BANKING AFFAIRS

Detailed explanation-1: -Mumbai: The government on 29 June picked up Reserve Bank’s entire 59.7% stake in the country’s largest lender State Bank of India.

Detailed explanation-2: -Though originally privately owned, since nationalisation in 1949, the Reserve Bank is fully owned by the Government of India.

Detailed explanation-3: -The Reserve Bank of India was established following the Reserve Bank of India Act of 1934. Though privately owned initially, it was nationalised in 1949 and since then fully owned by the Ministry of Finance, Government of India (GoI).

Detailed explanation-4: -At ₹5.35-lakh crore of market capitalisation, SBI is the most valuable state-owned company, with the government holding at 57.52 per cent.

Detailed explanation-5: -On 1 July 1955, the Imperial Bank of India became the State Bank of India. In 2008, the Government of India acquired the Reserve Bank of India’s stake in SBI so as to remove any conflict of interest because the RBI is the country’s banking regulatory authority.