The State Bank of India is the largest commercial bank in India, having total assets of USD 256.04 billions and total deposits of USD 193.52 billions as on 31 March 2008. With a domestic network of over 10,150 branches, the Bank commands about one-fifth of deposits and loans of all scheduled commercial banks in the country.

The origins of State Bank of India date back to 1806 when the Bank of Calcutta (later called the Bank of Bengal) was established. In 1921, the Bank of Bengal and two other banks (Bank of Madras and Bank of Bombay) were amalgamated to form the Imperial Bank of India. In 1955, the Reserve Bank of India acquired the controlling interests of the Imperial Bank of India and the State Bank of India was created by an act of Parliament to succeed the Imperial Bank of India.

A network of seven Indian Banking Subsidiaries of the Bank, comprising six Associate Banks and SBI Commercial and International Bank Ltd., are engaged in the business of commercial banking in the country.

The Bank has foreign offices/subsidiaries in 32 countries with a network of 84 branches/offices spanning all the time zones. The Bank's UK operations comprise of London Main Branch and five satellite branches, Southall, Golders Green, Manchester, Leicester and Birmingham. The operations concentrate on traditional banking activities such as deposit taking, corporate lending, remittances and trade finance as well as wholesale business of investments, syndications, money markets and forex trading.

The Reserve Bank of India regulates the whole Bank and the UK operations are also authorised and regulated by FSA. The Bank subscribes to the Banking Code and customers may obtain a copy of the Code on request.