Bank of Baroda is one of the leading commercial public sector banks in India. The Bank's solutions includes personal banking, which includes deposits, gen-next services, retail loans, credit cards, debit cards, services and lockers; business banking, which includes deposits, loans and advances, services and lockers; corporate banking, which includes wholesale banking, deposits, loans and advances and services, and international business, which includes Non-Resident Indian (NRI) Services, Foreign Currency Credits, ECB, Offshore Banking, Export Finance, Import Finance, Correspondent Banking, Trade Finance and International Treasury.
The Bank offers services, such as domestic operations and For-ex operations. They also offer rural banking services, which include deposits, priority sector advances, remittance, collection services, pension and lockers. They also offer fee-based services such as cash management and remittance services. The Bank is having their head office located at Baroda and their corporate office is located at Mumbai.
Bank of Baroda is one of India's largest banks and as on December 2020, the bank has a strong domestic presence spanning 8,246 domestic branches and 11,553 ATMs & Cash Recyclers supported by self-service channels. The bank has a significant international presence with a network of 99 overseas branches/offices subsidiaries, spanning 21 countries. The bank has wholly owned subsidiaries including BOB Financial Solutions Limited (erstwhile BOB Cards Ltd.) and BOB Capital Markets. Bank of Baroda also has a joint venture for life insurance business with India First Life Insurance. The bank owns 98.57% in The Nainital Bank. The bank has also sponsored three Regional Rural Banks namely Baroda Uttar Pradesh Gramin Bank, Baroda Rajasthan Gramin Bank and Baroda Gujarat Gramin Bank.
Bank of Baroda was incorporated on July 20, 1908 as a as a private bank with the name The Bank of Baroda Ltd. The Bank was established with a paid up capital of Rs 1 million and was founded by Maharaja Sayajirao III of Baroda. In the year 1910, the Bank opened their first branch in the city of Ahmedabad. In the year 1919, they opened their first branch in Mumbai City. In the year 1953, the Bank opened first international branch at Mombasa, Kenya.
During the period 1953-1969, the Bank opened three branches in Fiji, five branches in Kenya, three branches in Uganda and one each in London and Guyana. In the year 1958, The Hind Bank merged with the Bank and in the year 1962, The New Citizen Bank Ltd amalgamated with the Bank. In the year 1964, The Umargaon Peoples' Bank & Tamilnadu Central Bank amalgamated with the Bank.
In July 1969, the Bank was nationalized and the name was changed from 'The Bank of Baroda Ltd' to 'Bank of Baroda'. During the period 1969 to 1974, they established three branches in Mauritius, two branches in UK and one branch in Fiji. They entered in the oil rich Gulf countries in the year 1974 with two branches were opened in UAE, one at Dubai and another at Abu Dhabi.
In the year 1976, the Bank sponsored the first of their 19 Regional Rural Banks thereby seeking to complement their operations in rural heartland. In the year 1977, they launched the 'Gram Vikas Kendra' (GVK), an innovative model for integrated rural development. In the year 1984, the Bank launched their Credit Card Operations. In the year 1988, The Traders Bank Ltd amalgamated with the Bank.
In the year 1991, the Bank established their housing finance subsidiary, BOB Housing. They also established subsidiaries for businesses of credit cards (BOBCARDS), asset management (BOB AMC) and capital market activities (BOB Caps). In December 1996, the Bank entered the capital market with an Initial Public Offering. In the year 1997, they opened a branch in Durban.
In the year 1999, the Bank commenced operations as a depository. Also, Bareilly Corporation Bank amalgamated with the Bank during the year. In the year 2000, the Bank appointed Arthur Andersen India Pvt Ltd as risk management consultant for setting up Comprehensive Risk Management Architecture for the Bank.
In the year 2001, they established a separate Risk Management Department and specialized integrated treasury branch. In the year 2002, The Benares State Bank Ltd merged with the Bank. They launched Debit Card project in affiliation with VISA. In the year 2004, The South Gujarat Local Area Bank amalgamated with the Bank. In June 1, 2004, the Bank signed a MoU with National Insurance Company Ltd for selling their non life insurance products under corporate agency arrangement.
During the year 2004-05, the Bank expanded their interconnected ATM network to cross 501, spread over 180 centres in the country. The bank also introduced 8AM to 8PM banking at 101 branches and 24-Hour banking at 5 branches in the country. They launched the IT Enabled Business Transformation Program and signed the contract with Hewlett Packard. They launched Multicity cheque facility.
In the year 2006, the Bank established an Offshrore Banking Unit (OBU) in Singapore. They commissioned 464 new ATMs across the country taking the tally to 634 Nos. In the year 2007, the Bank identified Legal & General, the UK-based life insurance company as a partner for their life-insurance venture with initial capital of about Rs 200 crore. In April 2007, the Bank opened Gen-Next, the youth-oriented branch.
In May 2007, they signed an agreement with Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) regarding assign ratings to the bank's small-scale industry (SSI) customers. In October 6, 2007, the Bank made a tie up with Pioneer Global Asset Management SpA, Italy for launching joint venture for asset management business (Baroda Pioneer Asset Management Company). The joint venture would first offer products of Indian origin and later bring international investment opportunities to the Indian market. They launched sale of Gold Coins during the year.
During the year 2008-09, the Bank opened eight new Urban Retail Loan Factories (URLFs) at Powai Mumbai, Agra, Bareili, Bhopal, Nagpur, Ernakulam, Jodhpur, and Noida. They launched new loan products, namely Loan for Earnest Money Deposit, Baroda Additional Assured Advance to NRIs, Baroda Bachat Mitra, Baroda Car Loan to HNIs/ Corporates, Baroda Advance Against Gold ornaments/ Jewelry/Gold Coins and Special Home Loans package.
During the year, the Bank signed a MoU with number of car manufacturing companies viz. Maruti Suzuki India Ltd, Tata Motors Ltd, Hyundai Motors India Ltd and Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd for boosting up Auto Loan portfolio. They made a tie up with Kotak Mahindra Old Mutual Life Insurance Ltd for providing Life Insurance Cover to Education Loan borrowers and Home Loan borrowers sanctioned under a special package.
During the year, the Bank opened four new branches/offices, viz. Branch at Guangzhou (China), Electronic Banking Unit at Musaffah (UAE) and branches of the Subsidiaries at Kawempe (Uganda) and Nakuru (Kenya). In July 2008, they received the license from the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) for their full-fledged branch in Guanzhou City in the Guangdong Province. Also, the online home loan application facility was made available with tracking of status of the application from July 20, 2008.
During the year 2009-10, the Bank opened 6 new Retail Loan Factories (RLFs) at Chandigarh, Gamdevi (MMSR), Patna, Coimbatore, Ranchi and Allahabad. They established three SME Loan Factories during the year. In June 22, 2009, the Bank launched a new business process reengineering and organizational restructuring project 'Navnirmaan- Baroda Next'.
In September 2009, the Bank brought all the branches of the Bank on CBS platform to offer 'Anywhere Anytime' banking to all its customers. All the branches of the Bank have been enabled to provide e-banking services as well as electronic fund transfer facilities by way of real time gross settlement (RTGS) and National Exchange Fund Transfer (NEFT) to its customers.
In October 10, 2009, the Bank launched a new subsidy linked housing loan scheme under the Bank's Home Loan Product styled as 'Interest Subsidy Scheme for Housing the Urban Poor (ISHUP)'. In November 2009, the Bank entered into definitive agreement with T Rowe Price for proposed divestment of 6.50% stake in UTI Asset Management Company and UTI Trustee Company.
In November 16, 2009, the Bank entered into life insurance business by forming a Joint Venture (JV) Life Insurance Company namely IndiaFirst Life Insurance Company Limited where Bank of Baroda holds 40% stake, together with Andhra Bank holding 30% and Legal & General Group holding 26%. Also, the Bank signed Corporate Agency Agreement with their joint venture company in life insurance, IndiaFirst Life Insurance Co Ltd, to market their life insurance products under wealth management services.
In the year 2010, the Bank received a commercial banking license from Malaysia to a locally incorporated bank, namely India BIA Bank (Malaysia), to be jointly owned by Bank of Baroda, Indian Overseas Bank and Andhra Bank. The Bank opened a branch in Auckland, New Zealand, and also opened their tenth branch in the United Kingdom.
In July 2010, the Bank signed an agreement with the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) to act as a registrar for the project. The bank will join the UIDAI in collecting biometric and demographic details of their customers as well as others.
In August 2010, the Bank signed a Memorandum of Co-operation (MoC) with the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre Authority (DMCC), a free zone authority dedicated to enhancing trade flows through Dubai. The MoC is designed to provide value-added services to DMCC-registered companies and further enhance the proposition of operating in the Jumairah Lake Towers (JLT) Free Zone. Also, DMCC and the Bank will share knowledge through seminars, workshops and exchange of faculty.
During the year 2010-11, the Bank opened seven new branches/offices (including the ones for its overseas subsidiaries). A branch was opened at Ilford, Essex (UK) and five Electronic Banking Service Units (EBSUs) in UAE at RAKIA, Ras Al Khaimah, Al Qusais, Dubai, Sh. Zayed Road, Dubai, Al Karama, Dubai and National Paints, Sharjah. The subsidiary in New Zealand, Bank of Baroda (New Zealand), commenced operations with the opening of branch at Auckland.
During the year, the Bank launched a new Retail Asset Product styled as Baroda Traders Loan against the Security of Gold Ornaments/Jewelleries. They launched a Retail Asset scheme under Baroda Personal Loan styled as Baroda Loan to Retirees for Pension Option. Also, they introduced a new Term Deposit Product styled as Baroda Utsav Deposit Scheme for 444 days at the interest rate of 8.10% which was revised from time to time. During the year, the Bank opened a new Gen-next branch in NOIDA. Also, they opened five new Retail Loan Factories at Karol Bagh New Delhi, Raipur, Ludhiana and Nasik, whereas one existing RLF at Jodhpur was closed.
In January 15, 2011, the Bank launched two new Retail Liability Products under Savings Bank Segment styled as Baroda Pensioners Savings Account and a Life Insurance linked Savings product styled as Baroda Jeevan Suraksha Savings Account under a tie-up arrangement with IndiaFirst Life Insurance Company.
On 29 March 2011, Bank of Baroda allotted 2.72 crore equity shares at issue price of Rs 902.14 per share amounting to Rs 2461 crore on preferential basis to Government of India.
On 29 February 2012, Bank of Baroda announced that Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA) has informed the bank that it may not be able to proceed further with regard to a proposed joint venture regarding credit card business. Earlier, Bank of Baroda had entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with BBVA for a joint venture regarding credit card business.
30 Mar 2012, Bank of Baroda informed the stock exchanges that the bank has allotted 1.95 crore equity shares at issue price of Rs 840.10 per share aggregating to Rs 1644.68 crore to Life Insurance Corporation of India on preferential basis.
On 12 March 2013, the Allotment Committee of Bank Baroda issued and allotted 1.01 crore equity shares at issue price of Rs 838.85 per share aggregating to Rs 850 crore to Government of India (President of India) on preferential basis, as per SEBI Guidelines.
On 18 January 2014, the Allotment Committee of Bank Baroda issued and allotted 81.58 lakh equity shares at issue price of Rs 674.12 per share aggregating to Rs 550 crore to Government of India on preferential basis.
On 9 July 2014, Bank of Baroda announced that the bank acting through its London branch, has issued fixed rate Senior Unsecured Notes amounting to USD 250 million on 8 July 2014 under Regulation-S by way of tapping/re-opening of its Senior Unsecured Notes of USD 750 million originally issued on 23 January 2014 and maturing on 23 July 2019. The notes are issued to meet the present/future long term funding requirement at the overseas centres of the bank.
The Board of Directors of Bank of Baroda at its meeting held on 27 September 2014 accorded an in-principle approval for the sub-division of one equity share of the face value of Rs 10 each into five equity shares of face value of Rs 2 each.
On 31 March 2015, Bank of Baroda issued and allotted 6.44 crore equity shares at an issue price of Rs 195.59 per equity share amounting to Rs 1260 crore to Government of India on preferential basis.
On 29 September 2015, Bank of Baroda issued and allotted 9.26 crore equity shares at an issue price of Rs 192.74 per equity share amounting to Rs 1786 crore to Government of India on preferential basis.
On 25 July 2016, Bank of Baroda announced that the Reserve Bank of India has imposed a penalty of Rs 5 crore on the bank. The RBI carried out the investigation and noted the deficiencies, which were reflective of weaknesses and failures in internal control mechanisms in respect of certain AML provisions such as monitoring of transactions, timely reporting to FIU, and assigning of UCIC to customers. Bank of Baroda said in a statement that the bank has implemented a comprehensive corrective action plan, to strengthen internal controls and to ensure that such incidents do not recur.
On 15 October 2016, Bank of Baroda announced that the bank has initiated the process of raising funds through issuance of Basel III compliant AT-I (Additional Tier-I Capital) Bonds, i.e. Perpetual Debt Instrument, as per the regulatory definitions of the Reserve Banks of India of Rs 1000 crore with Green Shoe Option of Rs 1000 crore on private placement basis.
On 3 May 2017, Bank of Baroda announced that the bank has elected to exercise its option to redeem all outstanding US$ 300 million Upper Tier-II Subordinated Notes (the Notes) on 25 May 2017. The Notes were issued by the bank acting through its London Branch on 24 May 2007 pursuant to the bank's US$ 3 billion Medium Term Note Programme (the MTN Programme) listed with Singapore Stock Exchange.
On 23 November 2017, Bank of Baroda announced that it has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with CGR Collateral Management Ltd with an objective to provide collateral management services to the borrowers who are availing the facility of loan against warehouse receipt through the network of Bank of Baroda branches across the country. CGR Collateral Management Ltd is engaged in providing warehouse management services relating to commodities and inventories and complete Agri business solutions to farmers.
On 28 December 2017, Bank of Baroda announced that it has entered into an agreement with UniCredit S.p.A. to acquire their entire stake in Baroda Pioneer Asset Management Company, thus increasing its shareholding to 100%. Its foreign partner Pioneer Investments will exit the venture. The move comes on the back of the acquisition of Pioneer Investments by Amundi earlier this year. Amundi already has a presence in an Indian asset management company.
On 18 January 2018, Bank of Baroda announced its on boarding on all 3 RBI approved Trade Receivables Discounting System (TReDS) platforms, thereby becoming the first bank to support this novel Fintech initiative by RBI.
On 12 February 2018, Bank of Baroda announced that in line with the bank's strategic plan for rationalization of overseas branches, the bank is exiting from its operations in South Africa. The business of the bank in South Africa is not very significant and the exit will not have any major impact on the financials of the bank.
On 14 February 2018, Bank of Baroda announced that it has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Small Farmers' Agribusiness Consortium (SFAC) as a preferred bank for the State of Maharashtra. The bank will play an active role in promoting quality investments in the agri business sector and provide collateral free loans to Farmers Producer Companies (FPCs) in Maharashtra under the Credit Guarantee Scheme of SFAC. SFAC is an autonomous society promoted by Ministry of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers' Welfare, Government of India which is pioneering inclusive growth of small and marginal farmers engaged in agribusiness activities.
On 6 March 2018, Bank of Baroda announced that it has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with National e-Repository Limited (NERL). The MoU with NERL will provide the bank an access to IT based ecosystem for management of life cycle of negotiable warehouse receipts (NWRs) in electronic form.
On 27 March 2018, Bank of Baroda announced the issue and allotment of 34.13 crore shares at an issue price of Rs 157.46 per share amounting to Rs 5375 crore to Government of India on preferential basis.
During FY 2019, the Bank opened 22 new rural and semi-urban branches.
During the year 2019, Bank closed down its Offshore Banking Unit at Bahamas, wholesale banking unit in Bahrain, and surrendered banking license of subsidiary at Ghana which had three branches. Further, Muttrah branch at Oman was merged with the Greater Muttrah branch and Durban branch was merged with Johannesburg branch in South Africa. The rationalisation of operations based on the strategic review is continuing.
During the year 2019, Bank has developed customised software for the e-LC solution for Ministry of Defence. Bank of Baroda is the only Public Sector Bank to launch e-KVP utility through banks. The Bank has integrated itself on the e-PCS portal of Indian Port Association for all the 3 major ports across India. An MOU with the Kandla Port has been signed.
During the year 2019, the Bank opened 55 new domestic branches and closed/merged 10. Of the new branches, two were high-tech digital branches and 9 digital portable branches. In international operations, Bank opened an Offshore International Banking Unit (OIBU) in International Financial Service Centre (IFSC), GIFT City, Gandhinagar, Gujarat and closed its representative office in Bangkok, Thailand and one electronic banking service unit in UAE.
In FY2019, Bank opened 3 new branches and established 5 loan-processing units named as Naini Loan Points (NLPs) at different locations. Bank installed 11 white label ATMs taking the total to 24 such ATMs and installed 772 POS machines.
During the year 2019, Bank entered into an agreement with UniCredit S.P.A.(the parent company of Pioneer Global Asset Management SpA) to buy its 51% stake in the company, subject to regulatory approvals. Post completion of the transaction, the Bank will own 100% of the asset.
During FY 2020, credit growth increased to Rs 6,90,121 crore within which domestic advances of the Bank amounted to Rs 5,70,341 crore. The increase in domestic advances was led by retail loans and agriculture loans. Retail loan increased to Rs 1,20,657 crore led by home and auto loans at Rs 83,012 crore and Rs 16,490 crore respectively. With this, the ratio of retail loans to total domestic loans increased to 19.8% during the year. The international loan book grew by 21.4% to Rs 1,19,731 crore as on 31 March 2020. The total assets of the Bank increased to Rs 11,57,915 crore as on 31 March 2020.
During the FY2020,Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank were amalgamated with Bank of Baroda.
In pursuant to the scheme of Amalgamation of Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank with Bank of Baroda, and based on the Swap Ratio agreed upon between the banks on 02 January 2019. The bank has allotted the following shares to the shareholders to the erstwhile Vijaya Bank and erstwhile Dena Bank on 01 April 2019. i. 52,42,00,772 fully paid up equity shares of face value of Rs. 2/- each of Bank of Baroda aggregating Rs 104,84,01,544/- be issued and allotted to equity shareholders of Vijaya Bank.ii. 24,84,51,166 fully paid up equity shares of face value of Rs. 2/- each of Bank of Baroda aggregating Rs 49,69,02,332/- be issued and allotted to equity shareholders of Dena Bank. After the allotment of the above shares the Shareholding of the Government of India (the promoter shareholder) increased from 63.26% (69.23% including Share Application money) to 71.60% as at on 31March 2020.
The Bank entered into a MoU with Government of Gujarat for hassle free finance to MSME borrowers and to be the preferred Bank under the Government of Gujarat's portal for the new entrepreneurs in the identified industrial area.
As on 31 March 2020, the bank's distribution network stood at 9,482 domestic branches, 101 overseas branches, 13193 ATMs & cash recyclers.
During the FY2020, the Bank awarded 'National award for SHG bank linkage 2018-19 'by DAY-NRLM, Government at New Delhi. The Bank received 'The Excellence Award under Gold Category for outstanding performance in implementation of NBCFDC Loans in the public sector schemes 'on the occasion of 28th foundation day of NBCFDC. The Bank bagged Silver at SAMMIE 2019 - Best Social Media Brand Award (BFSI - banking category). The Bank secured 1st position and has been awarded Top Performer in New Accounts Opened under PSU Bank category, at NSDL Star Performer Awards 2019, at TajLands End, Mumbai.
In December 2020,the bank signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Indian Navy and Indian Coast Guard and renewed its existing MoU with the Indian Army, to offer specially customized banking services through Baroda Military Salary Package', The Bank has made the same arrangement with Indian Air Force also, thereby covering all the four Armed Forces under Ministry of Defence. A similar package has been introduced by the Bank for the Central Armed Police Forces also.
In January 2021,the bank signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) to support MSME enterprises with an online facility of submitting their loan restructuring proposal. The Govt. of India and RBI has come up with several measures to extend relief to MSMEs to tide over the present pressing times post pandemic COVID-19. Furthermore, RBI has extended the One-Time Restructuring (OTR) window till March 2021 to provide relief to MSMEs under financial stress, with credit exposure up to Rs. 25 crores. In this backdrop, Bank of Baroda has entered into MoU arrangement with SIDBI for a web-based platform namely Asset Restructuring Module for MSMEs (ARM-MSME)'.
During FY 2021, Bank raised capital through the Qualified Institutional Placement route (QIP) amounting to Rs 4,500 crore. Bank issued and allotted 55.08 crore equity shares to eligible qualified institutional buyers at the issue price of Rs 81.70 per equity share. New retail asset products such as Personal Loan under COVID-19 Scheme for individual existing borrowers, Baroda Personal Loan to Government Employees Salary Account customers and pre-approved loan for liability customers were launched during the year 2021. The Bank introduced SB account linked insurance products in partnership with TATA AIG, Max Bupa and Star Health Insurance Company and opened 1.73 lakh insurance linked SB accounts during FY 2021. During the year 2021, Bank entered into MoU arrangement with Daimler India Commercial Vehicles Pvt. Ltd. (Bharat Benz).
As on 31 March 2021, the bank's distribution network stood at 8,214 domestic branches, 96 overseas branches, 11633 ATMs & cash recyclers. The Bank opened 13 new domestic branches and merged 1,281 branches with existing branches during FY 2021.
As on 31 March 2022, the Bank's distribution network stood at 8,168 domestic branches, 94 overseas branches, 11633 ATMs & cash recyclers. It opened new 9 domestic branches and merged 55 branches with existing branches during FY 2022.
As on 31 March 2023, the Bank's distribution network stood at 8,200 domestic branches, 93 overseas branches, 11401 ATMs & cash recyclers. It opened new 73 domestic branches and merged 41 branches with existing branches during FY 2023.