The survey on international trade in banking services for 2016-17 by RBI said, "The presence of foreign banks in India declined in terms of number of branches and employees during 2016-17; the number of overseas branches of Indian banks, on the other hand, increased but there was marginal reduction in their employee strength".

Foreign banks in India had 317 branches in 2015-16 which has come down to 286. At the same time, the employee base in these banks has also seen a drop from 26,642 to 24,766. On the assets side, the credit book of foreign banks dropped from Rs 3.77 lakh crore to Rs. 3.42 lakh crore in the period under consideration. Deposits however grew to Rs 4.64 lakh crore in comparison to Rs 4.57 lakh crore in the year ago period. Income also dropped to Rs 67,170 crore, a drop of 3.8% in comparison to the earlier year.

On the other hand, Indian banks increased their presence in the overseas markets with a marginal increase in the number of branches from189 to 192. Subsidiaries' of these banks also increased in number to 325. Employee strength at these branches dropped while went up at subsidiaries.

RBI's survey said, "The consolidated balance sheet of all the three categories of banks with cross-border presence (viz., overseas branches of Indian banks, overseas subsidiaries of Indian banks and foreign banks in India) contracted during 2016-17, reflecting tepid global economic activity".

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