Yes, it is. Canara Bank is a nationalised bank, which means the Indian government owns the majority of its shares, and that is how it goes for most of the nationalised banks in the country. As for this one, it got nationalised on July 19, 1969. And right now, if you look at the market cap numbers, it is actually the 5th largest public sector bank in India.
Brief History of Canara Bank
If we talk about how it all got started, well, Canara Bank came into being back on July 1, 1906, when the Canara Hindu Permanent Fund was established by Ammembal Subba Rao Pai in Mangalore. But that slowly kinda turned into a full-blown banking operation down the line.
Around the beginning of the 1960s, some smaller local banks having originally served local communities were acquired by Canara Bank, such as Bank of Kerala and Seasia Midland Bank, and sure enough, at that time, these were the exact acquisitions which allowed Canara Bank to grow at a faster rate, mainly in the Southern part of India. And then, of course, in 1969, it was one of the few banks in the country that got nationalised by the government of India. And that kinda helped it grow even more, like, in 1976, it crossed the milestone of 1,000 branches.
In an announcement made in August 2019, the government stated the merger between Syndicate Bank and Canara Bank. And sure enough, when the deal was finalised for this merger, it kinda made Canara Bank one of the biggest public sector banks in the country.
Current Financial Position of Canara Bank
You’ll have a pretty good idea of how big of a public sector bank it has become by taking a look at financial numbers like as of March 2025, Canada Bank has deposits and advances of ₹25,30,215 crore, recording a growth of almost 11% over the previous year. That’s not it, though; deposits were at ₹14,56,883 crore, and the advances were at ₹10,73,332 crore.
