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Barclays
pumps in more capital in India
New Delhi - British bank Barclays has
recently infused fresh capital of over $70 million in its Global
Retail and Commercial Banking (GRCB) business here, according to
Mr Samir Bhatia, Managing Director of Barclays’ GRCB in India.
He also said that the Barclays Group would not be averse to bringing
in more capital if needed to support business growth here.
Mr Bhatia, who was in New Delhi on the occasion of the launch of
the fourth branch of the bank, told Business Line that growth so
far has been good in the GRCB division in India. He added that there
would be no constraint in bringing in additional capital if the
growth in business continued to be good. Barclays had in 2006 brought
in capital of $300 million for its Indian operations.
Meanwhile, GRCB’s headcount in India has grown sharply to around
800 persons against around 270 persons in May this year.
Barclays Bank had launched its commercial banking services in November
2006 and rolled out its retail banking products and services in
May.
Besides
the New Delhi branch (launched today as a 24x7 branch), Barclays
Bank has three branches – one in Mumbai and two in non-metro
centres in the South — Kanchipuram in Tamil Nadu and Nelamangala
near Bangalore.
In retail banking, Mr Bhatia said that Barclays has entire range
of products including personal loans, credit cards, loans for small
business. “You will see us bringing in more products which
provide additional flexibility to customers. We are here (in India)
for the long-run,” he said.
On the vertical that would be a growth driver for the bank in India,
Mr Bhatia said that he expected to have “a balanced book across
all products”.
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