(FE)
PUBLIC SECTOR banks are expected to close down around 70 of their total 216 foreign branches and other operations by the end of this year in order to cut costs and preserve capital, a senior Finance Ministry official said. State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, IDBI Bank and Bank of India are among the state-owned banks leading the process of scaling down overseas operations.
Leaving aside profitable operations — for instance, remittance offices in Gulf countries such as Oman and UAE — those not generating enough revenues are being closed down. “The banks have initiated sale of non-core assets, closure of unviable branches and other steps to reduce capital. So far, they have closed down 37 overseas operations and another 60-70 operations will be closed down by the end of the year. These operations are a combination of full-fledged branches, representative offices and remittances offices,” the official said, adding that some of the branches are being converted into smaller representative offices.
