Mohammed Sajib at 02:12, 9 December 2025

2025-12-09T02:12:57Z

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{{Short description|Defunct bank of India}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2015}}
{{Use Indian English|date=November 2015}}

The '''Alliance Bank of Simla''' was a British-run though [[India]]-registered bank that commenced operations in [[Shimla|Simla]] in 1874 under the management of [[Worplesdon Place Hotel, Guildford#Sir James Lewis Walker and Lady Catherine Featherston Walker|James Lewis Walker]]. The bank was established to take over the business of the '''[[United Bank of India (1866–1874)|United Bank of India]]''', established in 1866, which had operations in Simla and [[Umballa]]. Its board put the United Bank of India in voluntary liquidation on 21 March 1874, and Alliance Bank commenced operations two days later.<ref name=Cyclo>''The Cyclopedia of India: biographical, historical, administrative, commercial'', (1907), Volume 1, p.248.</ref> After 49 years, Alliance Bank failed on 27 April 1923 due to speculation by its management. At the time that it failed it had 36 branches, including ones in [[Lahore]], [[Lucknow]], [[Peshawar]], [[Rawalpindi]], and [[Yangon|Rangoon]].

==History==
Alliance Bank expanded by taking over the operations of other failed banks. By doing so it was able to extend its branch network and reduce the competition that some of its branches faced.

It was the liquidator for [[Punjab Bank (1862–1877)|Punjab Bank]] (est. 1862), and subsequently opened branches at [[Murree]] (10 July 1877), Rawalpindi (6 August 1877), and Lahore (16 January 1878). Alliance Bank then opened branches at Umballa on 14 July 1885 and [[Cawnpore]] on 1 December 1887. Branches in [[Calcutta]] (15 October 1889), [[Ajmere]] (2 February 1891), [[Agra]] (1 February 1894), and [[Bombay]] (16 February 1903) followed.<ref name=Cyclo/>

[[File:Reserve Bank of India ZTC, Kolkata (Calcutta), Council House Street.JPG|thumb|upright|Alliance Bank, later the Reserve Bank of India, on [[Council House Street]], Kolkata (Calcutta)]]
Alliance Bank opened its Calcutta branch on 15 October 1889 at 8, Council House Street in Central Kolkata's [[Dalhousie Square]] (now BBD Bagh). The firm [[Martin Burn|Martin & Co.]], founded by Sir [[Rajendra Nath Mookerjee]] and Sir [[Thomas Acquin Martin]], built the building, which still exists. After Alliance Bank failed, the [[Imperial Bank of India]] took over the building. After the Imperial Bank became the [[Reserve Bank of India]] in 1935, the Reserve Bank took over the premises.

Alliance was appointed the liquidator of '''[[Himalaya Bank]]''' (est. 1874), and opened a branch at [[Mussoorie]] on 21 August 1891. Next, it was the liquidator for [[Lloyd's Bank]]'s branch at [[Darjeeling]] and opened a branch there on 1 January 1896.<ref name=Cyclo/>

Early In 1913, it acquired some of the assets and liabilities of '''[[The Bank of Upper India]]''', which had been founded in [[Meerut]] in 1862 and had been the first joint-stock bank in India. This bank had opened a branch in Agra after the failure of [[Agra and Masterman's Bank]]. It had short-lived branches in Cawnpore and [[Faizabad|Fyzabad]], and more successful ones in Simla (est. 1885), Lucknow, [[Allahabad]], [[Bareilly]], [[Naini Tal]], [[Delhi]] and Mussoorie.<ref>''The Cyclopedia of India: biographical, historical, administrative, commercial'', (1907), Volume 2, p.385.</ref>

Then in 1916 Alliance Bank acquired the Indian business and six Indian branches of '''[[Delhi and London Bank]]''' (est. 1844). Boulton Brothers, of London, acquired the London business of Delhi and London Bank.<ref>Jones (1995), p.407.</ref> Alliance and Boulton Brothers had been associated since 1914.<ref name=Jones157>Jones (1995), pp.157–158.</ref>

Alliance Bank also acquired in 1916 '''[[Punjab Banking Company]]''', which Sir [[David Parkes Masson|David P. Masson]] had founded in Lahore in 1889. The bank had branches in [[Abbottabad]], [[Dalhousie, India|Dalhousie]], [[Ferozepore]], [[Jullundar]], [[Karachi]], Cantonment [sic], [[Multan]], [[Nowshera, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa|Naushera]] (in the North-west Frontier province), [[Quetta]], [[Peshawar]], [[Sialkot]], Simla, and [[Srinagar]].

In 1917 Alliance Bank acquired the '''[[Bank of Rangoon]]''' (est. 1906),<ref name=Shirras>[[George Findlay Shirras]] (1920) ''Indian finance and banking''. (Macmillan), p.363.</ref> which had a branch in [[Madras]] in addition to its head office in Rangoon.

In 1922, Alliance Bank moved its headquarters to [[Kolkata|Calcutta]], shortly before the bank's collapse and closure in 1923.

==Failure==
Boulton Bros. engaged in fraudulent transactions that brought them down, and Alliance Bank as well.<ref name=Jones157/>
When Alliance Bank failed, the Imperial Bank took over its assets. For instance, Imperial Bank took over Alliance Bank's branch in Lahore and promised payment of 50% of the amount owed to creditors.<ref>[https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/64309026/4569701 ''The Register'' (Adelaide, SA), 2 July 1923, p.12 "INDIAN BANK'S DIFFICULTIES".]</ref>

== See also ==
{{Portal|Banks}}

* [[List of banks that have merged to form the State Bank of India]]

==Citations==
{{reflist|30em}}

==References==
*Bagchi, Amiya Kumar. (1987) ''The evolution of the State Bank of India, the roots, 1806-1876''. (Bombay & New York: Oxford University Press). {{ISBN|978-0761996965}}
*Jones, Geoffrey (1995) ''British Multinational Banking, 1830-1990''. (Clarendon Press). {{ISBN|978-0198206026}}

{{Banking in India}}

[[Category:Defunct banks of India]]
[[Category:Banks established in 1874]]
[[Category:Banks disestablished in 1923]]
[[Category:1923 disestablishments in India]]
[[Category:Indian companies established in 1874]]

Alliance Bank of Simla - Revision history

Mohammed Sajib at 02:12, 9 December 2025