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ABN Amro hunts for Indian acquisitions

Dutch banking group ABN Amro is aggressively looking at possible acquisitions among India's private banks in order to grow rapidly in an emerging market, a top official said on Thursday.

"We have been doing a scan for many months now. We have shortlisted every bank that is available," Romesh Sobti, chief executive of ABN Amro's Indian unit, told Reuters on the sidelines of a bank service launch.

Sobti said ABN is keen to acquire management control and he did not expect any regulatory hurdles to come in the way.

"I think there is reasonable clarity now. That phase is over. Next phase will be when banks will try to find out where there is a match between what is available and what they want to buy, who wants to sell and what is the price they will sell at."

The Reserve Bank of India in February confirmed that it had raised its foreign direct investment limit in private banks to 49 per cent from 20 per cent while retaining the ceiling on foreign investors' voting rights to 10 per cent.

Local media has speculated that ABN Amro is interested in taking a major stake in local private sector Global Trust Bank.

"On specific names, we cannot comment. The process is on to look at the scan," Sobti said, adding that it is likely to be completed in a few months.

Some Indian banks have the latest technology and offer the same kind of services and products as foreign banks do, and would fit easily with the few global banking giants operating in the country, banking analysts say.

ABN AMRO Bank acquired the retail assets of Bank of America's Indian operations a few years ago.

Private sector Vysa Bank, an old private bank, earlier this year said that Dutch group ING's Bank Brussels wanted to take control of it when regulations permit. It currently holds 20 per cent in Vysa.

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