Citibank’s India consumer retail business is up for grabs as the global lender has announced it will exit its consumer business in 13 countries.
For the US-based bank that entered India in 1902, the Indian consumer banking business wasn’t contributing much to its overall profit.
“Some smaller private banks might be interested buyers of India portfolio as they are looking to scale-up in the segment,” said a note by Jefferies India Pvt.
While it has lost market share to large competitors such as HDFC Bank and SBI Card over the past decade, there has been a steady 15-20% growth in spends per card.
Spends per card in Citi’s portfolio have been consistently 15-20% higher than peers, the broker points out.
Of course, it all comes down to valuations and the details of its exit are yet to be finalised.
Its total deposit book was ₹1.6 trillion as of March 2020 with more than half made up of low cost current and savings account deposits.