Shanghai: India largest private sector lender ICICI Bank is set to expand its Chinese presence with the opening of a branch this weekend in Shanghai, China’s biggest city and a major global financial hub.
The branch is likely to be inaugurated on Saturday by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is on a three-day visit to China. ICICI Bank’s Managing Director and CEO Chanda Kochhar will also be present.
ICICI Bank, which has presence in 17 countries, already has a representative office in China and it has now got the regulatory approvals to open its first branch here, sources said.
The representative office in Shanghai was opened in 2003 by ICICI Bank’s then CEO K V Kamath.
Kamath was last week named the first chief of BRICS Bank, which would be incidentally based in Shanghai.
Some Indian public sector banks including SBI, UCO Bank, Canara Bank and Allahabad Bank have also expanded their China presence in the recent years to tap growing trade flows between the two countries.