About
Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) was founded in February 1937 by Shri. M. Ct. Chidambaram Chettiar. The bank is based in Chennai, India. It runs a network of 3,400 domestic branches. The bank was founded with the objective of specialising in overseas banking and foreign exchange business.
IOB was the first to introduce personal loan for individual customers. IOB was nationalised by the government of India along with 13 other banks. The bank has an inhouse IT department to take of its over 80% software needs. Its IT team is credited for coding one of the lightest CLI based Core Banking Solution that was in use till 2015.
Listing and Revenue
IOB is listed on NSE.
| Revenue | ₹20,712 crore |
| Operating Income | ₹3,480 crore |
| Net Income | ₹-8,527 crore |
| Total Assets | ₹2,60,726 crore |
Products and Services
Indian Overseas Bank offers products and services like NRI Banking, Consumer banking, Credit cards, Corporate banking, Mortgage loans, Private banking, Finance and Insurance, Wealth management, and Investment banking among others.
History
In 1937, Thiru.M. Ct. M. Chidambaram Chettyar established the Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) to encourage overseas banking and foreign exchange operations. IOB started up simultaneously at three branches, one each in Karaikudi, Madras, and Rangoon (Yangon). It quickly opened a branch in Penang, Kuala Lumpur (1937 or 1938), and another in Singapore (1937 or 1941).
In 1945 or 1946 IOB opened a branch in Colombo. In 1947, IOB opened a branch in Bangkok. Then IOB added a branch each in Ipoh, Klang, and Malacca, all in Malaya. Some years later, in 1955, IOB opened its first branch in Hong Kong. Others would follow.
In 1963 the revolutionary government in Burma nationalised Indian Overseas Bank's branches in Rangoon, Mandalay, and Moulmein, which became People's Bank No. 4.
Acquisition
Since its inception, IOB has managed to acquire several local banks including Coimbatore Standard Bank, Nanjinnad Bank, Coimbatore Vasunthara Bank, Kulitalai Bank, Srinivasa Perumal Bank, and Venkateswara Bank. All these acquisition happened in 1960s.
IOB bought Bank of Tamil Nadu in 1988-89 as a part of a rescue. In 2001, the bank acquired Mumbai-based Adarsha Janata Sahakari Bank to establish its presence in Mumbai. Shree Suvarna Sahakari Bank was took over by IOB in 2009 with its head office in Pune.
Awards and Recognition
Indian Overseas Bank was rewarded with the second prize by NABARD as a mark of recognition for excellence in performance under SHG Bank Linkage Programme in Tamil Nadu in the year 2018-19.