On September 10, 2013, CCI approved the proposal by Ratnakar Bank Limited (‘Ratnakar Bank’) to acquire Royal Bank of Scotland’s (‘RBS’) credit card business, mortgage portfolio and banking business.

Ratnakar Bank is a banking company within the meaning of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949. Spread over 125 branches, it presently provides retail banking, treasury and financial services, corporate and institutional banking, agro-banking etc. to its customers in India. RBS is a wholly owned subsidiary of RBS Holdings N.V. and is incorporated in Denmark. Apart from retail and corporate banking, RBS carries out a number of other financial services including insurance and wealth management services, transaction banking, fixed income and foreign exchange products and services etc. through 24 branches in India.

In making its assessment, CCI noted that the Indian banking sector is characterized by the presence of a large number of scheduled commercial banks operating through a significant number of branches. In comparison, both Ratnakar Bank and RBS had a relatively small number of branches operating in India. CCI further observed that while RBS would exit the credit card business mortgage business and banking business in India, Ratnakar Bank did not currently operate a credit card business. Moreover, after the proposed combination, the presence of Ratnakar Bank in the mortgage and banking businesses in India would be insignificant.

On this basis, CCI approved the proposed acquisition as not likely to raise any appreciable adverse effect on competition (‘AAEC’) in India.

For further information, please contact:

Zia Mody, AZB & Partners
[email protected]

Abhijit Joshi, AZB & Partners 
[email protected]

Shuva Mandal, AZB & Partners 
[email protected]

Samir Gandhi, AZB & Partners
[email protected]

Percy Billimoria, AZB & Partners 
[email protected]

Aditya Bhat, AZB & Partners 
[email protected]