Mumbai: Royal Bank of Scotland Plc (RBS) will wind up its corporate, retail and institutional operations in India and shut its 10 retail branches, as it exits the country as part of a plan to reduce its global footprint.

“After examining a number of options for our banking business in India, we have decided to wind down our corporate, institutional and retail banking businesses in India. We sold the onshore loans portfolio and initiated the corporate and institutional business exit earlier this year," the bank said in a statement.

RBS said that it is committed to supporting its customers—as well as employees—through the transition and ensure least possible disruptions.

“We are committed to provide our employees with a range of support and will ensure that they are treated in a fair and transparent manner in line with RBS’s principles and local policies," the statement said.

RBS has less than 400 employees across operations in India, accroding to a spokesperson for the bank.

“All employees whose roles are affected by the decision have been communicated to and will be treated fairly according our global policies and in line with local market practice," said the spokesperson in response to a Mint query.

The move to shut Indian operations is part of RBS’s global plan to reduce its international operations to 13 countries from the current 38.

The plan was announced last year by chief executive officer Ross McEwan.

RBS has spent nearly eight years cutting down costs and reorganizing following a bailout by the UK government in the aftermath of the 2008 global financial crisis.

RBS is not alone in consolidating its business. A number of European banks have restricted overseas operations in the wake of stricter capital requirements in their home markets.

Earlier this year, Mint reported that Barclays Plc will shut its cash equities business in India. The lender will continue to focus on its wholesale banking and fixed income business in India.

Barclays’s overall pretax profit dropped 25% in quarter ended 31 March to £793 million pounds from £1.05 billion in the year-ago period.

In 2015, Standard Chartered Plc shut most of its equities business, including cash equities, equity research and equity capital operations, in India.

The bank’s other operations in the country include corporate loans, retail business and business banking. Its domestic corporate loan book saw a marked deterioration in asset quality in fiscal 2016.

On 23 February, Standard Chartered reported loss of $981 million from its India operations, while loan impairments, including restructured loans, across its India portfolio surged almost eightfold to $1.3 billion in 2015 from $171 million in 2014.

Overall, the UK-based lender’s loan impairments surged to $4 billion in 2015 from $2.14 billion in 2014.

RBS has gone a step further and decided to completely wind up Indian operations by exiting retail and corporate banking.

In India, it has already sold the offshore loan book and private banking business.

Earlier this year, Singapore-based DBS Group Holdings Ltd, and IDFC Bank Ltd were vying for the rest of the Indian banking business of RBS, Bloomberg reported.

RBS decided to wind up the business after failing to find a buyer, Reuters had reported last month.

“Foreign banks are winding down largely due to their home country situation, but Indian banking itself is becoming complicated as well. Further, any particular distinct selling proposition that foreign banks earlier used to enjoy, that has all gone for them now as local banks are shaping up at every front. Their profitability has shrunk and non-performing assets are also an issue," said Ashvin Parekh, managing partner at Ashvin Parekh Advisory Services Llp.

Bad loans at India’s banks have surged as over-extended corporate borrowers, hit by an economic downturn and stalled projects, found themselves unable to repay loans they took in the boom years to finance rapid expansion.

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