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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.
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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 Scheme to 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 all 29 States as also in 6 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 4695 Branches, 4 Extension counters, along with 29 Satellite Offices (as on May 2015) 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.
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