Islamabad: India and Pakistan are working on allowing three banks to set up branches on each other's soil to help improve trade relations.
In August 2012, it was announced that both sides have agreed to issue a full banking licence to two banks from each country.
The two Indian banks that were allowed to operate in Pakistan were State Bank of India and Bank of India.
On the other hand, quasi-state owned National Bank of Pakistan and privately-owned United Bank Ltd were selected for running full-banking operations in India, once licensed by the country.
However, there was not much forward movement on that. Pakistan Commerce Minister Khurram Dastagir Khan told PTI here that the issue was raised with his Indian counterpart Anand Sharma in New Delhi during a visit by Pakistan's Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif.
“We were told there that Reserve Bank of India had since, I would say lessened its restrictions, it is no longer two banks. Any bank that fulfils the requirement can apply. For the time being, we are working on three banks each,” he said.
