It awaits a political clearance from the Centre. RBI has forwarded its application to the finance ministry for a formal approval before the bank is granted the license to start the branch.
Credit Suisse may become the first Swiss bank to open its maiden branch in India at Mumbai.
Since only recently the Swiss banks have refused to respond to India's query on the Indians having their accounts with them, the Manmohan Singh government may explore slapping a condition of transparency while granting the permission, sources in the ministry said.
They said the ministry was examining how the transparency clause can be thrust upon Credit Suisse, the second biggest bank in Switzerland, to dig out names of Indians having accounts with it and particularly prevent the Indians siphoning off their money to Switzerland through the proposed Mumbai branch.
The RBI will proceed with approval of the bank unless the finance ministry conveys objections, if any, in the grant of license, say a letter to Finance Secretary Ashok Chawla from the RBI's Chief General Manager Vinay Baijal.
The letter dated September 2 also stresses that the ministry should better convey its views within 30
days to reduce the overall time in processing the bank's application.
It says the application was processed under the liberalised policy for foreign banks' presence in India and as such the RBI is inclined to allow Credit Suisse to open its branch in Mumbai as it complies with all the parameters.
Once India permits a Swiss bank in India, the finance ministry sources said it will pave the way for demanding a reciprocal permission to an Indian bank to open its branch in Switzerland.
Based in Zürich, the Credit Suisse was founded in 1856; its market capitalisation as of 2007 is $ 95.2 billion, and the company has about 40,000 employees.
Credit Suisse Group currently has its presence in India through two asset management companies working under the regulatory framework of Security and Exchange Board of India. They are: Credit Suisse Securities (India) Private Limited and Credit Suisse First Boston.
The two groups were granted license by SEBI only in June this year. Quoting the SEBI's response, the RBI letter says, "It appeared reasonable to conclude that SEBI did not have regulatory discomfort as far as operations of the security arms of the Credit Suisse Group were concerned."
Credit Suisse Securities (I) Pvt Ltd is registered with SEBI as merchant banker and brokers of Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange.
