ANZ set to re-enter India after 10 years

After 10 years, Australian bank ANZ is set to re-enter the Indian market following the Reserve Bank of India's in-principal approval for a banking licence.

With the RBI nod, ANZ would be able to establish a bank branch in Mumbai as well as offer a range of retail and wholesale banking services.

After the final approval, ANZ expects to establish its first branch in the next 12 months, a report by The Age said.

ANZ's entry into India comes ten years after it sold its assets in India to Standard Chartered.

The licence is set to open a new front to the ambitious Asian expansion headed by the ANZ group chief executive, Mike Smith, it said.

The bank has been waiting more than a year for approval to enter the fast-growing Indian market.

"This is an important step for ANZ as part of a long term commitment to progressively rebuild our presence in India," said ANZ's Asia Pacific boss Alex Thursby.

In India, like other parts of Asia, ANZ is hoping to sell retail banking services to the nation's booming middle class.

Last year, ANZ took part in talks regarding a possible acquisition of 30 Royal Bank of Scotland branches in India but later pulled out of it.

ANZ has a mixed history in the Indian market through its previous ownership of Grindlays, which it sold to Standard Chartered in 2000. It owns a technology services business in Bangalore, which provides back office support for the bank's Australian and New Zealand operations.