Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is in the early stage of discussion with private sector lender YES Bank to sell its India retail assets.

The India retail and commercial operations accounted for less than 0.5 per cent of RBS' non-core assets and it would continue to wind down this business, RBS said in November 2012.

In 2007, a three-bank consortium, of which RBS is a part, acquired acquired Dutch bank ABN Amro. Following this, RBS has 31 branches in India. It was the largest acquisition in the global financial sector at then.

It may be recalled that RBS could not sell its India assets to Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) as talks between both the banks failed in November.

While officials from YES Bank declined to talk about the development, it is learnt that the bank would arrive at a value based on the quality of assets.

The move is in line with YES Bank’s strategy to expand its retail banking business aggressively. The bank also entered into new areas of retail lending in recent months. For instance, it has entered into a partnership with American Express Banking Corporation to sell co-branded credit cards to high-net worth clients.