State Bank of Hyderabad (SBH) was a regional bank in Hyderabad, with headquarters at Gunfoundry, Abids, Hyderabad, Telangana. Founded by the 7th Nizam of Hyderabad State, Mir Osman Ali Khan, it is now one of the five associate banks of State Bank of India (SBI) and was one of the nationalised banks in India. It was established on 8 February 1941 as the Hyderabad State Bank.[1] From 1956 until 31 March 2017, it had been an associate bank of the SBI, the largest such. After formation of Telangana in 2014, SBH was the lead bank of the newly created state. The State Bank of Hyderabad was merged with State Bank of India on 1 April 2017.
SBH had over 2,000 branches and about 18,000 employees. The bank's business had crossed Rs. 2.4 trillion as on 31.12.2015 with a net profit of Rs. 8.12 billion.
SBH Head Office at Gunfoundry
The bank had performed well in the decades before merger, winning several awards for its banking practices.[2]Arundhati Bhattacharya was the chairman and Mani Palvesan the managing director at the time of merger.
The bank was the central bank of the erstwhile Nizam state under the name Hyderabad State Bank. It was established on 8 August 1941 under the Hyderabad State Bank Act, during the reign of the last Nizam of Hyderabad, Mir Osman Ali Khan. Fifty-one per cent of the bank's share capital was held by the Government of Hyderabad and the rest by private shareholders.[4]The bank managed the Osmania Sicca, the currency of Hyderabad state, which covered the present-day Telangana, some districts later known as Hyderabad-Karnataka of Karnataka and Marathwada of Maharashtra. The bank also carried out commercial banking. The bank opened its first branch at Gunfoundry, Hyderabad on 5 April 1942. The Imperial Bank of India, which had established a branch in Hyderabad in 1868 and another in Secunderabad in 1906, provided officers and clerical staff in the initial stages, and later provided training for new recruits. The first secretary of Hyderabad State Bank was Muhammad Saleh Akbar Hydari, son of Sir Akbar Hydari. The first branch of the bank was setup at Gunfoundry on 5 April 1942.[5] The building housing the branch was designed by Mohammed Fayazuddin, an alumnus of Architectural Association School of Architecture, London.[6]
Inauguration of new building of Hyderabad State Bank by Rajendra Prasad, the first president of India
By 1950 when Hyderabad State became a part of India, the bank had around 50 branches spread over various parts of the then Hyderabad State i.e. present day Telengana, parts of Maharashtra and Karnataka.[7]
In 1953, the bank absorbed, by merger, the Mercantile Bank of Hyderabad, which Raja Pannalal Pitti had founded in 1935.[8] (Some accounts give the year of founding as 1946 and that of merger as 1952). In the same year, the Bank started conducting government and Treasury business as agent for the Reserve Bank of India.
The interiors of SBH Head Office at Gunfoundry in 1955
In 1956, under The State Bank Of Hyderabad Act, 1956 share capital of the Hyderabad State Bank was transferred to the Reserve Bank of India. The Reserve Bank of India took over the bank as its first subsidiary and it was renamed as State Bank of Hyderabad. That same year saw the break-up of Hyderabad State. Aurangabad, Beed, Parbhani, Nanded and Osmanabad merged with Maharashtra state. Kalaburagi, Bidar, Raichur, and parts of Osmanabad were merged with Karnataka. The remaining districts formed part of Andhra Pradesh, until the formation in 2015–16 of the state of Telangana. After the trifurcation, the branches of Hyderabad State Bank continued to conduct government transactions in their new states as well.
SBH Head Office at Gunfoundry post merger with SBI
The Subsidiary Banks Act was passed in 1959. On 1 October 1959, SBH and the other banks of the princely states became subsidiaries of SBI.
^Avinandan Mukherjee and Prithwiraj Nath. 2005. "An empirical assessment of comparative approaches to service quality measurement", Journal of Services Marketing 19 (3), 174-184.
^Pagdi, Raghavendra Rao (1987) Short History of Banking in Hyderabad District, 1879-1950. In M. Radhakrishna Sarma, K.D. Abhyankar, and V.G. Bilolikar, eds. History of Hyderabad District, 1879-1950AD (Yugabda 4981-5052). (Hyderabad : Bharatiya Itihasa Sankalana Samiti), Vol. 2, pp.85-87.
