The Reserve Bank of India today released the November 2016 issue of its monthly RBI Bulletin. It includes a speech by Deputy Governor (R. Gandhi) and an article each based on Survey on International Trade in Banking Services (ITBS): 2015-16; and a Survey on Computer Software & Information Technology Enabled Services (ITES) Exports : 2015-16. It also carries a regular feature on Current Statistics.

Survey on International Trade in Banking Services (ITBS) : 2015-16

This article provides information on International Trade in Banking Services (ITBS) for India pertaining to branches/subsidiaries of Indian banks operating abroad and foreign banks operating in India. Consistent and comparable data are captured for various financial services rendered by these bank branches based on explicit/implicit fee/commission charged to customers. The survey covered 201 overseas branches, 249 overseas subsidiaries of Indian banks and 317 branches of foreign banks operating in India.

Main Findings:

• The cross-border presence of Indian banks has increased over the years in line with the growing demands from cross-border trade and other activities. The number of branches of foreign banks in India increased marginally in 2015-16 with an associated increase in their employee-strength.

• The business of Indian banks’ branches operating abroad grew at a slower pace in 2015-16 than in the previous year and their consolidated balance sheet increased by 4.0 per cent as compared with 13.5 per cent witnessed in 2014-15; on the other side, the business of foreign banks’ branches operating in India showed improvement and their consolidated balance sheet increased by 9.0 per cent in 2015-16 on top of 2.8 per cent growth a year ago.

• The fee income generated by overseas branches of Indian banks declined to ₹ 86.8 billion (US$ 1.3 billion) in 2015-16 from ₹ 94.3 billion (US$ 1.5 billion) a year ago. Fee income of foreign banks’ branches operating in India also declined to ₹ 70.8 billion (US$ 1.1 billion) from ₹ 72.7 billion (US$ 1.2 billion) in the previous year.

The data relating to the results of Survey on International Trade in Banking Services: 2015-16 were earlier released on the RBI website vide Press release No.2016-2017/970 on October 19, 2016.

Survey on Computer Software & Information Technology Enabled Services Exports: 2015-16

The article on Survey on Computer Software & Information Technology Enabled Services Exports: 2015-16 presents information on export of software services as per the nature of activity, type of services (on-site/off-site) and country of destination along with the four modes of supply (cross-border supply, consumption abroad, commercial presence and presence of natural person). The latest survey round covered 1,162 companies, including most of the large companies, and covered 77.6 per cent of the total estimated software exports during 2015-16.

• India’s total export of computer services and ITES/BPO services (excluding commercial presence) during 2015-16 is estimated at ₹ 5,763.1 billion (US$ 88.0 billion), registering 7.3 per cent growth in US $ terms over the previous year. Exports of ‘computer services’ and ‘ITES/BPO services’ contributed for 71.2 per cent and 28.8 per cent, respectively, of the total software services exports.

• During 2015-16, the share of export of software services through Mode-3 (commercial presence) increased whereas the shares of both Mode-1 (cross-border supply) and Mode-4 (presence of natural person) declines. Nevertheless, cross-border supply continued to have highest share in such exports.

The data relating to the results of Survey on Computer Software & Information Technology Enabled Services Exports: 2015-16 were earlier released on the RBI website vide Press release No. 2016-2017/981 on October 20, 2016.

Alpana Killawala
Principal Adviser

Press Release : 2016-2017/1173