Vijaya Bank, a medium sized bank with presence across India was founded on October 23, 1931 by A. B. Shetty and other enterprising farmers in Mangalore, Karnataka in India. The objective of the founders was essentially to promote banking habits, thrift and entrepreneurship among the farming community of Dakshina Kannada district in Karnataka State. The bank became a scheduled bank in 1958. Vijaya Bank steadily grew into a large All India bank, with nine smaller banks merging with it from 1963-68. The credit for this merger as well as growth goes to Mulki Sunder Ram Shetty,who was then the Chief Executive of the bank. The bank was nationalised on April 15, 1980.
