Standard Chartered cutting back costs in India
Standard Chartered has ﻿confirmed that﻿ it is selling ﻿its 19th century office space in Kolkata, India, for Rs 110 crore ($20.4m), to move to a cheaper location, as part of its ongoing cost-cutting plan of saving $1.8bn globally by the end of 2017.  

KOLKATA: It is when the banker comes calling, that people decide to sell off their family silver to pay off debt. But here is a bank that is putting its crown jewel on the bloc, along with several other measures, to pull itself out of the financial mess it has fallen into.Decisions to part with something that had over 100 years of history behind it do not come too often. When such things happen, it is a milestone in itself.The oldest foreign bank in India, Standard Chartered Bank , has decided to sell its 19 Netaji Subhas Road office, a veritable 80,000 sq ft space built in the 19th century, for about Rs 110 crore; and move to a cheaper location to rationalise cost as it battles a difficult time.The London-headquartered bank has announced a plan to save $1.8 billion cost globally by the end of 2017 and has simplified the organisation layers to deliver it. "As part of our ongoing process to achieve better efficiency, we are divesting our branch office at 19 NS Road in Kolkata," a StanChart India spokesperson said.The bank had inherited the NS Road property from ANZ Grindlays after it acquired ANZ’s operations in the Middle East and South Asia and Grindlays’ associated private banking business in 2000. The property was built by Mackintosh Burn — a contractor of several architectural marvels in Kolkata, according to Allister Macmillan’s Seaports of India & Ceylon, published from London in 1928."In the mid-nineteenth century, a lot of palatial buildings were built in Kolkata and many of these housed the country’s leading banks. The 19 NS Road office is of them," said historian Abhik Ray, who was associated with the State Bank of India as well as Bank of India history projects.The building, which is diagonally opposite Allahabad Bank’s headquarters in the heart of the city, became the home to the National Bank of India ’s Kolkata branch in 1902, nearly four decades after its incorporation in London.It was enlarged to its current form in 1914 to accommodate the bank’s growing business. The National Bank had acquired Grindlays Bank in 1958 to become the National Overseas and Grindlays Bank and was renamed National and Grindlays Bank a year later.The property is priced at approximately Rs 13000-14000 per sq ft, according to Kolkata’s real estate brokers. The total space available in the building is a little less than 1 lakh sq ft, with some tenants occupying around 20 per cent of it.StanChart has put the space on sale, excluding the portion used by the tenants.India’s largest and the oldest lender, SBI has bid for it along with a few more office spaces as it is looking to rein in long-term rental costs.StanChart’s financial worries spill over to such an extent that it plans to sell a few more prime properties in Kolkata, where it began its Indian odyssey in 1858. This was just about five years after the historic Chartered Bank was founded by Sir James Wilson, following the grant of a Royal Charter by Queen Victoria. It has carried out similar exercises in Mumbai too."This neither impacts our staff, who will relocate to a new office, nor is it a reflection of our business plans. Standard Chartered is committed to growing its franchise in India and providing world class banking experience to clients and customers," the StanChart official says.The bank has halved dividend and reported a 37 per cent drop in first-half global net profit to $1.46 billion, from $2.31 billion in the same period last year. India will be part of the new Asean & South Asia region under Ajay Kanwal, who will assume his new role on October 1, 2015.Selling family silver can provide a relief, which may at best be temporary. But a lasting solution after all lies in good business.