Until the early twentieth century, Bankipore (or Bankipur, or Banki Bazaar) was the administrative centre of the Patna Division of Bihar, which came under the rule of the British East India Company (EIC) following the battle of Buxar in 1764.

Bankipore lies along an east–west axis on the south bank of the Ganges, some four kilometers west from the medieval Patna City, or Azimabad.

Its identification with Pataliputra was first noticed by Sir William Jones who was informed that Bankipore lay on the former confluence of the River Sone with the Ganges, a site that has shifted some distance upstream now-and one that matches Megasthenes' description.

[1] In 1912, Indian National Congress held its 27th session at Bankipore under the Presidency of Rao Bahadur Raghunath Narasinha Mudholkar from Amravati of Central Provinces and Berar.

The author E. M. Forster states[3] that the city of Chandrapore, in his novel A Passage to India (1924), "was suggested geographically by the town of Bankipore".