A commercial bank is a financial institution which performs the functions of accepting deposits from the general public and giving loans for investment with the aim of earning profit. The banks which perform all kinds of banking business and generally finance trade and commerce are called commercial banks. Commercial Banks are the oldest and fastest growing banks in India. They are also most important depositories of public savings and the most important depositories banking in India is a unique system in world. In fact, commercial banks, as their name suggests, axe profit-seeking institutions, i.e., they do banking business to earn profit. They generally finance trade and commerce with short-term loans. They charge high rate of interest from the borrowers but pay much less rate of Interest to their depositors with the result that the difference between the two rates of interest becomes the main source of profit of the banks. Most of the Indian joint stock Banks are Commercial Banks such as Punjab National Bank, Allahabad Bank, Canara Bank, Andhra Bank, Bank of Baroda, etc. Functions of Commercial BankThe two most distinctive features of a commercial bank are borrowing and lending, i.e., acceptance of deposits and lending of money to projects to earn Interest (profit). In short, banks borrow to lend. The rate of interest offered by the banks to depositors is called the borrowing rate while the rate at which banks lend out is called lending rate. Primary Function
Secondary Function
Accepting Deposit A commercial bank accepts deposits in the form of current, savings and fixed deposits. It collects the surplus balances of the Individuals, firms and finances the temporary needs of commercial transactions. The first task is, therefore, the collection of the savings of the public. The bank does this by accepting deposits from its customers. Deposits are the lifeline of banks. Deposits are of three types as under:
Providing Loan The second major function of a commercial bank is to give loans and advances particularly to businessmen and entrepreneurs and thereby earn interest. This is, in fact, the main source of income of the bank. A bank keeps a certain portion of the deposits with itself as reserve and gives (lends) the balance to the borrowers as loans and advances in the form of cash credit, demand loans, short-run loans, overdraft as explained under.
Creation of Credit Creation of credit is one of the most important functions of commercial banks. It is one of the most important functions of commercial banks. It is said that every loan creates a deposit. A cheque book is given to the borrowers with the right to draw cheques up to the full amount of the loan. The bank is able to lend money and charges interest without parting with cash. Thus, bank creates a deposit, it creates a credit for the borrower. In all a very small cash reserve is kept by the bank to meet the obligations arising out of such transactions and credit aggregated to a very big amount. However ,there are limitations on the powers of these banks to create credit. Secondary FunctionApart from the above-mentioned two primary (major) functions, commercial banks perform the following secondary functions also.
Bill Discounting is another way of lending money. The commercial bank purchase these bills through brokers and discount them directly for the traders. These bills provide a very liquid assets. The banks immediately pay cash for the bills after deducting the discount and wait for all the bill to mature when they get back its full value. This is regarded as the best investment by the bank because it is liquid, lucrative and safe. Alternatively, a bill of exchange is a document acknowledging an amount of money owed in consideration of goods received. It is a paper asset signed by the debtor and the creditor for a fixed amount payable on a fixed date. It works like this. Suppose, A buys goods from B, he may not pay B immediately but instead give B a bill of exchange stating the amount of money owed and the time when A will settle the debt. Suppose, B wants the money immediately, he will present the bill of exchange (Hundi) to the bank for discounting. The bank will deduct the commission and pay to B the present value of the bill. When the bill matures after specified period, the bank will get payment from A.
An overdraft is an advance given by allowing a customer keeping current account to overdraw his current account up to an agreed limit. It is a facility to a depositor for overdrawing the amount than the balance amount in his account. In other words, depositors of current account make arrangement with the banks that in case a cheque has been drawn by them which are not covered by the deposit, then the bank should grant overdraft and honors the cheque. The security for overdraft is generally financial assets like shares, debentures, life insurance policies of the account holder, etc.
The bank acts as an agent of its customers and gets commission for performing agency functions as under: |