HSBC to halve branches in India, slash 300 jobs

Mumbai, May 19

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British banking major HSBC today announced a consolidation exercise under which it will almost halve the number of branches in the country to 26, which will lead to 300 job losses.

The total number of branches will come down to 26 in 14 cities from 50 in 29 cities earlier, with a bulk of impact on presence in smaller centres. It added that the impacted branches account for only 10% of the customer base in the country.

The exercise will lead to over 300 job losses, which is less than 1% of its total workforce of over 33,000 people in the country.

“Customer expectations are changing rapidly and we need to adapt accordingly. India is a priority market for HSBC and we will continue to invest to achieve sustainable growth by supporting the needs of our customers,” HSBC India’s chief executive Stuart Milne said.

A list of the impacted branches shared by the bank illustrated that it is withdrawing from smaller cities and towns but will continue to keep its presence in the metros and big cities.

It is closing branches in Guwahati, Indore, Jodhpur, Lucknow, Ludhiana, Thane, Mysore, Nagpur, Nashik, Patna, Raipur, Surat, Trivandrum, Vadodara and Vishakapatnam, while bigger cities like Kolkata (5 branches), Chennai (1), Delhi (2) and Pune (1) will also be impacted.

The bank will continue to have its presence in Ahmedabad, Bengaluru (2 branches), Chennai, Coimbatore, Gurgaon, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kochi, Kolkata, Mumbai (9), New Delhi (3), Noida and Pune, it said. pti