British banking major Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is in advanced talks to sell its Indian commercial and retail businesses to HSBC.

The Edinburgh-based RBS has over 1.3 million customers, 28 branches and 1,800 employees in India. The bank recently completed re-branding of its India operations after it acquired ABN Amro Bank.

According to reports, Reserve Bank of India is reluctant to permit RBS to sell all its branches to HSBC. Hence, RBS may retain few branches it operates in the metros cities of India, and also the corporate and treasury operations.

RBS, which is 84% owned by the British government, was mandated by the European Union to sell its non core assets to compensate for state aid. It has sold over 20 businesses in the last 14 months and several more are expected soon.

RBS, which sold its Kazakhstan retail business to HSBC for $52m recently, is also expected to sell its investment banking arm in Chile.