Banks which have registered office in a foreign country and branches in India are called foreign banks.

Banking Correspondents (BCs) are retail agents engaged by banks for providing banking services at low cost in locations other than a bank branch/ATM.

Huge finance is required for investment, expansion and modernisation of big industries and others are granted by a separate type of banks called development Banks. They are also called industrial banks.

Banks which accept deposits from the public and grant loans to traders, individuals, agriculture, industries, transport, etc. in order to earn profit are called commercial banks.

i. The purpose of Agricultural and Co-operative banks is providing service to its members for rural and agricultural development and not profit earning.
ii. They are set up in towns and villages rather than cities.
iii. Compared to the commercial banks they offer less variety of services as the bye laws do not permit all commercial bank activities.

1. The objective of RRB is to develop rural economy and play supplementary role to cooperative societies.
2. They mobilise deposits from the rural public and provide finance to rural artisans, small entrepreneurs and farmers and try to avoid their dependency on money lenders.
3. As on 31.3.2016, there were 56 RRBs in India with 14,494 branches.
4. They are regulated and supervised by NABARD.

i. Local Area Bank (LAB) scheme was introduced by the RBI in August 1996.
ii. LABs are small private sector banks established in rural and semi-urban areas.
iii. Each bank serves two or three adjoining districts only.
iv. Examples: Coastal Local Area Bank, Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh

Based on the Ownership Pattern:
Any bank in which not less than 51 percent of shares are owned by the Government are called Government banks or public sector commercial banks (Total 21). All nationalized banks (19 banks, in 2017), SBI and IDBI Ltd. are public sector commercial banks. All of them are joint stock company type banks. There are corporation type banks. Each corporation type bank is established by a separate Act of Parliament and is fully owned by Government of India.
Examples: IFCI, SIDBI, EXIM Bank, etc.
All banking companies owned by private people are called private sector commercial banks. All cooperative banks are owned by its members from the public. In 1969, there were 14 private banks. They were concentrated in cities and towns. Their objective was to earn more profits. In order to channelize the funds with these commercial banks towards national priorities and to develop agricultural and rural sector, nationalization of banks was undertaken. Government paid the share capital of those banks to the private owners and took over as Government banks. This is called nationalization of banks. 6 more banks were nationalised in 1980. New Bank of India one of the nationalised bank merged with Punjab National Bank in 1980 and today there only 19 nationalised banks (2017).
Examples:
1. Nationalised banks: Indian Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce.
2. Public sector banks: State Bank of India, IDBI Bank Ltd. and all nationalised banks.
3. Private sector banks: Lakshmi Vilas Bank, Karur Vysya Bank, Kotak Mahindra bank.
Note Bharatiya Mahila Bank established on 19, November 2013 to serve exclusively women members of the public was merged with SBI on 31 March, 2017.

Based on the functions of banks:
a) Central Bank:
1. RBI was the Central Bank of India. The functions of the RBI
2. RBI regulates and supervises the whole banking system in the country.
3. It controls the credit in the country
4. RBI has the sole right of note issue.
5. It acts as the banker for the government.
6.It acts as bankers bank.
b) Commercial Banks:
1. Banks which accept deposits from the public and grant loans to traders, individuals, agriculture, industries, transport, etc. in order to earn profit.
2. Their lending is in comparatively small amounts and mostly for short and medium period.
3. They also provide other services like remittance of funds, safe keeping of valuables, collection of cheques, issue of letters of credit, etc.
Examples:
i. State Bank of India
ii. Karur Vysya Bank
iii. Standard Chartered Bank
c) Development Banks:
1. Huge finance required for investment, expansion and modernisation of big industries and others are granted by a separate type of banks called development Banks.
2. They are also called industrial banks. The objective of development banks is not profit.
3. Their aim is to develop the country and create employment opportunities. Finance is provided by them for medium and long terms ranging from five to twenty years.
4. Development banks do not accept deposits from the public.
Examples:
Industrial Finance Corporation of India - IFCI
Small Industries Development Bank of India -SIDBI
d) Cooperative Banks:
All cooperative banks in India are owned by its customers or members who are farmers, small traders and others.
Cooperative banks in India are either urban based or rural based.
Rural cooperative banking structure in India has three tier structure for short term loans and two tier structure for long term loans (refer chart).
For both these structures the apex body is National Bank for Agricultural and Rural Development - NABARD.
Examples:
i. National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd. (NAFED) was set up in 1958 and registered under the Multi State Co-operative Societies Act.
ii. Tamil Nadu State Apex Cooperative Bank - Head Office, Chennai.
iii. Madurai District Central Cooperative Bank Ltd.
iv. Batlagundu Cooperative Urban Bank Ltd. Dindigul District.
e) Foreign Banks:
1. Banks which have registered office in a foreign country and branches in India are called foreign banks.
2. These banks open their offices in big cities and port towns only. Mostly they serve the interests of the multinational companies, employees and other business institutions.
3. Their profitability is higher than Indian banks. In 2017, there were 42 Foreign Banks in India and all of them were scheduled banks.
4. They have to oblige both their home country banking regulations and the RBI regulations.
Examples:
i. Bank of America - The USA
ii. Barclays Bank- The UK
iii. Deutsche Bank - West Germany
f) Regional Rural Banks - RRBs:
1. The RRBs were formed under the Regional Rural Bank Act 1976, jointly by the Central Government, State Government, and a sponsor bank.
2. Their share capital is contributed by these sponsors in the ratio of 50:15:35.
3. They are established as low cost institutions in rural areas.
4. Their objective is to develop rural economy and play supplemeñtary role to cooperative societies.
Examples:
i. Pandian Grama Bank, Tamil Nadu
ii. Pallavan Grama Bank, Tamil Nadu
g) Specialised Banks:
1. Some banks are created for special purposes by the Government.
2. Export and Import Bank of India was set up through Export-Import Bank of India Act, 1981.
3. Its main objective is to facilitate international trade of Indian businessmen.
4. EXIM Bank provides finance for import of technology export product development, pre-shipment and post-shipment and overseas investment.
Example
i. Export - Import Bank of India (EXIM Bank)
h) Local Area Banks:
1. Local Area Bank (LAB) scheme was introduced by the RBI in August 1996.
2. LABs are small private sector banks established in rural and semi-urban areas.
3. Each bank serves two or three adjoining districts only.
4. Their main objective is to mobilise rural savings (accept deposits) and invest them in the same areas.
Examples:
i. Coastal Local Area Bank, Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh.
ii. Krishna Bhima Smruddhi Local Area Bank, Mahabubnagar, Andhra Pradesh.
iii. Subhadra Local Area Bank Limited, Kolhapur, Maharashtra.
i) Small Finance Banks:
1. Small Finance Banks (SFBs) are private sector banks set up in unbanked and underbanked regions of the country to achieve financial inclusion.
2. The objectives are; mobilising rural savings (accepting deposits) and providing credit to:
i. small and marginal farmers
ii. to micro and small industries and
ii. other unorganised sector entities.
j) Payment Bank:
1. Payment banks are formed to widen the spread of payment and financial services to small businesses, low-income households, and migrant labourers.
2. These banks should be fully networked from the beginning.
3. They offer doorstep banking payment for a small fees prescribed on the basis of the amount.
Examples:
i. Airtel Payment Bank Limited
ii. Paytm Payment Bank Limited and
iii. India Post Payment Bank Limited -IPPBs (Public Sector Bank).
k) Multilateral Development Banks - MDBs:
A Multilateral Development Bank is formed by the Governments of a group of countries. The member countries consist of developed donor countries and borrower countries. International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Asian Development Bank, African Development Bank, and European Investment Bank are some of the MDBs.