Citigroup Inc. is reported to have reduced its stake in leading mortgage lender, Housing Development and Finance Corp Ltd, with a sale ranging from 1.5% to 9.9%, as it would reduce Citi's holding to 9.9% from 11.4%, ahead of the adoption of Basel III capital rules.

Also, the bank was reported to have stated, "The transaction resulted in a pre-tax profit of approximately $160 million. Citi has no plans to sell any additional shares of HDFC. Reducing its holdings in HDFC to below 10% is part of Citi's mitigation efforts".

However, the shares in HDFC, with a market value of over $21 billion, dropped as much as 1.8% after trade data from the Bombay Stock Exchange revealed `a block' deal of 16.5 million shares at Rs643 per share.

Citi is reported to have purchased under 10% of HDFC in 2006 for about Rs2, 900 crore and later added to its stake, which made it the mortgage lender's top shareholder with 11.37% holding.

Moreover, Citigroup for the past 3 years is reported to have raised around $60-billion from capital markets for its clients in India and influenced almost $25-billion of India-related mergers and acquisitions, its consumer business, Citigroup has 42 operating Citibank branches in 30 cities and a market share of more than 20% in credit card expense.