ANZ ready to plough more capital into India business
According to group executive Mark Whelan, time is very much appropriate to grow in India
Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) is ready to bring more capital into its India business, a top executive said, as confidence grows that the domestic economy will attract global investments and grow at a steady pace.
One of the 45 foreign banks operating in India, ANZ currently has capital of about AUD 600 million ($386 million) which has nearly doubled in the past two years. India allows foreign banks to operate either as a branch or wholly owned subsidiary of the parent. All except two—DBS Bank India and SBM Bank India—work as branches.
“The time is very much appropriate to grow here. If you look at the basics of the Indian economy and where its place is in the world, this is India’s century,” Mark Whelan, group executive, institutional, ANZ said in an interview. “We think there is significant upside here, and we will therefore be here, and grow with our customer base.”
The lender’s total exposure to India was at ₹23,813 crore as on 31 December, of which ₹4,020 crore was in loans and advances. ANZ, which re-entered India in 2011 after exiting the market a decade earlier, has one branch each in Mumbai, Gurugram and Bengaluru.
According to Whelan, any addition to capital would be determined by how quickly the bank signs up new customers. The ANZ veteran said that among all its markets, India is the only one where the bank has increased capital over the last two years.
“We have been moving capital around to try and get more capital-efficient in every country, and there is only one country in our network where
ANZ currently has capital of $386 million which has nearly doubled in the past two years
THE lender’s total exposure to India was at ₹23,813 crore as on 31 December
we’ve increased capital and that is India,” he said. “We do not want to go and put a lot (of capital) in and then try and search for the business. We are better off getting the business and then adding capital and more resources and more tech.”
Whelan joined ANZ in 2004 and is also a member of its executive committee responsible for the bank’s global institutional business across 15 Asian