The country?s largest lender, State Bank in India (SBI), has drawn up an aggressive blueprint, which marks possible acquisitions, to expand its operations overseas.
A senior executive of the bank?s international banking division told FE that SBI is vetting a series of acquisition proposals in a bid to penetrate an unexplored market that has a high density of non-resident Indian population.
The SBI executive, who preferred not to be named, said, ?Such an acquisition could happen in Europe or North America where many banks are currently available at attractive valuations. Also, we are eyeing an increased presence in Africa and the Middle East.?
SBI has, meanwhile, denied media reports on Monday that it?s in discussions with Lehman Brothers to buy its ?Indian business?. Media reports have said SBI, StanChart, Barclays and BNP Paribas were in talks with the US investment bank.
?SBI does not have any interests in purchasing Lehman?s assets in India. There are no such proposals at present,? PTI quoted a top SBI official as saying.
Sources told FE that SBI would soon open its second branch in Hithadoo in Maldives. The bank is also in the process of upgrading its category IV office into a full service branch in Dubai?s renowned International Finance Centre (DIFC). As reported earlier by FE, DIFC would also house, India?s second largest lender, Punjab National Bank. Expanding its presence in the Republic of China, SBI opened its representative office in the province of Tianzing on June 16, 2008. Apart from promoting its business operations in Muscat and Bahrain, SBI is also expected to inaugurate its first branch in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia by the end of this fiscal.
Currently, SBI has foreign subsidiaries like SBI International (Mauritius) Ltd, State Bank of India California, State Bank of India Canada, and in Lagos. Till now, SBI had also made some small acquisitions like PT Bank IndoMonex of Indonesia and Mauritius based Indian Ocean International Bank. However, despite being the country?s largest bank, it has not yet made a major international acquisition of significant size.
The recent merger of SBI with State Bank of Saurashtra is expected to give it further scale within the country, and the financial markets are watching how the bank moves ahead after this integration.