HSBC, one of the largest banking sector and financial services organisations in the world, on Thursday announced its plans to shut down 24 retail branches across India. The bank said it plans to consolidate to 26 branches in 14 cities across the country.
At present HSBC India has 50 branches in 29 cities.
The bank's review of wealth management business and retail banking shows that more and more customers now opt for digital banking services, Reuters reported.
In January 2016, the bank had announced it would exit its private banking units in India as part of its strategy.
"India is a priority market for HSBC and we will continue to invest to achieve sustainable growth by supporting the needs of our customers," Stuart Milne, CEO of HSBC India said in a statement.
The London-based banking giant said it plans to invest "further" in wealth management business and in retail banking. It also said the consolidation of the branch network will happen over the next few months, the Indian Express reported.
According to reports, as many as 300 employees (less than one percent) of its workforce will be affected by the bank's consolidation decision.
The lists of branches to be shut down are: Delhi (two branches), Guwahati branch, Indore branch, Jodhpur branch, Kolkata (five branches), Mysore branch, Nagpur branch, Nasik branch, Pune (one branch), Raipur branch, Surat branch, Trivandrum branch, Vadodara branch and Vishakhapatnam branch, the Indian Express added.
In a separate move, HSBC earlier this week announced it has started dismissing about 840 information technology jobs in Britain. In the United Kingdom alone, it plans to cut about 8,000 jobs, which the bank proposed as part of its restructuring plan.
