The decision was taken at a Cabinet meeting chaired by King Abdullah. The meeting authorised Finance Minister Ibrahim Al-Assaf to decide on new applications by the bank to open its branches.
Apart from SBI, the other bank allowed to open branch is National Bank of Pakistan.
Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency has been instructed to coordinate with the banks to complete necessary formalities.
In the Gulf countries, the SBI operates in Bahrain and has full fledged operations in Oman, launched in April last year.
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