Bank of Baroda

Bank of Baroda
बैंक ऑफ़ बडौदा

Company type	Public
Traded as	BSE: 532134
Industry	Banking, Financial services
Founded	20 July 1908 (1908-07-20)
Founder	Maharaja H. H. Sir Sayajirao Gaekwad III
Headquarters	Vadodara, India
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	P. S. Jayakumar(CEO & MD) Ravi Venkatesan (Chairman) Bharat Dangar (Director)
Products	Credit cards, consumer banking, corporate banking, finance and insurance, investment banking, mortgage loans, private banking, private equity, wealth management
Total assets	₹6.714 trillion (US$80 billion) (2015)
Owner	Government of India
Website	www.bankofbaroda.com

Bank of Baroda is an Indian state-owned banking and financial services company headquartered in Vadodara (earlier known as Baroda) in Gujarat, India.It is the second largest bank in India, next to State Bank Of India. Its headquarters is in Vadodara, it has a corporate office in the Bandra Kurla Complex in Mumbai.

Based on 2014 data, it is ranked 801 on Forbes Global 2000 list. BoB has total assets in excess of ₹ 3.58 trillion, a network of 5326 branches in India and abroad, and over 8000 ATMs.

The bank was founded by the Maharaja of Baroda, Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III on 20 July 1908 in the Princely State of Baroda, in Gujarat. The bank, along with 13 other major commercial banks of India, was nationalised on 19 July 1969, by the Government of India and has been designated as a profit-making public sector undertaking (PSU).

In 2015, Bank of Baroda officials recently stumbled upon illegal transfers of a whopping Rs 6,172 crores in foreign exchange, made to Hong Kong through newly opened accounts in the bank's Ashok Vihar branch.

As many as 10 banks have been merged with Bank of Baroda during its journey so far:

• Hind Bank Ltd (1958)
• New Citizen Bank of India Ltd (1961)
• Surat Banking Corporation (1963)
• Tamil Nadu Central Bank (1964)
• Umbergaon People Bank (1964)
• Traders Bank Limited (1988)
• Bareilly Corporation Bank Ltd (1998)
• Benares State Bank Ltd (2002)
• South Gujarat Local Area Bank Ltd (2004)
• Memon Cooperative Bank Limited (2011)

History

1908–1959

Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III, the founder of Bank of Baroda

In 1908, Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III, set up the Bank of Baroda (BoB), with other stalwarts of industry such as Sampatrao Gaekwad, Ralph Whitenack, Vithaldas Thakersey, Tulsidas Kilachand and NM Chokshi. Two years later, BoB established its first branch in Ahmedabad. The bank grew domestically until after World War II. Then in 1953 it crossed the Indian Ocean to serve the communities of Indians in Kenya and Indians in Uganda by establishing a branch each in Mombasa and Kampala. The next year it opened a second branch in Kenya, in Nairobi, and in 1956 it opened a branch in Tanzania at Dar-es-Salaam. Then in 1957 BoB took a giant step abroad by establishing a branch in London. London was the center of the British Commonwealth and the most important international banking center. In 1958 BoB acquired Hind Bank (Calcutta; est. 1943), which became BoB's first domestic acquisition.

1960s

In 1961, BoB merged in New Citizen Bank of India. This merger helped it increase its branch network in Maharashtra. BoB also opened a branch in Fiji. The next year it opened a branch in Mauritius. Bank of Baroda In 1963, BoB acquired Surat Banking Corporation in Surat, Gujarat. The next year BoB acquired two banks: Umbergaon People's Bank in southern Gujarat and Tamil Nadu Central Bank in Tamil Nadu state.

In 1965, BoB opened a branch in Guyana. That same year BoB lost its branch in Narayanganj (East Pakistan) due to the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965. It is unclear when BoB had opened the branch. In 1967 it suffered a second loss of branches when the Tanzanian government nationalised BoB's three branches there at (Dar es Salaam, Mwanga, and Moshi), and transferred their operations to the Tanzanian government-owned National Banking Corporation.

In 1969, the Indian government nationalised 14 top banks including BoB. BoB incorporated its operations in Uganda as a 51% subsidiary, with the government owning the rest.

1970s

In 1972, BoB acquired Bank of India's operations in Uganda. Two years later, BoB opened a branch each in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

Back in India, in 1975, BoB acquired the majority shareholding and management control of Bareilly Corporation Bank (est. 1928) and Nainital Bank (est. in 1954), both in Uttar Pradesh. Since then, Nainital Bank has expanded to Uttarakhand state.

International expansion continued in 1976 with the opening of a branch in Oman and another in Brussels. The Brussels branch was aimed at Indian firms from Mumbai (Bombay) engaged in diamond cutting and jewellery having business in Antwerp, a major center for diamond cutting.

Two years later, BoB opened a branch in New York and another in the Seychelles. Then in 1979, BoB opened a branch in Nassau, the Bahamas.

1980s

In 1980, BoB opened a branch in Bahrain and a representative office in Sydney, Australia. BoB, Union Bank of India and Indian Bank established IUB International Finance, a licensed deposit taker, in Hong Kong. Each of the three banks took an equal share. Eventually (in 1999), BoB would buy out its partners.

A second consortium or joint-ventrue bank followed in 1985. BoB (20%), Bank of India (20%), Central Bank of India (20%) and ZIMCO (Zambian government; 40%) established Indo-Zambia Bank in Lusaka. That same year BoB also opened an Offshore Banking Unit (OBU) in Bahrain.

Back in India, in 1988, BoB acquired Traders Bank, which had a network of 34 branches in Delhi.

1990s

In 1992, BoB opened an OBU in Mauritius, but closed its representative office in Sydney. The next year BoB took over the London branches of Union Bank of India and Punjab & Sind Bank (P&S). P&S's branch had been established before 1970 and Union Bank's after 1980. The Reserve Bank of India ordered the takeover of the two following the banks' involvement in the Sethia fraud in 1987 and subsequent losses.

Then in 1992 BoB incorporated its operations in Kenya into a local subsidiary. The next year, BoB closed its OBU in Bahrain.

In 1996, BoB Bank entered the capital market in December with an Initial Public Offering (IPO). The Government of India is still the largest shareholder, owning 66% of the bank's equity.

In 1997, BoB opened a branch in Durban. The next year BoB bought out its partners in IUB International Finance in Hong Kong. Apparently this was a response to regulatory changes following Hong Kong's reversion to the People's Republic of China. The now wholly owned subsidiary became Bank of Baroda (Hong Kong), a restricted license bank. BoB also acquired Punjab Cooperative Bank in a rescue. BoB incorporate wholly owned subsidiary BOB Capital Markets Ltd for broking business.

In 1999, BoB merged in Bareilly Corporation Bank in another rescue. At the time, Bareilly had 64 branches, including four in Delhi. In Guyana, BoB incorporated its branch as a subsidiary, Bank of Baroda Guyana. BoB added a branch in Mauritius and closed its Harrow Branch in London.

2000s

In 2000 BoB established Bank of Baroda (Botswana). The bank has three banking offices, two in Gaborone and one in Francistown. In 2002, BoB converted its subsidiary in Hong Kong from deposit taking company to a Restricted License Bank.

In 2002 BoB acquired Benares State Bank (BSB) at the Reserve Bank of India's request. BSB was established in 1946 but traced its origins back to 1871 and its function as the treasury office of the Benares state. In 1964, BSB had acquired Bareilly Bank (est. 1934), with seven branches in western districts of Uttar Pradesh; BSB also had taken over Lucknow Bank in 1968. The acquisition of BSB brought BoB 105 new branches. Lucknow Bank, a unit bank with its only office in Aminabad, had been established in 1913. Also in 2002, BoB listed Bank of Baroda (Uganda) on the Uganda Securities Exchange (USE). The next year BoB opened an OBU in Mumbai.

In 2004 BoB acquired the failed Gujarat Local Area Bank. BoB also returned to Tanzania by establishing a subsidiary in Dar-es-Salaam. BoB also opened a representative office each in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and Guangdong, China.

• 2005: BoB built a Global Data Centre (DC) in Mumbai for running its centralised banking solution (CBS) and other applications in more than 1,900 branches across India and 20 other counties where the bank operates. BoB also opened a representative office in Thailand.
• 2006: BoB established an Offshrore Banking Unit (OBU) in Singapore.
• 2007: In its centenary year, BoB's total business crossed 2.09 trillion (short scale), its branches crossed 2000, and its global customer base 29 million people. In Hong Kong, Bank got Full Fledged Banking license and business of its Restricted License Banking subsidiary was taken over Bank of Baroda branch in Hong Kong w.e.f.01.04.2007.
• 2008: BoB opened a branch in Guangzhou, China (02/08/2008) and in Kenton, Harrow United Kingdom. BoB opened a joint venture life insurance company with Andhra Bank and Legal and General (UK) called IndiaFirst Life Insurance Company.

2010s

In 2010, Malaysia awarded a commercial banking licence to a locally incorporated bank to be jointly owned by Bank of Baroda, Indian Overseas Bank and Andhra Bank. That same year, BoB also opened a branch in New Zealand.

In 2011, BoB opened an Electronic Banking Service Unit (EBSU) was opened at Hamriya Free Zone, Sharjah (UAE). It also opened four new branches in existing operations in Uganda, Kenya (2), and Guyana. BoB closed its representative office in Malaysia in anticipation of the opening of its consortium bank there. BoB received 'In Principle' approval for the upgrading of its representative office in Australia to a branch.

The Malaysian consortium bank, India International Bank Malaysia (IIBM), finally opened in Kuala Lumpur, which has a large population of Indians. BOB owns 40%, Andhra Bank owns 25%, and IOB the remaining 35% of the share capital. IIBM seeks to open five branches within its first year of operations in Malaysia, and intends to grow to 15 branches within the next three years.

Subsidiaries

BOB Capital Markets (BOBCAPS) is a SEBI-registered investment banking company based in Mumbai, Maharashtra. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Bank of Baroda. Its financial services portfolio includes initial public offerings, private placement of debts, corporate restructuring, business valuation, mergers and acquisition, project appraisal, loan syndication, institutional equity research, and brokerage.

Bobcards Ltd is a credit card company, 100% subsidiary of Bank of Baroda. The company is in the business of Credit cards, Acquiring Business & back end support for Debit cards operations to Bank of Baroda. Bank of Baroda had introduced its first charged card named BOBCARD in the year 1984. The whole operation of this plastic card was managed by Credit card division of Bank of Baroda. It established a wholly owned subsidiary, Bobcards Limited in the year 1994 to cater to the need of rapidly growing credit card industry in a focused manner. BOBCARDS Ltd is the first Non-banking company in India issuing credit cards

International presence

In its international expansion, the Bank of Baroda followed the Indian diaspora, especially that of Gujaratis. The Bank has 106 branches/offices in 24 countries including 61 branches/offices of the bank, 38 branches of its 8 subsidiaries and 1 representative office in Thailand. The Bank of Baroda has a joint venture in Zambia with 16 branches.

Among the Bank of Baroda's overseas branches are ones in the world's major financial centres (e.g., New York, London, Dubai, Hong Kong, Brussels and Singapore), as well as a number in other countries. The bank is engaged in retail banking via the branches of subsidiaries in Botswana, Guyana, Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. The bank plans has recently upgraded its representative office in Australia to a branch and set up a joint venture commercial bank in Malaysia. It has a large presence in Mauritius with about nine branches spread out in the country.

The Bank of Baroda has received permission or in-principle approval from host country regulators to open new offices in Trinidad and Tobago and Ghana, where it seeks to establish joint ventures or subsidiaries. The bank has received Reserve Bank of India approval to open offices in the Maldives, and New Zealand. It is seeking approval for operations in Bahrain, South Africa, Kuwait, Mozambique, and Qatar, and is establishing offices in Canada, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and Russia. It also has plans to extend its existing operations in the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, and Botswana.

The tagline of Bank of Baroda is "India's International Bank".

Affiliates

IndiaFirst Life Insurance Company is a joint venture between Bank of Baroda (44%) and fellow Indian state-owned bank Andhra Bank (30%), and UK's financial and investment company Legal & General (26%). It was incorporated in November, 2009 and has its headquarters in Mumbai. The company started strongly, achieving a turnover in excess of ₹ 2 billion in its first four and half months.

Bank of Baroda and HDFC bank are partner banks in Chillr Mobile app. Non-partner bank customers can only receive funds. Only the mobile number of the beneficiary in the remitter's phonebook is needed. Application enables customers to send money to any registered Chillr user on phone contact list.

Corporate Social Responsibility

"Baroda Swarojgar Vikas Sansthans" have been set up with following purpose: 1. To train youth and impart them the knowledge and skill for taking up self-employment ventures. 2. To train youth to develop the attitude for working in rural areas, in rural development projects. 3. To assist trained youth, in self-employment as far as possible, in obtaining credit facilities from bank / other financial institution and to assist them in setting up their venture successfully. 4. To conduct various training programmes (either independent or in-collaboration with other organization connected with rural technology, rural development and entrepreneurship development.) 5. To provide counseling and consultancy guidance with all possible help to the youth in the field of Self Employment and Rural Development.

The bank has established "Baroda Grameen Paramarsh Kendras" where following activities are carried out: 1. Financial Education and Financial Inclusion 2. Information sharing and problem solving on technical issues 3. Credit counseling 4. Synergy and liaison with other organizations and development activities

Bank of Baroda has opened Financial Literacy and Credit Counseling Centres as a CSR initiative. The centre opened is christened as "SAARTHEE" amply indicating its basic objective of steering those under financial distress and educating to others to avoid financial mess.

Honours

• Best Public Sector Bank Award under the category of Global Business at the Dun & Bradstreet Banking Awards 2015.
• The Government of India awarded Bank with the 1st Prize in the Indira Gandhi Rajbhasha Shield

Competition in Region ‗B‘. on Hindi Diwas 2014. Further, Bank was awarded first prize for ' B' Region and second prizes for Region 'A' and 'B' by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) under the RBI Rajbhasha Shield Competition.

• BML Munjal award in Public Sector Category for Business Excellence Through Learning & Development –2015.
• Excellence in Banking (PSU Sector) at the 5th My FM Stars of the Industry Awards recently held in Mumbai on 30.01.2015
• National Prize – First Rank in Innovative Training Practices for the year 2014 from ―Indian Society for Training and Development‖ (ISTD).
• Golden Peacock National Training Award for the year 2014 under the aegis of Institute of Directors, New Delhi.
• Champion of Champions Award at the 54th annual ABCI Awards 2015, for 6 Categories- Indian

Language Publication – Bronze; Exhibition Collateral – Gold; Wall Calendar 2014 – Silver; Environmental Communication – Silver; E-Zine – Bronze; Corporate Film – Gold.

• 3 Awards at the IBA Banking Technology Awards 2014 – 15, Winner in Best Financial Inclusion

Initiative; First Runner up in Training & Human Resources, E - learning Initiatives; First Runner up in ―Best Use of Data.

• Best Bank - Global Business Development (Public Sector) & Best Bank – Overall (Public Sector) Award in Dun & Bradstreet – Polaris Financial Technology Banking Awards 2014.
• Skoch Order of Merit in India‘s Best 2014Financial Inclusion & Deepening Awards 2014.
• ASSOCHAM Social Banking Excellence Award under Public Sector Banks category, in recognition of the significant initiatives being undertaken by the Bank in social banking sphere.
• The Most Efficient Public Sector Bank‘ for the year 2014 by Dalal Street Investment Journal in the Best PSU‘s of India Awards‘.

Recent developments

• Bank of Baroda acquired the semi naming rights of Sikanderpur Metro Station in Gurugram. This is the first time that a public sector bank has bagged the naming right of a metro station.
• Bank of Baroda sealed a 3-year principal sponsorship contract with Olympics 2016 Women's badminton Silver medalist PV Sindhu and India's No 1 ranked Men's Badminton player K Srikanth.

See also

• Indian banking
• IndiaFirst Life Insurance Co. Ltd.
• H. H. Sayajirao Gaekwad
• List of banks in India
• Indian Financial System Code
• Baroda
• Bank of Baroda (Uganda)

Further reading

• Tripathi, Dwijendra and Priti Misra (1985). Towards a New Frontier: History of the Bank of Baroda, 1908–1983. (New Delhi, India: Manohar), SAYEED INDIAN.

External links

Media related to Bank of Baroda at Wikimedia Commons

• Official website
• BANK OF BARODA