The story
History
The bank was founded on 3 December 1993 as UTI Bank as a part of Unit Trust of India, a Government of India entity, opening its registered office in Ahmedabad and a corporate office in Mumbai. The bank was promoted jointly by the Administrator of the Unit Trust of India (UTI), Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), General Insurance Corporation, National Insurance Company, The New India Assurance Company, The Oriental Insurance Corporation and United India Insurance Company. The first branch was inaugurated on 2 April 1994 in Ahmedabad by Manmohan Singh, then finance minister of India.
In 2001 UTI Bank agreed to merge with Global Trust Bank, but the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) withheld approval and the merger did not take place. In 2004, the RBI put Global Trust under moratorium and supervised its merger with Oriental Bank of Commerce. The following year, UTI bank was listed on the London Stock Exchange. In 2006, UTI Bank opened its first overseas branch in Singapore. The same year it opened an office in Shanghai, China. In 2007, it opened a branch in the Dubai International Financial Centre and branches in Hong Kong.
On 30 July 2007, UTI Bank changed its name to Axis Bank.
In 2009, Shikha Sharma was appointed as the MD and CEO of Axis Bank.
In 2013, Axis Bank's subsidiary, Axis Bank UK commenced banking operations.
In March 2014, the Indian government sold a 9% stake, out of its total 20.7% stake in Axis Bank.
In 2017, Axis Bank acquired Freecharge, a digital marketplace for financial services for approximately ₹385 crore.
On 1 January 2019, Amitabh Chaudhry took over as MD and CEO.
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In 2021, Axis Bank had reduced its stake in Yes Bank from 2.39% to 1.96%.
In 2023, Axis Bank completed the acquisition of Citibank India's consumer banking business for ₹12,325 crore (US$1.57 billion).
In 2025, Axis Bank has partnered with J.P. Morgan to provide real-time U.S. dollar payment capabilities for commercial clients in India.
On September 30th, 2026, Axis Bank became the initial launching partner for Apple Pay in India.
2016 demonetisation-related money laundering
Following the 2016 Indian banknote demonetisation, a number of Axis Bank employees were arrested for facilitating money laundering activities. Some media outlets highlighted the disproportionate number of cases involving the bank, and claimed that the bank's aggressive performance targets and internal culture fostered such activities and that the blame does not lie solely in the hands of arrested employees.
From Wikipedia’s article on Axis Bank, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5