Brexit a ‘step back’ amid globalisation: SBI chief

India needs to ‘re-examine’ and ‘re-negotiate’ its trade access with EU, UK post Brexit

New York, July 5: India will need to “re-examine” and “re-negotiate” the trade access with the European Union (EU) and the UK after Brexit, according to State Bank of India chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya, who called the development a “step back” amid globalisation.

“I believe that we will benefit more by globalisation. Brexit is actually a step back in the sense that you are going back from being connected to being on your own. If you look at it ideologically, I would say Brexit is not something that probably is good for the world,” Bhattacharya said during a live Facebook chat with former chief digital officer at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Sree Sreenivasan.

During her stay in New York, Bhattacharya will be meeting investors and rating agencies.

Among the most powerful and influential women in the world of finance, Bhattacharya said Brexit is “not the right thing” as the more connected and more collaborative the world gets today, “it will be better for everyone”. “The less inclusive we become, I think it is not good for the world at large,” she said.

Bhattacharya noted that Brexit will not have too much of an direct impact on SBI. She said the bank has 12 branches in the UK that cater to particular niche operations. There is one branch that does wholesale operation might see some amount of slowing down.

Last month, Bhattacharya had said that Brexit will provide India better market access to the European Union and England, even as there will be some market volatility. “As risk aversion sets in, there would be a decline in financial markets and India would see this impact along with other nations. But as trade strategies are reworked, there could be potential advantages in the form of better market access for India to the EU and Britain,” Bhattacharya had said in a statement. PTI

SBI chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya