Central Bank of India is one of the oldest commercial banks of India, and reportedly is the first truly Indian bank which was totally owned and established by Indian without any foreign help.

Sir Sorabji Pockhanawala was the founder of the bank, who had always dreamt of establishing a thoroughly Indian bank, who was so happy and excited about the project that he reportedly termed the Central Bank of India as “property of the nation and the country’s asset”. The first Chairman of the bank was Sir Pherozesha Mehta, a yet another Indian enthusiast. In the year 1969 the bank was nationalized by the Government of India.

Key Attributes
Central Bank of India claims to be the first bank to be conferred with the National Award for Excellence in Micro and Small Enterprises (MSE) Lending for the year 2007-08.

The bank entered a partnership with Kotak Mahindra Assets Management Company in December 2008, under which all the Kotak Mutual Fund products will be made available through Central Bank of India branches. 

 

Products and Services
Central Bank of India offers a host of banking services to its customers including Regular Banking Services such as Deposits and Loans, International Banking Services, and other services including Centralcard Electronic Cards, Debit Cards, No-Frills Savings Deposit Account under the name Cent Bachat Khata, and Finance options for domestic and international tours under the name Cent Safar.

Presence in India
Central Bank of India has a strong presence in the country with over 3000 branches and more than 250 extension counters nationwide as of April 2009. The headquarters of the bank are located in Mumbai, the financial capital of India, along with 16 other zonal offices established in different cities of the nation, including Agra, Ahmedabad, Bhopal, Chandigarh, Chennai, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai Metro Zonal Office, Muzaffarpur, Nagpur, New Delhi, Patna, Pune and Raipur.