Indira Gandhi nationalized 14 major commercial banks in India.
On July 19, 1969, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's government executed the nationalization of 14 of India's largest commercial banks, initiating a monumental change in the country's financial structure. This move was part of her social reform policies aiming to align banks with governmental objectives, especially those concerning rapid development and eradication of poverty. The nationalization was a bold attempt to forge a tightly controlled economic environment, and it played a central role in her attempts to institutionalize sectors of the Indian economy, aiming for equitable wealth distribution and access to banking for the rural poor.