch in Colombo, Ceylon, now called Sri Lanka.
[edit] Activities
The Bank of Madras undertook all the normal activities which a commercial bank was expected to undertake. The Bank of Madras, in the absence of any central banking authority during that time, also conducted certain functions which are ordinarily a preserve of a central bank. These included managing the banking business of the Presidency of Madras and offices of the colonial government of India located in South India, and managing the Public Debt Office of the Government of Madras.
[edit] Milestone
The Head Office of the Bank of Madras was shifted to a new building, on South Beach Road, Madras, in 1897. The site was acquired for Rs. 100,000 in 1895, building was designed by Col. Samuel Jacob, and suitably modified and adpted by Henry Irwin (1841-1922), and constructed by Namperumal Chetty, a reputed builder, for Rs. 300,000. The building is an exquisite example of Victorian architecture. Currently, the building houses several Offices of State Bank of India, Chennai.
[edit] Epilogue
The Bank of Madras, and two other Presidency banks, namely, the Bank of Calcutta and the Bank of Bombay were amalgamated and the reorganized banking entity was named the Imperial Bank of India on 27th January 1921. The Reserve Bank of India, which is the central banking organization of India, in the year 1955, acquired a controlling interest in the Imperial Bank of India and the Imperial Bank of India was christened on 30th April 1955 as the State Bank of India.
