Government pushing SBI expansion in US

During the US treasury secretary Henry Paulson’s visit to India, the Government of India is expected to take the issues of repeated delays in grant of US branch license to State Bank of India and Bank of Baroda. Last month finance minister P Chidambaram had raised the issue with Paulson, which led to ICICI Bank getting branch license but State Bank of India and Bank of Baroda’s request are still pending and no explanation is stated for the delay.
Despite the opposition from the Reserve Bank of India and Commerce Ministry, Finance Ministry managed to lift the freeze on US Banks and gave three licenses to Citibank, which had sought permission to 37 branches in the country.
The government has taken a strong stand and has warned US that no further requests would be taken up till Indian Banks get permission.