SBI to open 30 overseas offices

The country's largest lender, State Bank of India, is planning to open another 30 overseas offices in the next year to increase its global balance sheet size.

The country's largest lender, State Bank of India, is planning to open another 30 overseas offices in the next year to increase its global balance sheet size.

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"We plan to add about 30 more overseas offices in our network in the next 12 month," a senior SBI official said.

SBI now has 151 offices across 32 countries, including the US, the UK, Singapore, Canada and Mauritius.

The focus of these offices is India-related business, the official said, adding the overseas operations take care of international needs of the bank's foreign customers, in addition to conducting retail operations.

At present, the bank's overseas business contributes about 16% to the bank's total business. The number of foreign offices increased from 92 in 2009 to 142 as on March 31, 2010.

The bank increased its stake from 50% to 55% in Nepal SBI Bank Ltd during the fiscal 2010, making it the bank's sixth foreign banking subsidiary.

In a bid to expand its Southeast Asia network, SBI is also on a look out for acquisition of a bank in Indonesia in cash deal not exceeding $100 million (about R450 crore).