an in in ndia      12.11
         (iii) The planned development of the economy      nationalised banks came down to 19. Today, there
                required a certain degree of government    are 27 public sector banks in India out of which
                control on the capital generated by the    19 are nationalised (though none of the so-called
                economy. Nationalisation of banks in       nationalised banks have 100 per cent ownership of
                India took place in the following stages:  the Government of India).
                                                                After the nationalisation of banks the
     emergence of the sbi                                  government stopped opening of banks in the
     The Government of India, with the enactment           private sector though some foreign private banks
     of the SBI Act, 1955 partially nationalised the       were allowed to operate in the country to provide
     three Imperial Banks (mainly operating in the         the external currency loans. After India ushered in
     three past Presidencies with their 466 branches)      the era of the economic reforms, the government
     and named them the State Bank of India—the            started a comprehensive banking system reform
     first public sector bank emerged in India. The RBI    in the fiscal 1992–93. Three related developments
     had purchased 92 per cent of the shares in this       allowed the further expansion of banking industry
     partial nationalisation.                              in the country:
           Satisfied with the experiment, the government        (i) In 1993 the SBI was allowed access to the
     in a related move partially nationalised eight                  capital market with permission given to
     more private banks (with good regional presence)                sell its share to the tune of 33 per cent
     via the SBI (Associates) Act, 1959 and named them               through SBI (Amendment) Act, 1993.
     as the Associates of the SBI—the RBI had acquired                  At present the Government of India
     92 per cent stake in them as well. After merging                has 59.73 per cent shares in the SBI. (It
     the State Bank of Bikaner and the State Bank of                 was on 9 July, 2007 that the entire equity
     Jaipur as well, the RBI came up with the state                  stake of the RBI was taken over by the
     Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur. Now the SBI Group                   Government of India. Thus, the RBI is no
     has a total number of six banks—SBI being one                   more the holding bank of the SBI and its
     and five of its associates.                                     Associates.)
                                                                        On 10 October, 2007 the government
     emergence of nAtionAliseD bAnks                                 announced its proposal of selling the
     After successful experimentation in the partial                 shares of the SBI and cutting down its
     nationalisations the government decided to go                   stake in it to 53 per cent level so that the
     for complete nationalisation. With the help                     bank can go for capitalisation.
     of the Banking Nationalisation Act, 1969, the             (ii) In 1994 the government allowed the
     government nationalised a total number of 20                    nationalised banks to have access to the
     private banks:                                                  capital market with a ceiling of 33 per
           (i) 14 banks with deposits were more than                 cent sale of shares through the Banking
                Rs. 50 crore of nationalised in July 1969,           Companies (Amendment) Act, 1994.
                and                                                     Since then many nationalised banks
          (ii) 6 banks with deposits were more than Rs.              have tapped the capital market for their
                200 crore of nationalised in April 1980.             capital enhancement—Indian Overseas
           After the merger of the loss-making New                   Bank being the first in the row. Though
     Bank of India with the Punjab National Bank                     such banks could be better called the
     (PNB) in September 1993, the total number of                    public sector banks (as the Government