<b>Letters</b> Historic role of banks

This is time to recollect, briefly, the history of these entities

The merger of the State Bank of India (SBI) with five of its associate banks closes a chapter in the history of Indian banking. The five banks are remnants of the princely India which had merged into the Union in the early years of our freedom as a result of the vision of one of our greatest leaders, Vallabhbhai Patel. The ownership of these banks got vested in the states and the territories where their head offices were located. But after the State Bank of India (Subsidiary Banks) Act, 1959, they were out of the orbits of state governments and