Major foreign banks operating in India like Citibank NA, Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, Royal Bank of Scotland NV (RBS) and Barclays Bank are continuously in the process on reducing the size of their loan book and workforce from their Indian operations.

Data released by Reserve Bank of India suggests that year on year growth reported by foreign lenders stood at 12.8% as against negative 7.2% last year.

Private banks have shown a decent growth of 21.7%. Public sector lenders however made the highest contribution in the growth of the banking sector recording a stable 22.4% growth on y-o-y basis.

UK based lenders namely HSBC, RBS and Barclays Bank have significantly reduced their manpower. The employee count of HSBC has reduced by 761 people, as per the latest data released by RBI. Royal Bank of Scotland has also reduced its loan book by 19.53% and its employee base has also seen a cut by 525 people.

The headcount of Barclays has seen a slippage by 450 people. US based lender, Citibank has reduced its employee base by 182 people.

"Banks like Citibank, Barclays and RBS have seen a lot of pressure on their global business owing to the financial turmoil. Citibank's exposure to the crises has been massive, leading to a drop in their advances locally. However, Standard Chartered Bank and Deutsche have focused more on grow their domestic business, so the pressure on them is comparatively lesser," said Shefali Goradia, partner, BMR Advisors.