The Central Bank of India was established on 21 December 1911 by Sir Sorabji Pochkhanawala with Sir Pherozeshah Mehta as Chairman, and was the first commercial Indian bank completely owned and managed by Indians.

Central Bank of India, a government-owned bank, is one of the oldest and largest commercial banks in India. It is based in Mumbai which is the financial capital of India and capital city of state of Maharashtra. The bank has 4730 branches, 5319 ATM's and 4 extension counters across 27 Indian states and three Union Territories. At present, Central Bank of India has overseas office at Nairobi, Hong Kong and a joint venture with Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, and the Zambian government. The Zambian government holds 40 per cent stake and each of the banks has 20 per cent. Recently it has also opened a representative office at Nairobi in Kenya.As on 31 March 2015, the bank's reserves and surplus stood at 2.84 M(approx). Its total business at the end of the last fiscal amounted to 4.5 M(approx).