1.2 Nationalized Banks in India: Axis Bank

ted foreign exchange exposure.
1.2 NATIONALIZED BANKS IN INDIA

Banking System in India is dominated by nationalized banks. The nationalization of banks in
India took place in 1969 by Mrs. Indira Gandhi the then prime minister. The major objective
behind nationalization was to spread banking infrastructure in rural areas and make available
cheap finance to Indian farmers. Fourteen banks were nationalized in 1969.
Before 1969, State of India (SBI) was only public sector bank in India. SBI was nationalized
in 1955 under the SBI Act of 1955. The second phase of nationalization of Indian banks took
place in the year 1980. Seven more banks were nationalized with deposits over 200 crores
1.3 PRIVATE BANKS
All the banks in India were earlier private banks. They were founded in the pre-independence
era to cater to the banking needs of the people. But after nationalization of banks in 1969
public sector banks came to occupy dominant role in the banking structure. Private sector
banking in India received a fillip in 1994 when Reserve Bank of India encouraged setting up
to private banks as part of its policy of liberalization of the Indian Banking Industry. Housing
Development Finance Corporation Limited (HDFC) was amongst the first to receive an ‘In
principle’ approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to set up a bank in the private
sector.
Private Banks have played a major role in the development of Indian banking industry. They
have made banking more efficient and customer friendly. In the process they have jolted
public sector banks out of complacency and forced them to become more competitive.
COMPANY DESCRIPTION
AXIS BANK
Axis Bank India, the first bank to begin operations as new private banks in 1994 after the
Government of India allowed new private banks to be established. Axis Bank was jointly
promoted by the Administrator of the specified undertaking of the
 Unit Trust of India (UTI)
 Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC)
 General Insurance Corporation Ltd.
Also with associates viz. National Insurance Company Ltd., the New India Assurance
Company, The Oriental Insurance Corporation and United Insurance Company Ltd.
EVOLUTION:
UTI was established in 1964 by an Act of Parliament; neither did the Government of India
own it nor contributes any capital. The RBI was asked to contribute one-half of its initial
capital of Rs 5 crore, and given the mandate of running the UTI in the interest of the unit-
holders. The State Bank of India and the Life Insurance Corporation contributed 15 per cent
of the capital each, and the rest was contributed by scheduled commercial banks which were
not nationalized then. This kind of structure for a unit trust is not found anywhere else in the
world. Again, unlike other unit trusts and mutual funds, the UTI was not created to earn
profits.
In the course of nearly four decades of its existence, it (the UTI) has succeeded phenomenally
in achieving its objective and has the largest share anywhere in the world of the domestic
mutual fund industry. '' The emergence of a "foreign expert" during the setting up of the UTI
makes an interesting story. The announcement by the then Finance Minister that the
Government of India was contemplating the establishment of a unit trust caught the eye of
Mr. George Woods, the then President of the World Bank. Mr. Woods took a great deal of
interest in the Indian financial system, as he was one of the principal architects of the ICICI,
in which his bank, First Boston Corporation Bank, had a sizeable shareholding. Mr. Woods
offered, through Mr. B.K. Nehru, who was India's Executive Director on the World Bank, the
services of an expert. The Centre jumped at the offer, and asked the RBI to hold up the
finalization of the unit trust
Proposals till the expert visited India. The only point Mr. Sullivan made was that the
provision to limit the ownership of units to individuals might result in unnecessarily
restricting the market for units. While making this point, he had in mind the practice in the
US, where small pension funds are an important class of customers for the unit trusts. The
Centre accepted the foreign expert's suggestion, and the necessary amendments were made in
the draft Bill. Thus, began corporate investment in the UTI, which received a boost from the
tax concession given by the government in the 1990-91 Budget. According to this
concession, the dividends received by a company from investments in other companies,
including the UTI, were completely exempt from corporate income tax, and provided the
dividends declared by the investing company were higher than the dividends received.
The result was a phenomenal increase in corporate investment which accounted for 57 per
cent of the total capital under US-64 scheme. Because of high liquidity the corporate sector
used the UTI to park its liquid funds. This added to the volatility of the UTI funds. The
corporate lobby which perhaps subtly opposed the establishment of the UTI in the public
sector made use of it for its own benefits later. The Government-RBI power game started
with the finalization of the UTI charter itself. The RBI draft of the UTI charter stipulated that
the Chairman will be nominated by it, and one more nominee would be on the Board of
Trustees. While finalizing the draft Bill, the Centre changed this stipulation. The Chairman
was to be nominated by the Government, albeit in Consultation with RBI. Although the
appointment was to be made in consultation with the Reserve Bank, the Government could
appoint a person of its choice as Chairman even if the Bank did not approve of him.
Later on in 2002 the UTI was renamed to Axis Bank.
BUSINESS DESCRIPTION
The Bank's principal activities are to provide commercial banking services which include
merchant banking, direct finance, infrastructure finance, venture capital fund, advisory,
trusteeship, forex, treasury and other related financial services.
CORPORATE PROFILE
Axis Bank is the third largest private sector bank in India. Axis Bank offers the entire
spectrum of financial services to customer segments covering Large and Mid Corporates,
SME, Agriculture and Retail Businesses.
The Bank has a large footprint of 1787 domestic branches (including extension counters) and
10,363 ATMs spread across 1,139 centres in the country as on 31st December 2012. The
Bank also has 7 overseas branches / offices in Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Colombo,
Dubai, DIFC - Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
Axis Bank is one of the first new generation private sector banks to have begun operations in
1994. The Bank was promoted in 1993, jointly by Specified Undertaking of Unit Trust of
India (SUUTI) (then known as Unit Trust of India),Life Insurance Corporation of India
(LIC), General Insurance Corporation of India (GIC), National Insurance Company Ltd., The
New India Assurance Company Ltd., The Oriental Insurance Company Ltd. and United India
Insurance Company Ltd. The shareholding of Unit Trust of India was subsequently
transferred to SUUTI, an entity established in 2003.
With a balance sheet size of Rs.2,85,628 crores as on 31st March 2012, Axis Bank is ranked
9th amongst all Indian scheduled banks. Axis Bank has achieved consistent growth and stable
asset quality with a 5 year CAGR (2007-12) of 31% in Total Assets, 30% in Total Deposits,
36% in Total Advances and 45% in Net Profit.
The Corporate Office of Axis Bank is located at Axis House Mumbai. Axis House has
received the ‘Platinum’ rating awarded by the US Green Building Council for its
environment friendly facilities and reduction of carbon emission.
SUBSIDIARIES
The Bank has set up six wholly-owned subsidiaries:
Axis Securities and Sales Ltd.(Since renamed Axis Capital Ltd.)
Axis Private Equity Ltd.
Axis Trustee Services Ltd.
Axis Asset Management Company Ltd.
Axis Mutual Fund Trustee Ltd.
Axis U.K

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1.2 NATIONALIZED BANKS IN INDIA

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