India's top 10 banks

For the past few months banks all over the Western world and a few in Asia too have been in the news for all the wrong reasons.

Zombie banks, bank bailout, bank merger -- are some of the phrases that are doing the rounds to describe these banks, many of whom have gone belly up.

Worldwide, governments have used taxpayers' money to bail out banks. The story is no different in India.

However, thanks to minimal exposure to the American housing market and the regulated regime under which they have to operate, Indian banks have been largely insulated from the financial crisis that is wreaking havoc.

In a recent survey conducted by rediff.com, we had asked readers to name the best banks operating in India: the response was overwhelming.

We were inundated with readers' replies as they ranked India's best banks based on the banks' services, customer-experience, perception, etc.

State Bank of India

Starting its journey as the Bank of Calcutta on June 2, 1806, the State Bank of India today offers the largest banking network in the country.

SBI boasts of over 10,000 branches and 8500 ATMs, and has 82 offices in 32 countries across the globe.

SBI is also the only Indian bank to feature in the Fortune 500 list.

The bank's net profit for Q3FY09 stood at Rs 2,478 crore (Rs 24.78 billion), up by 37.03 per cent from Rs 1,809 crore (Rs 18.09 billion) in Q3FY08.

HDFC Bank

The Housing Development Finance Corporation Limited was amongst the first to receive an 'in principle' approval from the Reserve Bank of India to set up a bank in the private sector, as part of the RBI's liberalisation of the Indian Banking Industry in 1994.

The bank was incorporated in August 1994 as HDFC Bank Limited, with its registered office in Mumbai.

HDFC Bank commenced operations as a Scheduled Commercial Bank in January 1995.

It reported 44.8 per cent rise in Q3 net profit for the quarter ended December 31, 2008 at Rs 621.74 crore (Rs 6.22 billion).

ICICI Bank

ICICI Bank was originally promoted in 1994 by ICICI Limited, an Indian financial institution, and was its wholly-owned subsidiary.

In October 2001, boards of both the entities approved the merger of ICICI and two of its wholly-owned retail finance subsidiaries, ICICI Personal Financial Services Limited and ICICI Capital Services Limited, with ICICI Bank.

The merger got the final nod in April 2002.

ICICI Bank, the second largest bank in India had total assets of Rs 37,4,410 crore ($77 billion) on December 31, 2008 and its profit after tax was Rs 3,014 crore (Rs 30.14 billion) for the nine months ended December 31, 2008.

It has a network of 1,419 branches and about 4,644 ATMs and is present in countries like United Kingdom, Russia, Canada, United States, Singapore, Bahrain, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka, Qatar, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, China, South Africa, Bangladesh, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Belgium and Germany.

Punjab National Bank

Established in 1895 at Lahore (then undivided India), Punjab National Bank was nationalised in July 1969.

Today, with assets of more than Rs 199,000 crore (Rs 1,990 billion), PNB is the third largest bank in India after SBI and ICICI Bank and has 4589 branches.

PNB's standalone Q3 net profit was up 85.61 per cent at Rs 1,005.8 crore (Rs 10.06 billion).

Bank of Baroda

Known as 'India's International Bank', it has been a long and eventful journey for BoB.

Present across 25 countries, Bank of Baroda started its journey in 1908 from a small building in Baroda.

In 1995, the bank underwent a rebranding exercise and started sporting a new logo -- dual letter 'B' holding the rays of the rising sun.

The founder, Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad, started the bank with a paid up capital of Rs 10 lakh (Rs 1 million).

Today BoB boasts of 2956 branches (including those outside India), and has a staff strength of 38,063.

It first tapped the equity market in December 1996 and the second IPO -- of 71 million equity shares -- was in January 2006. Today out of the total equity capital of Rs 365.53 crore (Rs 3.66 billion), public shareholding is at 46.19 per cent.

Its standalone net profit for the third quarter ended December 31 rose by 41.37 per cent to Rs 708.37 crore (Rs 7.08 billion).

Canara Bank

Founded as Canara Bank Hindu Permanent Fund in 1906, by Ammembal Subba Rao Pai, a philanthropist, and nationalised in 1969, the bank was the first to be conferred with ISO 9002 certification for one of its branches in Bangalore.

Canara Bank or CanBank has 2710 branches and over 2000 ATMs.

It reported a 52.89 per cent growth in net profit to Rs 701.50 crore (Rs 7.01 billion) in the third quarter ended December 31, 2008.

Bank of India

Bank of India was founded on September 7, 1906 by a group of eminent businessmen from Mumbai.

The bank was under private ownership and control till July 1969 when it was nationalised.

Beginning with one office in Mumbai, with a paid-up capital of Rs 50 lakh (Rs 5 million) and 50 employees, BoI today boasts of 2884 branches in India.

It was the first Indian bank to open an overseas branch (at London, in 1946).

BoI has 27 oversaes branches including those at London, New York, Paris, Tokyo, Hong-Kong and Singapore.

Axis Bank

In July 2007, UTI Bank re-branded itself as Axis Bank. Today, the bank is capitalised to the extent of Rs 358.97 crores (Rs 3.59 billion) with the public holding (other than promoters) at 57.59 per cent.

The bank has a very wide network of more than 729 branch offices and extension counters and has a network of over 3171 ATMs.

The bank was set up with a capital of Rs 115 crore (Rs 1.15 billion), with earstwhile financial major Unit Trust of India contributing Rs 100 crore (Rs 1 billion), Life insurance Corporation - Rs 7.5 crore (Rs 75 million) and General Insurance corporation and its four subsidiaries contributing Rs 1.5 crore (Rs 15 million) each.

Axis Bank reported a 63.24 per cent surge in net profit at Rs 500.86 crore (Rs 5.01 billion) for the third quarter ended 31 December, 2008.

Corporation Bank

Started about 102 years ago in 1906, with an initial capital of just Rs 5000, Corporation Bank has already surpassed the land mark of Rs 1 lakh crore (Rs 1 trillion) in business, with over 2000 service outlets across the nation.

In 1997, it became the Second Public Sector Bank in the country to enter the capital market, the IPO of which was over- subscribed by 13 times.

Mangalore-headquartered Corporation Bank reported a 34.3 per cent jump in its net profit to Rs 256.4 crore (Rs 2.56 billion) for the third quarter ended December 31, 2008.

HSBC Bank

The history of the HSBC Group in India can be traced back to October 1853 when the Mercantile Bank of India, London and China was founded in Bombay (now Mumbai).

Starting with an authorised capital of Rs 50 lakh (Rs 5 million), the Mercantile Bank opened offices in London, Madras(Chennai), Colombo and Kandy, followed by Calcutta(Kolkata), Singapore, Hong Kong, Canton(Guangchow) and Shanghai by 1855.

In 1959 the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation acquired the Mercantile Bank and this led to the foundation of today's HSBC Group.

HSBC gave India its first ATM way back in 1987.