Happy Birthday……. Bank of India (BoI)

Today in 1906 (7 September) Bank of India incorporated. Bank of India (BoI) is an Indian state-owned commercial bank with headquarters in Mumbai, Maharashtra. Government-owned since nationalisation in 1969, It is India's 4th largest PSU bank, after State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank and Bank of Baroda. It has 4322 branches as on 8 August,2013, including 54 branches outside India.

It was the first in India that a bank promoted by Indian interests to serve all the communities of India. At the time, banks in India were either owned by Europeans and served mainly the interests of the European merchant houses, or by different communities and served the banking needs of their own community. The promoters incorporated the Bank of India on 7 September 1906 under Act VI of 1882, with an authorised capital of Rs. 10 million divided into 100,000 shares each of Rs. 100. The promoters placed 55,000 shares privately, and issued 45,000 to the public by way of IPO on 3 October 1906; the bank commenced operations on 1 November 1906.

The lead promoter of the Bank of India was Sir Sassoon J. David (1849–1926). He was a member of the Sassoons, who in turn were part of a Bombay community of Baghdadi Jews, which was notable for its history of social service. Sir David was a prudent banker and remained the chief executive of the bank from its founding in 1906 until his death in 1926. The first board of directors of the bank consisted of Sir Sassoon David, Sir Cowasjee Jehangir, J. Cowasjee Jehangir, Sir Frederick Leigh Croft, Ratanjee Dadabhoy Tata, Gordhandas Khattau, Lalubhai Samaldas, Khetsety Khiasey, Ramnarain Hurnundrai, Jenarrayen Hindoomull Dani, Noordin Ebrahim Noordin.

BoI is a founder member of SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Inter Bank Financial Telecommunications), which facilitates provision of cost-effective financial processing and communication services. The Bank completed its first one hundred years of operations on 7 September 2006.

Present CMD is Vijayalakshmi R Iyer .

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