<P> Despite the provisions, control and regulations of the Reserve Bank of India, banks in India except the State Bank of India (SBI), remain owned and operated by private persons . By the 1960s, the Indian banking industry had become an important tool to facilitate the development of the Indian economy . At the same time, it had emerged as a large employer, and a debate had ensued about the nationalisation of the banking industry . Indira Gandhi, the then Prime Minister of India, expressed the intention of the Government of India in the annual conference of the All India Congress Meeting in a paper entitled "Stray thoughts on Bank Nationalization ." The meeting received the paper with enthusiasm . </P> <P> Thereafter, her move was swift and sudden . The Government of India issued an ordinance (' Banking Companies (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Ordinance, 1969') and nationalised the 14 largest commercial banks with effect from the midnight of 19 July 1969 . These banks contained 85 percent of bank deposits in the country . Jayaprakash Narayan, a national leader of India, described the step as a "masterstroke of political sagacity ." Within two weeks of the issue of the ordinance, the Parliament passed the Banking Companies (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertaking) Bill, and it received the presidential approval on 9 August 1969 . </P> <P> A second dose of nationalisation of 6 more commercial banks followed in 1980 . The stated reason for the nationalisation was to give the government more control of credit delivery . With the second dose of nationalisation, the Government of India controlled around 91% of the banking business of India . Later on, in the year 1993, the government merged New Bank of India with Punjab National Bank . It was the only merger between nationalised banks and resulted in the reduction of the number of nationalised banks from 20 to 19 . Until the 1990s, the nationalised banks grew at a pace of around 4%, closer to the average growth rate of the Indian economy . </P> <P> In the early 1990s, the then government embarked on a policy of liberalisation, licensing a small number of private banks . These came to be known as New Generation tech - savvy banks, and included Global Trust Bank (the first of such new generation banks to be set up), which later amalgamated with Oriental Bank of Commerce, UTI Bank (since renamed Axis Bank), ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank . This move, along with the rapid growth in the economy of India, revitalised the banking sector in India, which has seen rapid growth with strong contribution from all the three sectors of banks, namely, government banks, private banks and foreign banks . </P>

In which year 6 major commercial banks were nationalised in india