Chris Thomas

BENGALURU, (Reuters) – Axis Bank in India is purchasing Citigroup Inc (NYSE: )’s local bank for consumers has been bought by $1.6 billion as part of its largest ever deal to increase its credit card businesses.

Citi has sold 13 retail banks in 13 countries, where Citi does not have enough scale. This is all part of Jane Fraser’s drive to overhaul Citi.

Citi was among the first lenders internationally to provide credit cards for Indians in 1987. But, Macquarie reports that it has lost 4% of its market share compared to 13% a decade earlier.

Axis will still benefit as it has access to Citi Cards, which have an average spend of 2.6 Million more than Indian cards.

3600 Citi employees will be moving to Axis in the course of this sale. This deal comes after a long auction, which included an opposition bid from Kotak Mahindra Bank.

Citi’s interest in Citi assets reflects Indian banks growing desire for business such as mortgages or credit cards, which could lead to long-term income growth.

It is anticipated that the sale will close by the end of 2015, and it excludes Citi’s Indian institutional clients businesses.

Citigroup issued an earlier statement regarding the sale. BusinessWire later requested that the bank recall this statement as it was too prematurely released. BusinessWire claimed that they were unaware of any inaccuracies.

Citi has not responded to my request for comment. Axis announced separately the agreement on Bombay Stock Exchange. (https://bityl.co/BXqP)

($1 = 75.8840 Indian Rupees).