Bank of India closes Botswana subsidiary

Bank of India (BoI) on Friday said the banking licence of its wholly-owned subsidiary -- Bank of India (Botswana) Ltd -- has been surrendered to the Regulator -- Bank of Botswana -- on December 5, 2019.

Hence, the overseas subsidiary is treated as closed with effect from December 5, 2019, the public sector bank said in a stock exchange filing.

BoI has taken a conscious decision to rationalise its overseas exposure to reduce operational cost.

In its annual report for FY2019, the bank said: “In consonance with the Government of India directives and as a part of strategic initiatives for rationalization of overseas operations, the Bank has decided to exit from certain foreign operations.

“During the year 2018-19, the bank has initiated closure of its subsidiary namely Bank of India (Botswana) Ltd. The impact of closure of operations in this territory on the business of the bank, is not material.”

As at September-end 2019, BoI had 25 overseas branches. The bank’s foreign deposits de-grew 17 per cent year-on-year (yoy) to ₹81,507 crore. Foreign advances declined 21 per cent y-o-y to ₹55,351 crore.