Axis Bank on Monday said it is yet to take a decision on the purchase of Citi’s India retail business. The bank was responding to a news report on the same.
“We would like to clarify that the said news item is speculative and the Bank does not comment on market speculation. The Bank has not taken any such decision in this regard and as such no disclosure is required to be made under Regulation 30 of the Listing Regulations,” Axis said in a notification to the stock exchanges.
Axis Bank is understood to be the frontrunner to take over the US lender’s retail business in India. FE reported on March 1 that the deal contours have been finalised.
The size of the deal is between $2 and $2.5 billion. The second part of the deal will include a service agreement, which will form a larger part of the transaction, under which Citi will continue to service the customers for a period of 12 to18 months. Axis Bank has nearly 8 million credit cards outstanding.
