Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify the critical success factors for sustainable growth of the Indian banking sector and develop a model for Indian banks by using interpretive structural modelling (ISM). It suggests some of the critical measures of sustainability for Indian banks. Design/methodology/approach This paper aims to establish a relationship among the factors of sustainable banking through the opinion of experts from the banking sector. ISM approach is applied to bring down the complexity of relationship among factors. ISM ranked the factors as per their ability to facilitate and dependence on other factors and helps to develop a comprehensive, systematic model based on the relationship amongst those factors. After developing the model, second reviews by the experts are conducted for their comments and thus, the final model comes into existence. Findings Legal and environmental compliance is determined as the key factor which is driving the other factors of sustainable banking. It will surely going to pose a challenge for business concerns for initiating various sustainable steps that will be a motivational factor for generating business opportunities and sustainable collaboration. Practical implications The study provides a comprehensive framework of sustainable banking which can be applied to various Indian banks. It helps to develop coherence between conventional and sustainable dimensions of banking. Originality/value The ISM is applied for the first time in case of sustainability in the banking sector to bring about a model for sustainable banking in India.