Social Banking in Public Sector Commercial Banks - A Case Study of SBH

Public Sector Banks (PSBs) are the banks where a majority stake (i.e. more than 50%) is held by the Government. The Government of India entered the Banking Business for implementing the Social Agenda of extending the geographical reach and functional spread of financial services to the hitherto neglected sectors like agriculture and to the rural poor, with the nationalization of the Imperial Bank of India in 1955, renamed as State Bank of India, the seven other State Banks nationalized on 19th July 1960 (now subsidiaries of SBI), 14 major banks in 1969 and six more banks in April 1980. Social Banking was the term coined by Prof. D.R. Gadgil, Chairman, Committee for Organisational Framework for implementation of Social Objectives (1968). Social Banking comprises Priority Sector Lending and Branch Expansion in the rural and semi-urban areas. Later, Financial Inclusion became a component of the Social Banking in the year 2008 (Report of Committee on Financial Inclusion was submitted in the year 2008). The Study is undertaken to gain an insight into the Social Banking activities implemented by the Public Sector Commercial Banks in general and State Bank of Hyderabad in particular.