On a new voyage: Why banks are scaling down their global ambitions

The heady days of setting up shop abroad by banks are over, and a nuanced and tech-based approach will be the way ahead, report Abhijit Lele and Raghu Mohan

Banks are crafting a new foreign operations strategy — be it branches, representative offices, or joint ventures. They have cut the number of offices to 253 in 2018-19 (the latest systemic data) from 309 in 2016-17 — the fall being the sharpest in branches — to 145 from 186. This is part of banks’ effort to either conserve or free up capital, and to slash operating costs.

Within state-run banks, the sharpest reductions in this footprint have been made by the pack leaders: Bank of Baroda — to 36 from 50; and State Bank of India (SBI) — to