RBS to announce results today, decision on Indian biz likely

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) will be announcing its annual results on Thursday. With this, the future of its Indian operations will become clearer as a decision on the future of its business in the country will also be announced. The bank has been in the process of shrinking its business in India. In May 2013, the lender had announced it had started the process of consolidating its retail and commercial banking business. As a result RBS had shut down 23 of its 31 branches in the country. Currently, RBS has 10 branches in India and mainly focuses on wholesale banking. According to the lender's financial statement, the asset base in India decreased to Rs 20,366.28 crore at the end of March 2014 from Rs 26,359.57 crore in the same period a year ago. In FY14 the British lender posted a 58 per cent jump in pre-tax profit from its India franchise at Rs 662.11 crore.