Private lender Axis Bank has acquired Citi India’s retail assets, valuing the business at nearly $2 billion, the people in the know said. The deal will be announced today.

ET had reported first in October that Axis Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and IndusInd Bank had submitted binding bids for Citi’s consumer business in India. Singapore’s DBS, ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank had evaluated the prospects of a deal, but eventually did not bid.

Axis Bank is the fourth-largest issuer of credit cards with a total base of 8.6 million cards. Its retail book is nearly Rs 4 lakh crore. On the other hand, Kotak has a card base of 3 million.

Citi’s retail book is nearly Rs 68,000 crore, of which retail loans account for Rs 28,000 crore.

Although Citi is India’s sixth-largest card issuer, it has lost market share on card spends — from 20% a decade ago to 4% now. However, it has consistently logged 15-25% higher expenditure per card against the industry average, an analysis by Macquarie showed. A mix of premium and corporate salary account cards in the portfolio makes the Citi business attractive for bidders.

Citi’s consumer business in India comprises credit cards, retail banking, home loans and wealth management. The bank has 35 branches in the country and employs 4,000 people in the consumer banking business. It contributes a third to overall business but in terms of profitability, corporate banking accounts for more than 80%.

Overall, Citibank’s India unit had a market share of advances and deposits of 0.6% and 1.1%, respectively. In India, Citibank has more than 2.5 million retail customers and 1.2 million bank accounts. The total India business contributes 1.5% in profit to the lender’s global book.

Citibank, under its first woman CEO Jane Fraser, decided to exit retail businesses in 13 markets to conserve capital and focus on higher yielding revenue streams. The Citi management has indicated that the exit process is currently on and that while it will look to complete these separations in a timely manner, the retreats wouldn’t be anything akin to so-called fire sales.