Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) was founded on 10th February 1937 by Shri. M.Ct.M. Chidambaram Chettyar, a pioneer in many fields.

The Bank was founded by him with the main objective of specializing in foreign exchange business in banking to take the Bank across the globe

IOB started business simultaneously - at Karaikudi, Chennai and Rangoon in Burma (presently Myanmar) followed by a branch in Penang, Malaysia.

At the dawn of Independence IOB had 38 branches in India and 7 branches abroad -and Deposits stood at Rs.6.64 Crores and Advances at Rs.3.23 Crores at that time.

IOB was one of the 14 major banks that were nationalized in 1969. On the eve of Nationalization in 1969, IOB had 195 branches in India with aggregate deposits of Rs.67.70 Cr. and Advances of Rs.44.90 Cr.

Bank Presently has its Overseas Presence in 4 Countries Singapore, Hongkong, Thailand and Srilanka.