(06 February 2013 – India) Union Bank of India (UBI) is the latest Indian bank to apply for permission to upgrade a representative office to a full branch in China.UBI put in the request just after its Shanghai branch completed the two-year mandatory period required to open a full-fledged branch in China.
The bank is just the latest in a string of Indian-government owned banks seeking profit from the growing India-China bilateral trade through finance deals.
Among Indian banks that have upgraded their representative offices into branches are the State Bank of India and Canara Bank.
Both their branches are located in Shanghai. Bank of India has opened a branch in Shenzhen while Bank of Baroda has a branch in Guangzhou.
Indian banks are fighting to expand their networks in China to take advantage of the growing trade that hit US$74.9 billion (A$72 billion) in 2011, last year, trade slowed to US$66.5 billion.