The Bank of Hindustan, founded in 1770 in Calcutta (now Kolkata), India, was the first bank on the Indian subcontinent. To promote trade between India and Europe, a group of European businessmen led by the British businessman Alexander Kinloch Forbes established the bank.
Merchants, traders, and local landowners were given credit by the Bank of Hindustan in the form of notes. However, the Bank of Bengal, the Bank of Bombay, and the Bank of Madras, which finally amalgamated to form the Imperial Bank of India in 1921, faced fierce competition from other European banks that had been established in India around the same time.
While the Bank of Hindustan was short-lived and went out of business in 1832, it paved the way for the development of banking in India, which has since grown to become one of the largest banking industries in the world.
