DBS Bank's Indian subsidiary to start in Oct

Singapore-based DBS Bank, which will convert its Indian operations into a whollyowned subsidiary (WOS) in October, plans to scale up its network to 50 branches from 12 in one year.

Piyush Gupta, chief executive officer at DBS Bank said the process of morphing the current branch network into WOS was underway. The regulatory approval from the Reserve Bank of India is expected in the next few weeks. It received an in-principle approval from the RBI in September. The lender has established a corporate body for WOS.

The bank will increase its presence from 12 to 30 cities through its branches. While digibank — digital banking platform — is helping to expand reach, the brick and mortar presence was necessary for serving small and medium enterprises. Also, wealth management business needs "touch and feel" which is provided by branches.

It will start with a capital base of ~ 50 billion. The Singapore-based lender infused fresh capital worth ~ 5 billion in Indian operations in March. Its Indian operations are flush with capital and listing it on an Indian stock exchange is not on the agenda, Gupta added.

The lender will scale up hiring in India to support branch and network expansion plans. It will take on board 600-800 people in 12 months, said Surojit Shome, chief executive officer at DBS Bank India. Currently, it employs 1,200 people in India. Dwelling on its loan book, Gupta said the business was ~500 billion, out of which loans were ~220-230 billion.

A lot of India-linked business was being transacted through branches in Singapore, Hong Kong and London.