Which two public sector banks have their head offices at Chennai?

The correct answer is B, Mumbai. The Reserve Bank of India has had its central office at Bombay, now Mumbai, since 1937, and it has stayed there ever since. Option A is wrong, but it is the strongest distractor, because the Reserve Bank was established on 1 April 1935 with its central office at Calcutta, and the office was moved two years later; a question that asks where the Reserve Bank was first located does take Kolkata as the answer. Option C is wrong because New Delhi is the seat of the central government and of the finance ministry, not of the central bank. Option D is wrong because Chennai is the headquarters of Indian Bank and Indian Overseas Bank, two public sector banks, but not of the Reserve Bank.

The correct answer is C, Vadodara. Bank of Baroda has its head office at Vadodara in Gujarat, the city formerly called Baroda, from which the bank takes its name, and that link between the name and the city is the simplest way to remember the fact. Option A is wrong because Mumbai is the headquarters of the State Bank of India, Bank of India, Union Bank of India and Central Bank of India, and a candidate who guesses Mumbai for every bank will get this one wrong. Option B is wrong because Ahmedabad is the largest city of Gujarat but is not the seat of this bank. Option D is wrong because Surat, also in Gujarat, has no public sector bank headquartered in it. Bank of Baroda is also the one public sector bank with Gujarat as its base, which is a useful way to fix it against the four Mumbai banks.

The correct answer is B, Bank of Baroda. India's International Bank is the line by which Bank of Baroda is best known, and it reflects the bank's long presence in overseas markets. Option A is wrong because the State Bank of India is known by the lines The Banker to Every Indian and Pure Banking, Nothing Else. Option C is wrong because Bank of India uses Relationship Beyond Banking, and the similarity of the two names, Bank of Baroda and Bank of India, is what makes this question worth setting. Option D is wrong because Indian Overseas Bank uses Good People to Grow With; the word overseas in its name tempts a candidate towards it in a question about an international bank, which is exactly the trap.

The correct answer is C, New Delhi. Punjab National Bank is headquartered at New Delhi, as is Punjab and Sind Bank, so both the public sector banks with Punjab in their names are based in the capital rather than in the state. Option A is wrong because Chandigarh, though the capital of Punjab and Haryana, has no public sector bank headquartered in it. Option B is wrong because Amritsar is the city where Punjab National Bank was founded in the late nineteenth century, which makes it the most tempting wrong answer in this set. Option D is wrong because Ludhiana is the largest industrial city of Punjab but is not the seat of either bank. The lesson is that the name of a bank points to its origin, not always to its present head office.

The correct answer is A, Kolkata. UCO Bank is headquartered at Kolkata and is the public sector bank most often asked about in connection with that city; its tagline is Honours Your Trust. Option B is wrong because Mumbai holds the State Bank of India, Bank of India, Union Bank of India and Central Bank of India among the public sector banks, as well as most of the large private banks. Option C is wrong because Bhubaneswar, the capital of Odisha, has no public sector bank headquartered in it. Option D is wrong because Patna, the capital of Bihar, likewise has none. Grouping the banks by city, with Mumbai holding four, Chennai two, New Delhi two and Kolkata one, is the fastest way to answer this whole family of questions.