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Informist, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026

 

NEW DELHI – Emirates NBD Bank is expected to get regulatory approvals for the 60% stake purchase in RBL Bank in the June quarter of 2026-27 (Apr-Mar), the Indian lender's management said Saturday. "Exact prediction is very difficult because there is no precedence to quote and then draw the conclusions out of it," the management said in a post-earnings press conference.

 

"We assume that going by what are the queries and conversations happening between the regulator and the applicant, we feel that it will take around two to three months. Q1 (of FY27) is what we will be able to see all the approvals to be in place and the rest of the process to follow."

 

In October, RBL Bank's board approved selling 60% stake to Dubai's Emirates NBD Bank for INR 268.50 billion. This will be the first acquisition of majority interest in a profitable Indian bank by a foreign bank.

 

RBL Bank has already received shareholder approval for the overall transaction, including the proposed capital infusion and amalgamation of Emirates NBD India branches into the bank. "Applications have been made for approval with other regulatory authorities, including the Reserve Bank of India, Government of India, Competition Commission of India, Citi, etc., and they are in various stages of progress," the lender's management said.

 

RBL Bank Saturday reported a net profit of INR 2.14 billion for the December quarter, lower than analysts' expectation of INR 2.38 billion. In the year-ago quarter, the bank's net profit was INR 326 million.

 

Once the capital infusion by Emirates NBD Bank takes place, RBL Bank will use it to expand branches, the Indian lender's management said. "The second, when the footprints grows, the focus on the granular deposit will remain steadfast, because that is something which will provide you a stability when you are undergoing the retail assets," the management said. "And the retail secured assets will be growing at a rate much faster than what we have been seeing."

 

The bank may also explore entering into for Small and Medium Enterprises banking, wealth management, and non-resident business. "...because if your brand becomes a little visible across the border, the global visibility will provide you an opportunity to grow in the city," RBL Bank's management said. "The granular things will work when the board meets."

 

The management expects margins to improve slightly in the March quarter despite a 25 basis points repo rate cut by the Reserve Bank of India's Monetary Policy Committee in December. The bank expects term deposits to reprice further in the March quarter, which, along with improved disbursal in better yielding assets, will help in improving margins. RBL Bank's net interest margin for the December quarter rose to 4.63% from 4.51% a quarter ago.

 

In terms of asset quality, the bank expects slippages in the credit card segment to remain high for another two or three quarters. The bank saw slippages worth INR 7.11 billion in the December quarter, of which INR 5.39 billion were in the credit card segment.

 

"The macro environment remains somewhat challenged. And we have parts of our portfolio which do seem to be under stress. And we are seeing some delays in the way in which those revolutions are happening," the bank's management said. "And therefore, we feel that we will take a couple of more quarters before we come to let's say a normalised run rate of slippages."  End

 

Reported by Shubham Rana and Shweta

Edited by Ashish Shirke

 

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