- As a part of the reform process, the finance ministry has asked public sector banks (PSBs) to look at rationalising their domestic and overseas branches.
- The banks have been advised to pursue closure of loss making domestic and international branches as part of capital saving exercise. Since,There is no point in running loss making branches and putting burden on the balance sheet.
- Many banks, including State Bank of India (SBI) and Punjab National Bank (PNB), have already taken initiative.
- As part of the rationalisation strategy, PNB is exploring possibility of selling a stake in its UK subsidiary PNB International. Bank of Baroda and SBI are also examining the issue of consolidation.
- Bank of Baroda has presence across 24 countries through 107 branches/offices. It has 59 branches in 15 countries, while 47 branches operate through Bank’s 8 Overseas subsidiaries. The country’s largest lender SBI has 195 foreign offices spread across 36 countries.

