Shifting Citi

India has been a difficult market for foreign banks

Over the past few years, foreign banks have tended to cut back selectively on their exposures to India. While most such institutions have retained a presence in the institutional and investment banking domains, they have tended to pull out of the retail space. The latest to exit retail is Citigroup, which has just sold its business to Axis Bank in an all-cash deal worth about $1.6 billion. Prior to this, FirstRand, UBS, Barclays, BNP Paribas, HSBC, and RBS have all reduced their retail presence or exited altogether. This is partly due to onerous compliance requirements from the Reserve Bank of