Description: The Indian Banking industry, which is governed by the Banking Regulation Act of India, 1949 can
be broadly classified into two major categories, non-scheduled banks and scheduled banks.
Scheduled banks comprise commercial banks and the co-operative banks. In terms of ownership,
commercial banks can be further grouped into nationalized banks, the State Bank of India and its
group banks, regional rural banks and private sector banks (the old/ new domestic and foreign).
These banks have over 67,000 branches spread across the country.
The first phase of financial reforms resulted in the nationalization of 14 major banks in 1969 and
resulted in a shift from Class banking to Mass banking. This in turn resulted in a significant growth
in the geographical coverage of banks. Every bank had to earmark a minimum percentage of their
loan portfolio to sectors identified as “priority sectors”. The manufacturing sector also grew during
the 1970s in protected environs and the banking sector was a critical source. The next wave of
reforms saw the nationalization of 6 more commercial banks in 1980. Since then the number of
scheduled commercial banks increased four-fold and the number of bank branches increased eightfold.
After the second phase of financial sector reforms。。。。。。。。。。。。。