One of the earliest banks in South India, "South Indian Bank" came into being during the Swadeshi movement. The establishment of the bank was the fulfillment of the dreams of a group of enterprising men who joined together at Thrissur, a major town (now known as the Cultural Capital of Kerala), in the erstwhile State of Cochin to provide for the people a safe, efficient and service oriented repository of savings of the community on one hand and to free the business community from the clutches of greedy money lenders on the other by providing need based credit at reasonable rates of interest.