An Overview of Bank of India


Bank of India is a premier and one of the oldest commercial banks in India, with presence all over India as also in all time zones of the world. The Bank has a glorious history dating back to the early years of this century. The Bank was founded in September 1906 and has all along maintained a position of pride among the top 5 commercial banks in the country. In July 1969, Bank of India was nationalized alongwith 13 other large Indian commercial banks. Since then, the Bank has made enormous contribution to India's efforts towards agricultural and rural development, industrial diversification and modernization and export development. Keeping pace with financial sector reforms in India, the bank has ventured into Merchant Banking, Mutual Funds, Housing Finance, Custodial & Depository services, etc. by floating separate subsidiaries for these activities. Today the Bank has over 2400 branches spread all over India and 19 branches/offices overseas - in 10 countries, spanning all time zones. The Bank has a pre-eminent position in both wholesale banking and retail banking in India. Bank of India believes in "Total Package Approach" to meet all the financial and non-financial requirements of its customers and offers advisory services from project formulation stage right upto implementation through its merchant banking subsidiary, BOI Finance Limited. The Bank not only caters to the needs of the domestic entrepreneurs but also assists foreign investors. While the merchant banking subsidiary can assist foreign investors in setting up their projects by drawing up plans, helping in the financial structuring and appraisal of the projects in India, Bank of India can help them to finance the project. At the project implementation stage, apart from equity contribution by the promoters and the possible capital raised from the primary market, a unit may like to finance the project by a reasonable amount of debt. The Bank can also take care of this to ensure that the complete financial requirements of the unit are well structured and implemented, keeping in mind the ever-changing market conditions. Entrepreneurs are not only assisted in establishing their projects, but are also helped in day-to-day operations by providing necessary working capital finance either on its own or through syndication. The Bank also provides guarantees, letters of credit, remittance facilities, supplier's credit, forward cover, advisory services for hedging exchange rate and interest rate risks, trade information reports, bankers' opinion reports on buyers and sellers, industry status reports and prospects, etc.

Poised to become an International Bank

In the new era of economic and financial sector reforms leading to progressive liberalization and globalization of the Indian market, Bank of India is poised to further its position as a market leader and innovator in financial services. The Bank looks at the new competition emerging in the Indian banking and financial sector as an opportunity to improve its customer servicing capability and overall performance. The Bank is pushing ahead with its plans to computerize all its major branches and administrative offices and has also installed ATMs at a few centers. It has retained a reputed management consultancy firm as a consultant for revamping its organizational structure and business strategies as also internal controls and management. Their recommendations are being examined currently for a phased implementation.
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Bank of India, New York Branch is a member of FDIC
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