RBS in talks to sell Indian private banking unit to Sanctum Wealth

MUMBAI, July 27 (Reuters) - Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc is in talks to sell its Indian private banking business to Sanctum Wealth Management, a firm set up by its local private banking business head Shiv Gupta, a spokeswoman for the bank said on Monday.

Switzerland's Union Bancaire Privee in March said it was buying the overseas business of British wealth manager Coutts from RBS (LSE: RBS.L - news) , as part of the bank's drive to pull back from foreign markets and focus on UK retail and commercial banking.

RBS' India private banking business was not part of that deal.

RBS has signed a non-binding framework agreement and is now in discussions to sell the Indian private banking unit to Sanctum Wealth, the spokeswoman said in an e-mailed statement, without giving details.

"This marks another step towards delivering the strategy to make RBS a stronger, simpler, more sustainable business, more aligned with the needs of our customers in the U.K. and Western Europe," the statement said. (Reporting by Sumeet Chatterjee, editing by Louise Heavens)