Public Sector Banks in India are in the process of rationalising and nearly 70 overseas operations will be shut down as a part of this exercise.
According to official statistics, 159 branches of PSBs are operating in foreign countries, of which 41 branches were reported to be in losses in 2016-17.
The data further suggested that State Bank of India (SBI) has the largest number of branches in the list of overseas market, running in loss, followed by Bank of India and Bank of Baroda with eight and seven branches, respectively.
As per the sources, the unviable foreign operations are being closes while several branches running in the same cities or nearby areas are being rationalised, in a bid to achieve efficiency.
Last years, Indian Public sector banks (PSBs) shut 35 foreign operations.
According to the data, 159 branches of PSBs are operating in foreign countries, of which 41 branches were in losses in 2016-17.
PSBs had about 165 overseas branches, besides subsidiaries, joint ventures and representative offices, as on January 31, 2018.
In adherence to the banking sector agenda approved at the PSB Manthan in November last year, PSBs have to go conduct rationalisation of overseas operations for cost efficiencies and synergies in overseas markets, based on competitive strength and viability.
