Emirates NBD announced that it has received approval from the Reserve Bank of India for its plan to merge its branches in India into RBL Bank Limited, with the merger taking effect on December 1, 2026.

According to a disclosure the bank filed with the Dubai Financial Market on October 19, 2026, all Emirates NBD branches in India will operate as RBL Bank branches from the date the merger takes effect.

The approval follows Emirates NBD's completion of its acquisition of a 60% stake in RBL Bank.

Emirates NBD had obtained all the regulatory and government approvals needed to acquire a controlling majority stake in RBL Bank, one of India's leading private-sector banks, after the Indian government completed its formal approval process, the bank said in a statement on Monday.

The deal was announced on October 18, 2025, with an investment of about USD 3 billion (roughly 268.5 billion Indian rupees). According to the statement, it is the largest equity capital raise in India's banking sector, and the first time a foreign banking institution has acquired a majority stake in a profitable Indian bank.

Emirates NBD is the leading financial services brand in the United Arab Emirates, with a brand value of USD 3.87 billion. As of June 30, 2025, its total assets stood at about USD 296 billion, and its net profit for the first half of financial year 2025 was around USD 3.4 billion (full-year 2024 net profit: USD 6.25 billion). Emirates NBD operates in the UAE, Egypt, India, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, the United Kingdom, Austria, Germany and Bahrain, with a total of 826 branches and 4,555 ATMs. The Emirates NBD Group serves retail, corporate, government and institutional customers and helps them meet their financial goals through a range of banking products and services, including retail banking, corporate and institutional banking, Islamic banking, investment banking, private banking, asset management, global markets and treasury, and brokerage. The group also runs Liv, Emirates NBD's modern digital bank. Over the past decade, the group's broad international footprint has been at the core of Emirates NBD's growth and expansion strategy, with international operations contributing nearly 34% of total group income.