Foreign banks slashed workforce, loaned less in 2009-10
By IANSFriday, September 24, 2010
MUMBAI - In a year when India’s economy started shrugging off the negativity of the global financial crisis and companies began posting better profits, foreign banks in the country slashed their headcount and gave out fewer loans, according to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
The total loans expended by foreign lenders came down by 22.19 percent to Rs.159,286 crore in the previous fiscal compared to Rs.130,354 crore in 2008-09.
Foreign banks also cut down their workforce by 1,840 employees or about 6.2 percent to 27,742 in 2009-10, down from 29,582 in the financial year before that, according to the profile of banks compiled by the RBI.
Incidentally, the profit of such banks per employee dropped to Rs.17.09 crore in 2009-10 from Rs.25.39 crore in the previous fiscal.
There were 32 foreign banks operating in the country, which increased their footprint to 310 branches, a small increase from 295 in 2008-09.
Citibank gave out loans worth Rs.36,655 crore in 2009-10, down from Rs 39,920 crore in the previous fiscal, while Barclays Bank’s advances fell from Rs.10,551 in 2008-09 to Rs.7,565 crore in the last fiscal.
Hong Kong & Shanghai Banking Corp (HSBC) gave out Rs.23,475 crore, down from Rs 27,589 crore in the year before that. Royal Bank of Scotland NV’s lending fell to Rs.13,406 crore in 2009-10, against Rs.16,660 crore in the previous year.
However, Deutsche Bank’s advances went up to Rs.12,923 crore in the fiscal ending March, from Rs.8,798 crore in the previous year.
As per employee strength, Standard Chartered was the biggest with a headcount of 7,903, while Hong Kong & Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) had 6,685 employees.
Citibank with 4,613, Deutsche Bank with 1,498 and Barclays having 1,083 on their rolls were rest of the major employers.
Compared to foreign banks, Indian scheduled commercial lenders increased advances by 16.5 percent in 2009-10 at Rs.34,97,054 crore, while the total workforce employed went to 944,620 from 937,445 in 2008-089.
