State Bank Of India - A Company analysis

OVERVIEW OF THE BANKING INDUSTRY

Banking in India originated in the last decades of the 18th century. Theoldest bank in existence in India is the State Bank of India, a government-owned bank that traces its origins back to June 1806 and that is the largest commercial bank in world.

Early History

When the American Civil War stopped the supply of cotton to Lancashire from the Confederate States, promoters opened banks to finance trading inIndian cotton. With large exposure to speculative ventures, most of the banks opened in India during that period failed. The depositors lost money and lostinterest in keeping deposits with banks. Subsequently, banking in Indiaremained the exclusive domain of Europeans for next several decades until the beginning of the 20th century.Foreign banks too started to arrive, particularly in Calcutta, in the 1860s. TheComptoire d'Escompte de Paris opened a branch in Calcutta in 1860, and another in Bombay in 1862; branches in Madras and Pondicherry, then a French colony, followed. Calcutta was the most active trading port in India, mainly due to the trade of the British Empire, and so became a banking center.Around the turn of the 20th Century, the Indian economy was passing through are lative period of stability. Around five decades had elapsed since the Indian  Mutiny, and the social, industrial and other infrastructure had improved. Indianshad established small banks, most of which served particular ethnic andreligious communities. The presidency banks dominated banking in India but there were also someexchange banks and a number of Indian joint stock banks. All these banks operated in different segments of the economy. The exchange banks, mostly owned by Europeans, concentrated on financing foreign trade. Indian joint stock  banks were generally under capitalized and lacked the experience and maturityto compete with the presidency and exchange banks. This segmentation let Lord Curzon to observe,

"In respect of banking it seems we are behind the times. Weare like some old fashioned sailing ship, divided by solid wooden bulkheadsinto separate and cumbersome compartments." 

By the 1900s, the market expanded with the establishment of banks such asPunjab National Bank , in 1895 in Lahore andBank of India, in 1906, inMumbai- both of which were founded under private ownership. Punjab National Bank is the first Swadeshi Bank founded by the leaders like Lala Rai.

Nationalization:

By the 1960s, the Indian banking industry has become an important tool tofacilitate the development of theIndian economy. At the same time, it hasemerged as a large employer, and a debate has ensued about the possibility tonationalize the banking industry.Indira Gandhi, the-thenPrime Minister of  Indiaexpressed the intention of theGOIin the annual conference of the AllIndia Congress Meeting in a paper entitled

"Stray thoughts on Bank  Nationalization."

The paper was received with positive enthusiasm. Thereafter,her move was swift and sudden, and the GOI issued an ordinance andnationalizedthe 14 largest commercial banks with effect from the midnight of July 19,1969.Jayaprakash Narayan, a national leader of India, described thestep as a

"masterstroke of political sagacity."

Within two weeks of the issue of the ordinance, theParliamentpassed the Banking Companies (Acquisition andTransfer of Undertaking) Bill, and it received the presidentialapproval on 9August, 1969.A second dose of nationalization of 6 more commercial banks followed in 1980.The stated reason for the nationalization was to give the government morecontrol of credit delivery. With the second dose of nationalization, the GOIcontrolled around 91% of the banking business of India. Later on, in the year 1993, the government merged New Bank of IndiawithPunjab National Bank . Itwas the only merger between nationalized banks and resulted in the reduction of the number of nationalized banks from 20 to 19. After this, until the 1990s, thenationalized banks grew at a pace of around 4%, closer to the average growthrate of the Indian economy.The nationalized banks were credited by some, includingHome minister  P. Chidambaram, to have helped theIndian economywithstand the globalfinancial crisis of 2007-2009.

Liberalization:

In the early 1990s, the then Narsimha Raogovernment embarked on a policy of liberalization, licensing a small number of private banks. These came to beknown as

 New Generation tech-savvy banks

, and included Global Trust Bank (the first of such new generation banks to be set up), which later amalgamatedwith Oriental Bank of Commerce,UTI Bank (now re-named asAxis Bank ),ICICI Bank andHDFC Bank . This move, along with the rapid growth in theeconomy of India, revitalized the banking sector in India, which has seen rapidgrowth with strong contribution from all the three sectors of banks, namely,government banks, private banks and foreign banks.The next stage for the Indian banking has been setup with the proposedrelaxation in the norms for Foreign Direct Investment, where all ForeignInvestors in banks may be given voting rights which could exceed the presentcap of 10%,at present it has gone up to 49% with some restrictions.The new policy shook the Banking sector inIndiacompletely. Bankers, till thistime, were used to the 4-6-4 method (Borrow at 4%;Lend at 6%;Go home at 4)of functioning. The new wave ushered in a modern outlook and tech-savvymethods of working for traditional banks.All this led to the retail boom in India.People not just demanded more from their banks but also received more.Currently (2007), banking in India is generally fairly mature in terms of supply, product range and reach-even though reach in rural India still remains achallenge for the private sector and foreign banks. In terms of quality of assetsand capital adequacy, Indian banks are considered to have clean, strong andtransparent balance sheets relative to other banks in comparable economies inits region. The Reserve Bank of India is an autonomous body, with minimal pressure from the government. The stated policy of the Bank on the IndianRupee is to manage volatility but without any fixed exchange rate-and this hasmostly been true.With the growth in the Indian economy expected to be strong for quite sometime-especially in its services sector-the demand for banking services,especiallyretail banking, mortgages and investment services are expected to bestrong. One may also expect M&As, takeovers, and asset sales.In March 2006, the Reserve Bank of India allowed Warburg Pincus to increaseits stake in Kotak Mahindra Bank (a private sector bank) to 10%. This is thefirst time an investor has been allowed to hold more than 5% in a private sector  bank since the RBI announced norms in 2005 that any stake exceeding 5% inthe private sector banks would need to be vetted by them.In recent years critics have charged that the non-government owned banks aretoo aggresive in their loan recovery efforts in connection with housing, vehicleand personal loans. There are press reports that the banks' loan recovery effortshave driven defaulting borrowers to suicide.

COMPANY PROFILE OF SBI

State Bank of India (SBI) is India's largest commercial bank. SBI has a vastdomestic network of over 9000 branches (approximately 14% of all bank  branches) and commands one-fifth of deposits and loans of all scheduledcommercial banks in India.The State Bank Group includes a network of eight banking subsidiaries andseveral non-banking subsidiaries offering merchant banking services, fund.

Ø  The Eight Banking Subsidiaries.

1. State Bank of Bikaner & Jaipur(SBBJ)
2. State Bank of Hyderabad(SBH)
3. State Bank of Mysore(SBM)
4. State Bank of India(SBI)
5. State Bank of Indore(SBIR)
6. State Bank of Patiala(SBP)
7. State Bank of Travancore(SBT)
8. State Bank of Saurashtra(SBS)

History

The roots of the State Bank of India lie in the first decade of 19th century, when the Bank of Calcutta, later renamed the Bank of Bengal, was established on 2 June 1806. The Bank of Bengal was one of three Presidency banks, the other two being the Bank of Bombay (incorporated on 15 April 1840) and the Bank of Madras (incorporated on 1 July 1843). All three Presidency banks were incorporated as joint stock companies and were the result of the royal charters. These three banks received the exclusive right to issue paper currency in 1861 with the Paper Currency Act, a right they retained until the formation of the Reserve Bank of India. The Presidency banks amalgamated on 27 January 1921, and the re-organized banking entity took as its name Imperial Bank of India. The Imperial Bank of India remained a joint stock company.

Pursuant to the provisions of the State Bank of India Act of 1955, the Reserve Bank of India, which is India's central bank, acquired a controlling interest in the Imperial Bank of India. On 30 April 1955, the Imperial Bank of India became the State Bank of India. The government of India recently acquired the Reserve Bank of India's stake in SBI so as to remove any conflict of interest because the RBI is the country's banking regulatory authority.

In 1959, the government passed the State Bank of India (Subsidiary Banks) Act, enabling the State Bank of India to take over eight former state-associated banks as its subsidiaries. On 13 September 2008, the State Bank of Saurashtra, one of its associate banks, merged with the State Bank of India.

SBI has acquired local banks in rescues. For instance, in 1985, it acquired the Bank of Cochin in Kerala, which had 120 branches. SBI was the acquirer as its affiliate, the State Bank of Travancore, already had an extensive network in Kerala.

International presence

The Israeli branch of the State Bank of India located in Ramat Gan.

As of 31 December 2009, the bank had 157 overseas offices spread over 32 countries. It has branches of the parent in Colombo, Dhaka, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Tehran, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Male in the Maldives, Muscat, Dubai, New York, Osaka, Sydney, and Tokyo. It has offshore banking units in the Bahamas, Bahrain, and Singapore, and representative offices in Bhutan and Cape Town. It also has an ADB in Boston, USA.

SBI operates several foreign subsidiaries or affiliates. In 1990, it established an offshore bank: State Bank of India (Mauritius).

In 1982, the bank established a subsidiary, State Bank of India (California), which now has ten branches – nine branches in the state of California and one in Washington, D.C. The 10th branch was opened in Fremont, California on 28 March 2011. The other eight branches in California are located in Los Angeles, Artesia, San Jose, Canoga Park, Fresno, San Diego, Tustin and Bakersfield.

The Canadian subsidiary, State Bank of India (Canada) also dates to 1982. It has seven branches, four in the Toronto area and three in British Columbia.

In Nigeria, SBI operates as INMB Bank. This bank began in 1981 as the Indo-Nigerian Merchant Bank and received permission in 2002 to commence retail banking. It now has five branches in Nigeria.

In Nepal, SBI owns 55% of Nepal SBI Bank, which has branches throughout the country. In Moscow, SBI owns 60% of Commercial Bank of India, with Canara Bank owning the rest. In Indonesia, it owns 76% of PT Bank Indo Monex.

The State Bank of India already has a branch in Shanghai and plans to open one in Tianjin.[6]

In Kenya, State Bank of India owns 76% of Giro Commercial Bank, which it acquired for US$8 million in October 2005.[7]..

The State Bank of India (with 74% of the total capital) along with the largest global banking group—BNP Paribas (with 26% of the remaining capital) headquartered in Paris—formed a joint venture which established India's most reputed and trusted life insurance company named SBI Life Insurance company Ltd. in March 2001.

[ ]Associate banks

SBI has five associate banks; all use the same logo of a blue circle and all the associates use the "State Bank of" name, followed by the regional headquarters' name:

1.       State Bank of Bikaner & Jaipur

2.       State Bank of Hyderabad

3.       State Bank of Mysore

4.       State Bank of Patiala

5.       State Bank of Travancore

Earlier SBI had only seven associate banks that constituted the State Bank Group. Originally, the then seven banks that became the associate banks belonged to princely states until the government nationalised them between October 1959 and May 1960. In tune with the first Five Year Plan, emphasising the development of rural India, the government integrated these banks into the State Bank of India system to expand its rural outreach. There has been a proposal to merge all the associate banks into SBI to create a "mega bank" and streamline operations.[8]

The first step towards unification occurred on 13 August 2008 when State Bank of Saurashtra merged with SBI, reducing the number of state banks from seven to six. Then on 19 June 2009 the SBI board approved the merger of its subsidiary, State Bank of Indore, with itself. SBI holds 98.3% in State Bank of Indore. (Individuals who held the shares prior to its takeover by the government hold the balance of 1.77%.)[9]

The acquisition of State Bank of Indore added 470 branches to SBI's existing network of 12,448 and over 21,000 ATMs. Also, following the acquisition, SBI's total assets will inch very close to the 10 trillion mark. The total assets of SBI and the State Bank of Indore stood at 9,981,190 million as of March 2009. The process of merging of State Bank of Indore was completed by April 2010, and the SBI Indore branches started functioning as SBI branches on 26 August 2010.

 [ ]Non-banking subsidiaries

Apart from its five associate banks, SBI also has the following non-banking subsidiaries:

1.       SBI Capital Markets Ltd

2.       SBI Funds Management Pvt Ltd

3.       SBI Factors & Commercial Services Pvt Ltd

4.       SBI Cards & Payments Services Pvt. Ltd. (SBICPSL)

5.       SBI DFHI Ltd

6.       SBI Life Insurance Company Ltd.

7.       SBI General Insurance

[ ]Current Board of Directors

After the end of O. P. Bhatt's reign as SBI chairman on 31 March 2011, the post was taken over by Pratip Chaudhuri, who is the former deputy managing director of the international division of SBI. As of 4 August 2011, there are twelve members in the SBI board of directors, including Subir Gokarn, who is also one of the four deputy governors of the Reserve Bank of India. The complete list of the Board members is:

1.       Pratip Chaudhuri (Chairman)

2.       Hemant G. Contractor (Managing Director)

3.       Diwakar Gupta (Managing Director)

4.       A Krishna Kumar (Managing Director)

5.       Dileep C Choksi (Director)

6.       S. Venkatachalam (Director)

7.       D. Sundaram (Director)

8.       Parthasarathy Iyengar (Director)

9.       G. D. Nadaf (Officer Employee Director)

10.   Rashpal Malhotra (Director)

11.   D. K. Mittal (Director)

12.   Subir V. Gokarn (Director)

[ ]Branches of SBI

State Bank of India has 172 foreign offices in 37 countries across the globe.

SBI has about 26,000+ ATMs (25,000th ATM was inaugurated by the then Chairman of State Bank Shri O.P. Bhatt on 31 March 2011, the day of his retirement); and SBI group(including associate banks) has about 45,000 ATMs.

SBI has 21,500 branches, including branches that belong to its associate banks.

SBI includes 99345 offices in India.

India's number one ADB is in bellary i e State bank of India bellary ADB

[ ]Symbol and slogan

The symbol of the State Bank of India is a circle and a small man at the center of the circle (and not a key hole). A circle depicts perfection and the common man being the centre of the bank's business.

Slogans : "Pure banking nothing else"

also includes : "With you – all the way" "a bank of common man" and " Banker to every Indian"

[ ]Loan to NTPC

On 8 July 2011, SBI agreed to give a loan of 100 billion to NTPC (National Thermal Power Corporation), making it the largest loan SBI had ever given to any single customer in its entire 200 year history. The loan had a "door-to-door" maturity period of 12 years, accompanied by a drawdown period of four years. An NTPC press release said at the time of the declaration of the loan that: "The loan shall be utilized for financing the capital expenditure of ongoing and new projects."

NTPC chairman at the time, Arup Roy Choudhury clarified that the loan amount would be used to add 128,000 MW capacity by the end of year 2032 (NTPC'c capacity at the time of the declaration of the loan was 34,584 MW).

This loan was offered amidst declining finance for power projects in India, which were a direct result of the lending constraints placed by the Reserve Bank of India and the increased risk awareness of power projects. It will also help minimise the shortfall of around 4.51 trillion that the Power Ministry of India expected to incur in achieving the objectives of the Eleventh Five Year Plan (This plan targeted an addition of 78,577 MW or power generation capacity which would require an investment of 10.3 trillion).

[ ]Recent awards and recognitions

1.       Best Online Banking Award, Best Customer Initiative Award & Best Risk Management Award (Runner Up) by IBA Banking Technology Awards 2010

2.       The Bank of the year 2009, India (won the second year in a row) by The Banker Magazine

3.       Best Bank – Large and Most Socially Responsible Bank by the Business Bank Awards 2009

4.       Best Bank 2009 by Business India

5.       The Most Trusted Brand 2009 by The Economic Times

6.       Most Preferred Bank & Most preferred Home loan provider by CNBC

7.       Visionaries of Financial Inclusion By FINO

8.       Technology Bank of the Year by IBA Banking Technology Awards

9.       SKOCH Award 2010 for Virtual corporation Category for its e-payment solution

10.   The Brand Trust Report:[14] 11th most trusted brand in India.

—  MISSION STATEMENT

Ø  To retain the banks position as the premier indian financial services. It also aims to be a group with world class standards and significant global business commitments to excellence in customer, shareholder and employee satisfaction so as to play a leading role in expanding and diversifying financial services while continuing emphasis on its development banking role.

—  Vision Statement

Ø  To be a premier Indian financial services group with global perspective, world class standard of the efficiency and professionalism and also its core institutional values, To retain its position in the country as a pioneer in developing countries, It also aims to maximize its shareholders value through high sustained earnings per share, To become an institution with a culture of mutual care and commitment. It also focuses on a pleasant working environment to have continuous learning opportunities.

Values

1. —  Excellence in customer service
2. —  Profit orientation
3. —  Belonging and commitment to bank 
4. —  Fairness in all dealings and relations
5. —  Risk taking and innovations
6. —  Team playing
7. —  Learning and renewal
8. —  IntegrityTransparency
9. —  Discipline in policies and systems  

Changing Strategies of SBI

—  1991

Ø  Maintaining profitability

Ø  Credit Portfolio

Ø  Management

Ø  Service Quality

Ø  Regional Economy

Ø  Cost Management /

Ø  Expense reduction

Ø  Declining

Ø  Earnings/ more failures

—  2011

Ø  Service quality

‡

Ø  Maintaining profitability

Ø  Market / customer focus

‡

Ø  Operations/systems/technology

‡

Ø  Credit portfolio management

‡

Ø  Productivity Improvement

‡

Ø  Investment to stay competitive

What was going wrong?

1. —  Intense competition in the Banking Industry
2. —  Declining market share in every category.
3. —  Competitors inching closer
4. —  Core Banking Solution not so solvent with the good folks.
5. —  It has lost its connect with the modern customer.

So  What were the changes to be brought?

1. —  Customer centric approach.
2. —  Optimizing the technology the bank used.
3. —  Leveraging the financial, material and human capitals the bank had to grow faster and into new areas.
4. —  Expansion and Leadership Development.

Project Parivartan

Ø  Brain child of OP Bhatt.

Ø  First ever of its kind.

Ø  To gain support and acceptance of the change initiatives.

Ø  Aimed at every single employee from root to tip.

Ø  Objective was to bring a change in the attitude and approaches of the work force.

Ø  Objective was to get maximum Buy in.

Ø  Change within a change.

Parivartan – What was different

·        Completely structured

·        Multimedia Based

·        Interactive Sensitizing sessions

·        Learning session on customer centricity and relationship.

·        Concluding Session calling employees to embrace relationship banking

SWOT Analysis

•         Strength

·         Strong domestic position

·         Sustained reach and customer coincidence

·        Strong capital position

•         Weakness

·         High NPA

·         Prone to political interventions

•         Opportunities

·         E banking benefits

·         Investments in IT will reduce costs

·         New business activities will expand the market share

•         Threats

·         Opening  up of banking sector post 2009

·         Stiffening competition

·         Global economic slowdown 

Innovative Products

◦       It launched a special service for corporate customers called 'telebanking’ and remote login' to support transactional requests.

◦       The bank's trade finance solution, called EXIMBILLS.

◦       SBI alliances with insurance companies. 

Strategies to cope with the current scenario

1. —  It is the part of SBI`s philosophy to open new branches .The Bank is forging ahead with cutting edge technology and innovative new banking models, to expand its Rural Banking base.
2. —  Country‘s largest lender, State Bank of India (SBI) has prepared a blueprint to go retail in its international operations.
3. —  In response to signals from the central bank, SBI have progressively reduced their PLR from 13.75% to 12.25%.
4. —  SBI is working on infrastructure sector projects, which has seen a growth of 26%in the current year.
5. —  With market-linked products finding fewer takers, insurance companies are launching more ―guaranteed products to lure investors. The latest to join the bandwagon is SBI Life insurance with SBI Smart ULIP.