India has about 1,950 licensed banks, but most of the money sits with very few of them. Twelve public sector banks still hold close to three-fifths of the deposits of scheduled commercial banks. Twenty-one private banks hold most of the rest, and forty-odd foreign banks, eleven small finance banks and six payments banks share what is left. Around them are regional rural banks, nearly 1,800 co-operative banks and five development finance institutions that lend to lenders. This part, the first of the series on banking and financial institutions, sets out that structure: how banks are classified, who owns them, how much of the system each group controls, where their branches are, and how the map got its present shape between 1969 and 2026.
Part 18, RBI regulation of banks and NBFCs, explains the licensing law and the rules each type of bank must follow. This part gives the structure and the numbers. Later parts take each group in depth: public vs private banks (Part 22), small finance and payments banks (Part 33), co-operative banks and RRBs (Part 34) and bank mergers and consolidation (Part 38).
In the news
- 16 October 2026: Emirates NBD's Indian branches to merge into RBL Bank. The RBI sanctioned the amalgamation of Emirates NBD's three Indian branches (Mumbai, Chennai and Gurugram) into RBL Bank under Section 44A of the Banking Regulation Act, effective 1 December 2026. Why it matters for the exam: a foreign bank must have a single mode of presence, so it cannot run branches and a subsidiary side by side.
- 14 October 2026: IDBI Bank sale cleared. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved the sale of a 60.72% stake in IDBI Bank to an entity of Canada's Fairfax Financial Holdings; the RBI's fit-and-proper approval is still pending. Why it matters for the exam: IDBI Bank has been classified as a private sector bank since January 2019, even though the government and LIC still own most of it.
- 18 June 2026: Emirates NBD takes control of RBL Bank. Emirates NBD completed its acquisition of a 60% stake in RBL Bank through a fresh issue of about ₹26,000 crore, which the banks called the largest foreign direct investment in Indian banking. Under the RBI's approval of 1 April 2026, RBL Bank is to be classified as a foreign bank in subsidiary mode, with Emirates NBD's voting rights capped at 26%. Why it matters for the exam: it is the first time a foreign bank has taken a majority stake in a profitable Indian private bank, and it moves a bank from one bank group to another.
- 29 May 2026: credit concentrated in the metros. The RBI's annual Basic Statistical Return (BSR-1) for March 2026 showed that 58.2% of bank credit was booked at metropolitan branches, against 9.4% at rural, 14.5% at semi-urban and 17.9% at urban branches. Credit growth was 14.1%. Why it matters for the exam: branches are spread fairly evenly; credit is not.
- 29 May 2026: public sector banks win most new deposits. The BSR-2 release showed that public sector banks took 50.8% of the increase in deposits in 2025-26 and private banks 38.6%. Deposits grew 11.5%; the regional rural banks' share fell to 2.9%. Why it matters for the exam: PSBs have stopped losing ground in deposits for now.
- 1 February 2026: a committee on banking for Viksit Bharat. The Union Budget 2026-27 proposed a High Level Committee on Banking for Viksit Bharat to review the sector, including the case for larger banks. Press reports since then have named smaller PSBs that could be merged, but the Finance Minister has said there is no merger roadmap. Why it matters for the exam: another round of PSB consolidation is the main structural question for 2026-27.
- 14 January 2026: SMBC to convert to a subsidiary. The RBI gave in-principle approval to Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation of Japan to turn its four Indian branches (New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Bengaluru) into a wholly owned subsidiary. Why it matters for the exam: subsidiaries get near-national treatment; only two foreign banks, DBS and SBM, operated that way at March 2025.
- 29 December 2025: the RBI counts 139 commercial banks. The Report on Trend and Progress of Banking in India 2024-25 said that at end-March 2025 there were 12 PSBs, 21 private banks, 44 foreign banks, 11 SFBs, 6 payments banks, 43 RRBs and 2 local area banks, of which 135 were scheduled and 4 non-scheduled. Why it matters for the exam: this is the official bank count and the source for most market-share numbers.
How banks are classified
There are three ways to sort Indian banks, and exam questions mix them up. The first is legal (scheduled or not). The second is ownership and licence (public, private, foreign, small finance and so on). The third is the type of institution (commercial, co-operative or development bank).
Scheduled and non-scheduled banks
A scheduled bank is one listed in the Second Schedule of the RBI Act, 1934. Under Section 42(6), the RBI includes a bank in the schedule if its paid-up capital and reserves are worth at least ₹5 lakh and it satisfies the RBI that its affairs are not run against the interests of its depositors. The RBI can also remove a bank that stops meeting these conditions.
Being scheduled brings duties and privileges:
- Duties. A scheduled bank must keep its cash reserve with the RBI under Section 42(1) and report its position to the RBI every fortnight (the "Section 42 return"). See CRR and SLR.
- Privileges. It can borrow from the RBI under the liquidity adjustment facility and the marginal standing facility (LAF and MSF).
The ₹5 lakh test is tiny by today's standards, so almost every commercial bank is scheduled. At end-March 2025 only four of the 139 commercial banks were not: two payments banks (Jio Payments Bank and NSDL Payments Bank) and the two local area banks (Coastal Local Area Bank and Krishna Bhima Samruddhi Local Area Bank). Among co-operative banks, the split matters more: most urban co-operative banks are non-scheduled.
A common misreading is that "non-scheduled" means "unregulated". It does not. Non-scheduled banks are licensed under the Banking Regulation Act and must keep CRR as well, under Section 18 of that Act rather than Section 42 of the RBI Act.
Commercial and co-operative banks
Commercial banks are companies (or, for PSBs, statutory corporations) that run banking as a business. Co-operative banks are member-owned societies registered under state co-operative laws or the Multi-State Co-operative Societies Act, 2002. Both are licensed by the RBI and insured by DICGC.
Development finance institutions such as NABARD and SIDBI are different again. They do not take public deposits the way banks do; they raise money from bonds, the government and the RBI, and mostly lend to other lenders. The RBI regulates them as all-India financial institutions (AIFIs).
The commercial banks: seven groups
The RBI's annual report on banking divides commercial banks into seven groups. The table gives the count at end-March 2025, from the Trend and Progress report, and at 31 March 2026, from DICGC's register of insured banks.
| Group | Mar 2025 | Mar 2026 | What defines it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Public sector banks (PSBs) | 12 | 12 | Government holds a majority |
| Private sector banks (PVBs) | 21 | 21 | Indian-incorporated, privately owned |
| Foreign banks (FBs) | 44 | 44 | Branches of foreign banks, or their wholly owned subsidiaries |
| Small finance banks (SFBs) | 11 | 11 | Differentiated licence: small loans, priority sector |
| Payments banks (PBs) | 6 | 6 | Differentiated licence: deposits up to ₹2 lakh, no lending |
| Regional rural banks (RRBs) | 43 | 28 | Owned by Centre, sponsor bank and state |
| Local area banks (LABs) | 2 | 2 | Small private banks in a few districts |
| Total | 139 | 124 |
The fall from 139 to 124 is almost entirely the RRB merger of 1 May 2025, which cut RRBs from 43 to 28 under "One State, One RRB".
Public sector banks
Since the mergers of 1 April 2020 there have been 12 PSBs:
- State Bank of India
- Punjab National Bank
- Bank of Baroda
- Canara Bank
- Union Bank of India
- Bank of India
- Indian Bank
- Central Bank of India
- Indian Overseas Bank
- UCO Bank
- Bank of Maharashtra
- Punjab & Sind Bank
SBI was created by the State Bank of India Act, 1955; the other eleven are "nationalised banks" under the Banking Companies (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Acts of 1970 and 1980. SBI alone had 22,925 branches at end-March 2025, almost half as many as all 21 private banks together (47,275).
The 2020 round merged ten banks into four:
| Anchor bank | Merged into it on 1 April 2020 |
|---|---|
| Punjab National Bank | Oriental Bank of Commerce, United Bank of India |
| Canara Bank | Syndicate Bank |
| Union Bank of India | Andhra Bank, Corporation Bank |
| Indian Bank | Allahabad Bank |
Before that, SBI absorbed its five associate banks and Bharatiya Mahila Bank on 1 April 2017, and Bank of Baroda absorbed Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank on 1 April 2019. Together these cut the number of PSBs from 27 in 2017 to 12. The details are in Part 38.
IDBI Bank is not a PSB. The RBI reclassified it as a private sector bank in January 2019, after LIC bought a controlling stake. That stays true until the Fairfax sale, and after it.
Private sector banks
The 21 private banks are of two vintages. Old private banks existed before 1969 but were too small to be nationalised: Federal Bank, South Indian Bank, Karur Vysya Bank, City Union Bank, Karnataka Bank, Tamilnad Mercantile Bank, Dhanlaxmi Bank, Nainital Bank, CSB Bank, Jammu & Kashmir Bank and RBL Bank. New private banks came after 1993: HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, IndusInd Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Yes Bank, IDFC First Bank and Bandhan Bank, plus DCB Bank (a converted co-operative bank) and IDBI Bank (reclassified in 2019).
RBL Bank's case shows that a bank's group depends on who controls it. Under the RBI's approval of April 2026, once Emirates NBD holds at least 51% the bank is classified as a foreign bank in subsidiary mode. Exam answers that say "21 private banks" refer to March 2025 and March 2026.
Foreign banks: branches or subsidiaries
A foreign bank can work in India in one of two ways:
- Branch mode. The Indian branches are part of the foreign parent. Most of the 44 foreign banks are like this, and 37 of them had five branches or fewer at end-March 2025. The biggest branch networks belong to Standard Chartered (100), HSBC (26), Deutsche Bank (17) and Citibank (14).
- Wholly owned subsidiary (WOS) mode. The foreign bank sets up an Indian company with its own capital and board. The RBI's framework of 6 November 2013 gives a WOS near-national treatment: it can open branches almost anywhere, like an Indian bank, except in a few sensitive areas. In return it needs a minimum of ₹500 crore of capital, an Indian-majority board and a letter of comfort from its parent.
The 2013 framework rests on two principles, reciprocity and a single mode of presence. Banks with complex structures or weak home-country disclosure must enter as a WOS. Banks already in India before August 2010 may stay as branches but are encouraged to convert. If foreign banks' capital and reserves exceed 20% of the banking system's, the RBI can restrict new WOS entry.
At end-March 2025 only two foreign banks worked as subsidiaries: DBS Bank India (507 branches, enlarged by its 2020 takeover of Lakshmi Vilas Bank) and SBM Bank (India) (22 branches). SMBC's approval in January 2026 and RBL Bank's change of control in 2026 would add two more.
Differentiated banks: SFBs and payments banks
Small finance banks and payments banks were created by RBI guidelines of 27 November 2014. They are called "differentiated" because each can do only part of what a universal bank does:
- SFBs take deposits and lend, but must give at least half their loans in amounts of up to ₹25 lakh and meet a higher priority-sector target. The eleven are AU, Capital, Equitas, ESAF, Jana, Shivalik, slice, Suryoday, Ujjivan, Unity and Utkarsh. AU has in-principle approval (August 2025) to become a universal bank.
- Payments banks take deposits of up to ₹2 lakh per customer and run remittances, but cannot lend. There were six on 31 March 2026. The RBI then cancelled Paytm Payments Bank's licence on 24 April 2026 (it had been barred from taking fresh deposits since 2024), leaving five: Airtel, India Post, Fino, Jio and NSDL. Fino has in-principle approval (December 2025) to become an SFB.
Both groups are covered in Part 33.
Regional rural banks and local area banks
RRBs were set up under the Regional Rural Banks Act, 1976 (first by an ordinance in 1975) to lend to small farmers, labourers and rural businesses. Each is owned 50% by the Centre, 35% by a sponsor bank and 15% by the state government. Successive mergers cut the number from 196 in 2004-05 to 43 in 2020-21 and to 28 from 1 May 2025. At end-March 2025 the 43 RRBs ran 22,158 branches, about 92% in rural and semi-urban areas. NABARD supervises them; the RBI regulates them.
Local area banks were licensed in the late 1990s as small private banks for a few contiguous districts. Only two remain, with 79 branches and deposits of just ₹1,385 crore at end-March 2025. Both are non-scheduled.
The co-operative banks
Co-operative banking has an urban arm and a rural arm.
Urban co-operative banks (UCBs) serve towns and cities. The RBI both regulates and supervises them, and sorts them into four tiers by deposits (explained in Part 18). Their number has fallen steadily since the RBI stopped licensing new ones and began merging weak ones in 2004-05: from 1,926 at end-March 2004 to 1,457 at end-March 2025 and 1,440 at 31 March 2026.
Rural co-operatives have a short-term and a long-term structure:
- Short-term (three tiers): state co-operative banks (StCBs) at the top, district central co-operative banks (DCCBs) in the middle, and primary agricultural credit societies (PACS) in the villages. At end-March 2025 there were 34 StCBs with 2,146 branches and 351 DCCBs with 13,825 branches (DICGC counted 352 on 31 March 2026). There were about 1.08 lakh PACS at end-March 2024, covering over 6.5 lakh villages.
- Long-term (two tiers): 13 state co-operative agriculture and rural development banks (SCARDBs) and 609 primary ones (PCARDBs), which make long-term farm loans.
StCBs and DCCBs are banks: the RBI licenses and regulates them and NABARD supervises them. PACS, SCARDBs and PCARDBs are not banks. They sit outside the Banking Regulation Act and their deposits are not insured by DICGC. Rural co-operatives held about 71% of the co-operative sector's assets of ₹24.5 lakh crore at end-March 2024.
Development finance institutions
The RBI regulates and supervises five all-India financial institutions. They are development banks: they refinance other lenders, lend to whole sectors and run government schemes.
| AIFI | Set up | Law | Sector | Disbursed 2024-25 (₹ crore) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NABARD | 12 July 1982 | NABARD Act, 1981 | Agriculture and rural development | 4,49,044 |
| SIDBI | 2 April 1990 | SIDBI Act, 1989 | Micro, small and medium enterprises | 2,35,258 |
| EXIM Bank | March 1982 | EXIM Bank Act, 1981 | Exports and imports | 1,28,272 |
| NaBFID | 2021 | NaBFID Act, 2021 | Long-term infrastructure finance | 38,535 |
| NHB | 9 July 1988 | NHB Act, 1987 | Housing finance | 33,369 |
A few points the exam likes:
- NABARD took over the RBI's agricultural credit functions on the advice of the CRAFICARD committee (chaired by B. Sivaraman). It is the largest AIFI, with about half their combined assets, and it supervises RRBs, StCBs and DCCBs. It is wholly owned by the government.
- NHB regulated housing finance companies until 2019, when the Finance Act moved that power to the RBI. NHB still supervises them and refinances housing loans. It became wholly government-owned in 2019, when the RBI sold its stake.
- SIDBI is owned by the government (20.85%), SBI (15.65%), LIC (13.33%), NABARD (9.36%) and other public institutions. It set up MUDRA and CGTMSE.
- NaBFID is the newest, created in 2021 to fund long-term infrastructure, a gap left when the old DFIs (ICICI in 2002, IDBI in 2004) became banks.
The consolidated balance sheet of the five AIFIs was ₹19.73 lakh crore at end-March 2025, up 10.1%. That is under a tenth of the commercial banks' ₹312 lakh crore.
Who holds the money: market shares
The best source for bank-group shares is Table IV.1 of the Trend and Progress report, built from banks' annual accounts. At end-March 2025 (the latest full year; the 2025-26 report is due in December 2026), scheduled commercial banks excluding RRBs had deposits of ₹241.5 lakh crore and loans of ₹191.2 lakh crore.
| Bank group | Deposits (₹ lakh crore) | Share | Advances (₹ lakh crore) | Share | Balance sheet share |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSBs | 141.96 | 58.8% | 107.50 | 56.2% | 54.9% |
| Private banks | 85.02 | 35.2% | 74.77 | 39.1% | 37.1% |
| Foreign banks | 11.08 | 4.6% | 6.20 | 3.2% | 6.6% |
| SFBs | 3.15 | 1.3% | 2.72 | 1.4% | 1.3% |
| Payments banks | 0.25 | 0.1% | 0 | 0% | 0.1% |
| All SCBs (ex-RRBs) | 241.47 | 100% | 191.20 | 100% | 100% |
Worked example: market share. PSB deposits were ₹1,41,96,270 crore out of ₹2,41,47,183 crore. Share = 1,41,96,270 ÷ 2,41,47,183 × 100 = 58.8%. Doing the same for advances: 1,07,50,234 ÷ 1,91,19,608 × 100 = 56.2%.
Three things stand out:
- PSBs are larger in deposits than in loans; private banks the reverse. Private banks hold 35.2% of deposits but 39.1% of loans. PSBs keep more of their deposits in government securities.
- Foreign banks are bigger than their deposits suggest. They hold 6.6% of the balance sheet but only 3.2% of loans, because much of their business is treasury, derivatives and borrowing; they account for over half the off-balance-sheet exposure of all banks.
- The differentiated banks are still small. SFBs had 1.3% of deposits at end-March 2025; the BSR data put their share of credit at 1.6% in March 2026, up from 1.0% in March 2021.
Worked example: credit-deposit (CD) ratios. CD ratio = advances ÷ deposits × 100.
- PSBs: 107.50 ÷ 141.96 = 75.7%
- Private banks: 74.77 ÷ 85.02 = 87.9%
- Foreign banks: 6.20 ÷ 11.08 = 55.9%
- SFBs: 2.72 ÷ 3.15 = 86.4%
- All SCBs: 191.20 ÷ 241.47 = 79.2%, the figure the RBI reports for end-March 2025.
Worked example: who won the new deposits? Deposits of all SCBs rose from ₹217.42 lakh crore to ₹241.47 lakh crore in 2024-25, an increase of ₹24.05 lakh crore. PSB deposits rose from ₹129.05 lakh crore to ₹141.96 lakh crore, an increase of ₹12.91 lakh crore. So PSBs took 12.91 ÷ 24.05 = 53.7% of the new deposits, below their 58.8% share of the stock. Private banks took 9.41 ÷ 24.05 = 39.1%, above their 35.2% share. That is how the private banks' share has crept up year after year. In 2025-26 the BSR data put the PSBs' share of new deposits at 50.8% and the private banks' at 38.6%.
Where the branches are
The RBI sorts branches into four population groups by the 2011 Census population of the centre:
| Group | Population of centre |
|---|---|
| Rural | below 10,000 |
| Semi-urban | 10,000 to below 1 lakh |
| Urban | 1 lakh to below 10 lakh |
| Metropolitan | 10 lakh and above |
At end-March 2025 there were 1.64 lakh domestic branches of scheduled commercial banks, up 2.8% in a year. The RBI's appendix table gives the population-group split for the three main groups:
| Group | Rural | Semi-urban | Urban | Metro | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSBs | 29,648 (34.3%) | 24,186 (27.9%) | 16,403 (19.0%) | 16,298 (18.8%) | 86,535 |
| Private banks | 9,342 (19.8%) | 14,608 (30.9%) | 10,341 (21.9%) | 12,984 (27.5%) | 47,275 |
| Foreign banks | 126 (16.3%) | 141 (18.2%) | 160 (20.7%) | 347 (44.8%) | 774 |
| Total | 39,116 (29.1%) | 38,935 (28.9%) | 26,904 (20.0%) | 29,629 (22.0%) | 1,34,584 |
Worked example. PSBs have 86,535 of the 1,34,584 branches in this table: 86,535 ÷ 1,34,584 = 64.3%. Of their own branches, 29,648 ÷ 86,535 = 34.3% are rural, against 9,342 ÷ 47,275 = 19.8% for private banks.
Two contrasts matter:
- PSBs are the rural network. Over a third of their branches are rural; 67.3% of the branches they opened in 2024-25 were in rural and semi-urban centres, against 37.5% for private banks. Over 96% of PMJDY accounts are with PSBs and RRBs. Add the RRBs' 22,158 branches, nine in ten of them rural or semi-urban, and the public sector carries most of rural banking.
- Branches are spread out; credit is not. Metropolitan branches are about a fifth of the branch network but book 58.2% of all credit (March 2026). Rural branches are close to three-tenths of the network but book only 9.4%.
The RBI's latest financial inclusion data (MPFI return, December 2025) count 1,70,189 bank branches, of which 57,319 (34%) are in villages, plus about 11.75 lakh fixed-point business correspondent outlets.
How the structure evolved
1955: SBI. The Imperial Bank of India became the State Bank of India on 1 July 1955, the first big step towards state ownership.
1969: the first nationalisation. On 19 July 1969 the government nationalised the 14 largest private banks, each with deposits of ₹50 crore or more. The aim was to push credit to agriculture, small industry and rural areas, and to stop banks lending mainly to the business houses that owned them. Branch expansion into villages followed.
1975-76: RRBs. Regional rural banks were created by ordinance in 1975 and by the RRB Act in 1976, to combine the local feel of a co-operative with the resources of a commercial bank.
1980: the second nationalisation. On 15 April 1980 six more banks with deposits of ₹200 crore or more were nationalised, taking the number of nationalised banks to 20. New Bank of India's merger into PNB in 1993 brought it to 19.
1982-1990: the DFIs. NABARD and EXIM Bank (1982), NHB (1988) and SIDBI (1990) were set up to finance particular sectors.
1993: new private banks. After the Narasimham Committee (1991), RBI guidelines of January 1993 allowed new private banks. Ten were licensed in 1993-94, including HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, UTI Bank (now Axis Bank) and IndusInd Bank. Kotak Mahindra and Yes Bank followed under 2001 guidelines; IDFC Bank and Bandhan Bank got in-principle approval in 2014.
1990s-2000s: local area banks and DFI conversions. Local area banks were licensed in the late 1990s. ICICI (2002) and IDBI (2004) turned from DFIs into banks.
2013-2016: foreign subsidiaries and differentiated banks. The WOS framework for foreign banks came in November 2013. The SFB and payments bank guidelines came on 27 November 2014; in-principle approvals went to 11 payments banks in August 2015 and 10 SFBs in September 2015. On-tap licensing of universal banks began in August 2016 and of SFBs in December 2019.
2017-2020: PSB consolidation. SBI's associates merged into it (2017), Vijaya and Dena merged into Bank of Baroda (2019), and ten banks became four (2020). The count of PSBs fell from 27 to 12.
2025-26: RRBs and foreign control. The fourth round of RRB mergers took them from 43 to 28 (1 May 2025). AU SFB won in-principle approval to become a universal bank (August 2025), and Fino Payments Bank to become an SFB (December 2025). SMBC moved towards a subsidiary (January 2026), and Emirates NBD took control of RBL Bank (June 2026).
The 2026 snapshot
| Licensed and insured banks, 31 March 2026 | 1,950 |
| Commercial banks | 124: 12 PSBs, 21 private, 44 foreign, 11 SFBs, 6 PBs, 28 RRBs, 2 LABs |
| Co-operative banks | 1,826: 1,440 UCBs, 34 StCBs, 352 DCCBs |
| AIFIs regulated by the RBI | 5: NABARD, SIDBI, EXIM Bank, NHB, NaBFID |
| Deposit growth, March 2026 | 11.5% (BSR-2) |
| Credit growth, March 2026 | 14.1% (BSR-1) |
| PSB / private share of new deposits, 2025-26 | 50.8% / 38.6% |
| Credit booked in metro branches | 58.2% |
| Gross NPA ratio, March 2026 | 1.8% |
| CRAR, March 2026 | 17.7% |
| D-SIBs | SBI, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank |
Asset quality and capital are covered in Part 15 and Part 25.
Common exam traps
Scheduled is not the same as commercial. Some co-operative banks are scheduled too; and some commercial banks (two payments banks and both LABs) are not.
IDBI Bank is a private sector bank. It has been since January 2019, despite majority public ownership.
There are 12 PSBs, not 12 nationalised banks. SBI is a PSB but not a "nationalised bank"; it was created by its own Act in 1955. The other 11 are nationalised banks.
PACS are not banks. They are credit societies outside the Banking Regulation Act; their deposits are not covered by DICGC.
NABARD supervises, the RBI regulates. For RRBs, StCBs and DCCBs, the RBI sets the rules and NABARD inspects.
RRB count: 28, not 43. The number has been 28 since 1 May 2025. Questions based on older books will still say 43.
Payments banks take deposits but cannot lend. SFBs can lend.
Key facts at a glance
| Scheduled bank | Listed in the Second Schedule of the RBI Act, 1934 (Section 42(6)) |
| Commercial banks, March 2025 | 139: 135 scheduled, 4 non-scheduled |
| Commercial banks, March 2026 | 124 (RRBs down from 43 to 28) |
| Non-scheduled commercial banks | Jio and NSDL Payments Banks; Coastal and Krishna Bhima Samruddhi LABs |
| PSBs | 12 since 1 April 2020 |
| Nationalisation | 14 banks on 19 July 1969; 6 on 15 April 1980 |
| New private banks | RBI guidelines January 1993 |
| SFB and PB guidelines | 27 November 2014 |
| Foreign bank WOS framework | 6 November 2013; near-national treatment |
| Foreign banks in WOS mode (Mar 2025) | DBS Bank India, SBM Bank (India) |
| RRB ownership | Centre 50%, sponsor bank 35%, state 15% |
| PSB share, March 2025 | 58.8% of deposits, 56.2% of advances |
| Private bank share, March 2025 | 35.2% of deposits, 39.1% of advances |
| Branches of SCBs, March 2025 | 1.64 lakh |
| Population groups | Rural < 10,000; semi-urban < 1 lakh; urban < 10 lakh; metro ≥ 10 lakh |
| AIFIs | NABARD, SIDBI, EXIM Bank, NHB, NaBFID; disbursed ₹8.84 lakh crore in 2024-25 |
Exam corner: what to remember
- 1,950 insured banks on 31 March 2026: 124 commercial and 1,826 co-operative.
- Commercial banks: 12 PSBs, 21 private, 44 foreign, 11 SFBs, 6 payments banks, 28 RRBs, 2 LABs.
- Scheduled = in the Second Schedule of the RBI Act; the test in Section 42(6) is capital and reserves of at least ₹5 lakh and sound conduct.
- PSBs hold 58.8% of deposits and 56.2% of loans (March 2025); private banks 35.2% and 39.1%.
- PSBs have 34% of their branches in rural areas; private banks 20%. Metro branches book 58.2% of credit (March 2026).
- 1969 (14 banks, ₹50 crore), 1980 (6 banks, ₹200 crore), 1993 (new private banks), 2014 (differentiated banks), 2020 (10 into 4), 2025 (RRBs 43 to 28).
- Foreign banks: branch or WOS; WOS gets near-national treatment; minimum capital ₹500 crore.
- RBL Bank becomes a foreign bank in subsidiary mode after Emirates NBD's 60% stake (June 2026); SMBC has in-principle approval for a WOS (January 2026).
- AIFIs: NABARD (1982), EXIM (1982), NHB (1988), SIDBI (1990), NaBFID (2021).
For exam-specific syllabus and pattern details, see our pages for RBI Grade B, SBI PO and IBPS PO.
Test yourself
A bank is called a "scheduled bank" because it is included in:
Show answer
Answer: (b) Inclusion is under Section 42(6) of the RBI Act, and the list is its Second Schedule.
Which of these was a non-scheduled commercial bank at end-March 2025?
Show answer
Answer: (c) NSDL and Jio Payments Banks, and the two local area banks, were the four non-scheduled commercial banks.
How many banks were nationalised on 19 July 1969?
Show answer
Answer: (c) Fourteen banks with deposits of ₹50 crore or more; six more followed on 15 April 1980.
In June 2026, which foreign bank completed the acquisition of a 60% stake in RBL Bank?
Show answer
Answer: (c) Emirates NBD invested about ₹26,000 crore; RBL Bank is to be classified as a foreign bank in subsidiary mode.
In January 2026 the RBI gave in-principle approval for which foreign bank to convert its Indian branches into a wholly owned subsidiary?
Show answer
Answer: (a) SMBC of Japan, which runs four branches in New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Bengaluru.
At end-March 2025, PSBs had deposits of ₹141.96 lakh crore and advances of ₹107.50 lakh crore. Their credit-deposit ratio was about:
Show answer
Answer: (b) 107.50 ÷ 141.96 × 100 = 75.7%; 79.2% is the ratio for all SCBs.
A bank group's deposits rose from ₹75.61 lakh crore to ₹85.02 lakh crore in a year in which total deposits rose from ₹217.42 lakh crore to ₹241.47 lakh crore. What share of the increase in deposits did it capture?
Show answer
Answer: (c) (85.02 − 75.61) ÷ (241.47 − 217.42) = 9.41 ÷ 24.05 = 39.1%. These are the private banks' figures for 2024-25.
Under the RBI's population-group classification, a branch in a centre with a population of 60,000 (Census 2011) is:
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Answer: (b) Semi-urban covers 10,000 to below 1 lakh.
Which of these is NOT one of the all-India financial institutions regulated by the RBI?
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Answer: (d) The five AIFIs are NABARD, SIDBI, EXIM Bank, NHB and NaBFID.
The share of a regional rural bank's capital held by its sponsor bank is:
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Answer: (c) The Centre holds 50%, the sponsor bank 35% and the state government 15%.
Further reading
- Report on Trend and Progress of Banking in India 2024-25, Chapter IV: Commercial Banks: the RBI's annual account of every bank group, with the balance-sheet table used for market shares here.
- Trend and Progress 2024-25, Appendix Table IV.12: Branches and ATMs of Scheduled Commercial Banks: bank-by-bank branch counts by population group.
- Trend and Progress 2024-25, Chapter V: Co-operative Banks: the structure of urban and rural co-operatives, PACS and long-term co-operatives.
- Trend and Progress 2024-25, Chapter VI: Non-Banking Financial Institutions: the five AIFIs, their sanctions and disbursements.
- RBI press release on the annual BSR-1 on credit, March 2026: credit by population group, borrower and bank group.
- RBI framework for wholly owned subsidiaries of foreign banks (6 November 2013): why the RBI prefers foreign banks to operate as Indian subsidiaries.
- RBI Annual Report 2025-26, Chapter VI: the count of insured banks on 31 March 2026 and the list of AIFIs.
Sources
- RBI, Trend and Progress of Banking in India 2024-25, Chapter IV: counts of commercial banks by group at end-March 2025; 135 scheduled and 4 non-scheduled and their names; Table IV.1 deposits, advances and balance sheets by bank group; balance-sheet shares of 54.9% and 37.1%; CD ratio of 79.2%; foreign banks in branch and WOS mode (Table IV.22); DBS and SBM as WOS; 1.64 lakh branches; new branches by PSBs and PVBs in rural and semi-urban centres; PMJDY share of PSBs and RRBs; RRB branches, the 92% rural and semi-urban share and the merger to 28 from 1 May 2025; RRBs 196 in 2004-05 and 43 in 2020-21; LAB branches and deposits; Fincare–AU SFB merger; DICGC Table IV.27 (accessed 24 October 2026)
- RBI, Trend and Progress 2024-25, Appendix Table IV.12: branches by population group for PSBs, private and foreign banks at end-March 2025; list of 12 PSBs, 21 private banks and 44 foreign banks; SBI's 22,925 branches; population-group definitions (accessed 24 October 2026)
- RBI, Trend and Progress 2024-25, Chapter V: co-operative structure; UCBs 1,926 in 2004 and 1,457 in 2025; 34 StCBs, 351 DCCBs and their branches; 1,07,641 PACS; 13 SCARDBs and 609 PCARDBs; PACS and ARDBs outside the BR Act; NABARD supervision; sector assets of ₹24.5 lakh crore (accessed 24 October 2026)
- RBI, Trend and Progress 2024-25, Chapter VI: the five AIFIs, their mandates, financial assistance in 2024-25 and consolidated balance sheet of ₹19,73,083 crore (accessed 24 October 2026)
- RBI press release on Trend and Progress 2024-25, 29 December 2025: release date and headline indicators (accessed 24 October 2026)
- RBI Annual Report 2025-26, Chapter VI: 1,950 insured banks on 31 March 2026 and their split; the AIFIs regulated by the RBI (accessed 24 October 2026)
- RBI Annual Report 2025-26, Chapter IV: MPFI data for December 2025, 1,70,189 branches, 57,319 in villages, fixed-point BC outlets (accessed 24 October 2026)
- RBI press release on annual BSR-1, 29 May 2026: credit growth of 14.1%; credit by population group; SFB share of credit (accessed 24 October 2026)
- RBI press release on annual BSR-2, 29 May 2026: deposit growth of 11.5%; PSB and private shares of incremental deposits; RRB share of 2.9% (accessed 24 October 2026)
- RBI press release, 6 November 2013: WOS framework, near-national treatment, ₹500 crore capital, board rules, 20% limit, August 2010 cut-off (accessed 24 October 2026)
- RBI press release, 14 January 2026: in-principle approval to SMBC for a WOS (accessed 24 October 2026)
- Outlook Business, April 2026: RBI approval of 1 April 2026 for Emirates NBD to hold up to 74% of RBL Bank, classification as a foreign bank in subsidiary mode, 26% voting cap (accessed 24 October 2026)
- Business Today, 17 October 2026: amalgamation of Emirates NBD's three branches into RBL Bank from 1 December 2026 under Section 44A; completion of the 60% acquisition on 18 June 2026 (accessed 24 October 2026)
- Outlook Business, 8 February 2026: High Level Committee on Banking for Viksit Bharat proposed in the Budget of 1 February 2026 (accessed 24 October 2026)
- EXIM Bank, About us: EXIM Bank Act of 1981 and start of operations in March 1982 (accessed 24 October 2026)
- SIDBI, About: set up on 2 April 1990; shareholding of the government, SBI, LIC and NABARD (accessed 24 October 2026)