Punjab National Bank

Punjab National Bank is an Indian multinational banking and financial services company. It is a state-owned corporation based in New Delhi, India. Founded in 1894, the bank has over 6,300 branches and over 7,900 ATMs across 764 cities. It serves over 80 million customers.

Punjab National Bank is one of the Big Four banks of India, along with ICICI Bank, Bank of Baroda and State Bank of India. It has a banking subsidiary in the UK (PNB International Bank, with seven branches in the UK), as well as branches in Hong Kong, Kowloon, Dubai and Kabul. It has representative offices in Almaty (Kazakhstan), Dubai (United Arab Emirates), Shanghai (China), Oslo (Norway) and Sydney (Australia). In Bhutan it owns 51% of Druk PNB Bank, which has five branches. PNB owns 20% of Everest Bank Limited, which has 50 branches in Nepal. Lastly, PNB owns 84% of JSC (SB) PNB Bank in Kazakhstan, which has four branches.

History

Punjab National Bank was registered on 19 May 1894 under the Indian Companies Act, with its office in Anarkali Bazaar, Lahore. The founding board was drawn from different parts of India professing different faiths and a varied back-ground with, however, the common objective of providing country with a truly national bank which would further the economic interest of the country. PNB's founders included several leaders of the Swadeshi movement such as Dyal Singh Majithia and Lala Harkishan Lal, Lala Lalchand, Shri Kali Prosanna Roy, Shri E.C. Jessawala, Shri Prabhu Dayal, Bakshi Jaishi Ram, and Lala Dholan Dass.Lala Lajpat Rai was actively associated with the management of the Bank in its early years. The board first met on 23 May 1894. The bank opened for business on 12 April 1895 in Lahore.