SBI to shut down nine foreign branches as part of rationalisation

New Delhi: State Bank of India is in the process of closing down nine more foreign branches after shuttering six such branches as part of rationalising overseas operations, a senior official said on Wednesday.

The lender has operations in 36 countries with 190 branches, according to SBI website.

"As part of our foreign branch rationalisation, we have closed about six branches already in the last two years. There are nine more branches under the process to be closed down," Managing Director (Retail & Digital Banking) at SBI Parveen Kumar Gupta said.

In an interview to PTI, he said capital is generally a constraint for most of the bank sites. "Obviously, you want to use your capital at the place where it is best utilised," he noted.

Not all the branches in the foreign locations are full-fledged offices, he said, adding that in countries like Bangladesh and South Africa there are some small branches as well as some retail branches and there is need to rationalise them.