Bengaluru, Jul 21 (IANS): Sberbank's branch in India has received permission from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to establish an IT unit here.

The new IT office will house Sberbank's in-house Data Processing Center, official release stated on Friday.

Bengaluru is India's third biggest city and the country's leading scientific and industrial center, specializing, amongst other things, in aerospace, engineering and electronics industries and development of IT products.

While Sberbank's India branch has been active in New Delhi since 2010 and offers a wide range of financial services, the Bengaluru office will be fully focused on developing information technologies.

Anatoly Popov, Deputy Chairman of Sberbank's Executive Board, said, "Bengaluru is often called the Silicon Valley of India, and it is symbolic that Sber has chosen that city for its international IT project. The Bengaluru hub will not only handle the technological needs of our Indian branch but also develop and implement new digital products for its clients. And in the longer term, we plan to employ up to 200 IT specialists in our new unit."

PJSC Sberbank is Russia's largest bank and a leading global financial institution. Holding almost one-third of aggregate Russian banking sector assets, Sberbank is the key lender to the national economy and one of the biggest deposit takers in Russia.