KAARACHI, Nov 22: Two Indian banks have sent requests to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) for opening of their branches in the country.

SBP governor Dr Ishrat Husain on Tuesday said that two applications had been received from Indian banks and decision on issuing of licences would be taken after due consideration. He did not disclose the names of the banks.

The governors of SBP and Reserve Bank of India (RBI) have been in negotiations for quite some time to develop a banking link between the two countries. It has also been a demand of the private sector of both the countries to open bank branches to facilitate and accelerate mutual trade and business.

On November 7, 2005 the RBI and SBP had agreed to open branches on reciprocal basis.

Banking sources said that the National Bank of Pakistan and Habib Bank have shown their willingness to open their branches in India, however, so far no decision was taken by the Indian side.

Analysts and economists believe that the banking link between the two countries would be a landmark in the bilateral relations.