One of the earliest banks in South India, "South Indian Bank" came into being during the Swadeshi movement. The establishment of the bank was the fulfillment of the dreams of a group of enterprising men who joined together at Thrissur, a major town (now known as the Cultural Capital of Kerala), in the erstwhile State of Cochin to provide for the people a safe, efficient and service oriented repository of savings of the community on one hand and to free the business community from the clutches of greedy money lenders on the other by providing need based credit at reasonable rates of interest. Translating the vision of the founding fathers as its corporate mission, the bank has during its long sojourn been able to project itself as a vibrant, fast growing, service oriented and trend setting financial intermediary. Milestones The FIRST among the private sector banks in Kerala to become a scheduled bank in 1946 under the RBI Act. The FIRST bank in the private sector in India to open a Currency Chest on behalf of the RBI in April 1992. The FIRST private sector bank to open a NRI branch in November 1992. The FIRST bank in the private sector to start an Industrial Finance Branch in March 1993. The FIRST among the private sector banks in Kerala to open an "Overseas Branch" to cater exclusively to the export and import business in June 1993. The FIRST bank in Kerala to develop an in-house, a fully integrated branch automation software in addition to the in-house partial automation solution operational since 1992. The FIRST Kerala based bank to implement Core Banking System. The THIRD largest branch network among Private Sector banks, in India, with all its branches under Core banking System.