Emirates NBD gets approval to up stake in India’s RBL Bank

Emirates NBD, Dubai’s largest bank by assets, has received permission from the Indian central bank to acquire a 74 percent stake in RBL Bank, an Indian private lender.

In January, the Dubai-listed bank received the nod from India’s competition regulator to complete the acquisition of a 60 percent stake in RBL Bank for $3 billion through a preferential issue, which was announced in October.

RBL Bank will be treated as a foreign bank subsidiary of Emirates NBD as per the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) approval, the Indian lender said in a statement. 

In addition, the RBI said it had no objection to Emirates NBD being classified as the “promoter” of RBL, the statement said.

The RBI approval is valid for one year from the date of the letter and is subject to additional clearances from the Securities and Exchange Board of India, the market regulator.

However, Emirates NBD’s voting rights in RBL Bank will be capped at 26 percent in line with provisions of Indian banking regulations.

In January, the Economic Times reported that RBL managing director and CEO R Subramaniakumar expected visibility on Emirates NBD’s capital infusion by the first quarter of the fiscal year 2027.

Emirates NBD is 56 percent held by the Dubai government-owned Investment Corporation of Dubai and Dubai Holding Group. The bank has operations in the UAE, Egypt, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, the UK, Austria, Germany and Bahrain and has 826 branches.

Emirates NBD shares, which trade on the Dubai Financial Market, closed 0.9 percent higher at 28.30 on Thursday and are down 3 percent so far this year.

Further reading:

• Emirates NBD signs $2.25bn in long-term financing
• Emirates NBD pays $1.7bn in dividends for 2025
• Upbeat results for UAE banks point to big year ahead