New Delhi, Sept 16: Country's largest private sector lender, ICICI Bank today said its London subsidiary has 57 million Euro (about Rs 375 crore) exposure in the Lehman Brothers which has filed for bankruptcy protection.

"ICICI Bank UK Plc holds 57 million euro of senior bonds of Lehman Brothers Inc...potential losses are not material," the bank said in a statement.

The bank said it had undertaken transactions with the US-based troubled investment banker as part of treasury operations.

"The exposure to Lehman Brothers' entities on account of these transactions and potential loss thereon are not material," it said.

ICICI Bank shares plunged by 5.82 per cent to Rs 591.35 on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Lehman Brothers, which is a 158-years-old-financial institution has filed for bankruptcy protection, after losing around USD 60 billion (About Rs 2,76,000 crore) in sinking real-estate market.

Another investment bank Merrill Lynch is being bought over by Bank of America for USD 50 billion, while world's largest insurer American International Group (AIG) is also facing financial crisis.

Meanwhile, Lehman has suspended operations of its three Asian arms.

Lehman Brothers Asia Ltd, Lehman Brothers Securities Asia Ltd and Lehman Brothers Futures Asia Ltd have suspended its operations with immediate effect, including ceasing to trade on the Hong Kong Securities Exchange and Hong Kong Futures Exchange, until further notice.

Fate of 2,500 staff of Lehman India arm uncertain

Mumbai, Sept 16: The fate of 2,500 odd employees working for investment banking giant Lehman Brothers in India remains uncertain following its parent company's decision to file for bankruptcy protection in the US.

Lehman said in a statement that its New York office intends to file for bankruptcy protection as it owes over 600 billion dollars to lenders.

However, it highlighted that no other Lehman brothers US subsidiaries or affiliates, including its broker-dealer and investment management subsidiaries, are included in the filing.

The filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, which allows a company to restructure while creditor claims are held at bay, was made in the US Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of New York by the investment bank's holding company, Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.

The firm's public relations agency said that no official from Lehman would like to talk to the media. An employee said there was no work and a series of meetings were held today.

Lehman set up BPO operations in India in 2005 and according to the fact sheet on the firm, the centre saw the number of employees going up by eight times by the middle of this year and had declared its plans to grow the operations. In fact, it was recruiting till as recently as couple of months before.

The company has in all about 2,500 people working for it in India, including those in the BPO unit. Recent news reports said the company had asked a section of its BPO staff to quit.

Over 5,000 workers in the UK had lost their jobs after the collapse of US investment bank Lehman Brothers.