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WHELAN said India is the only one where the bank has increased capital in the last two years markets as well as Papua New Guinea, Europe, America and the Middle East. The executive, now on a four-day visit to India, said he saw significant improvement in the ease with which he could leave the airport after all formalities and reach his hotel, about 18 km from where he landed, an indicator of how things have improved in the world’s fifth-largest economy.

“It appears to me that it is easier to do business here in a whole range of ways. Whether you are transporting goods across the country, the infrastructure investments, the legal system,” said Whelan, who last came to India in 2017.

ANZ’s push for more clients come at a time corporate borrowers are somewhat reluctant to take on more debt. In the last few years, they have been repaying large quantities of debt, after years of a credit binge that left many in trouble and at the risk of losing control of their companies.

Asked if he is witnessing a revival of corporate demand, Whelan said the appetite for debt is building. This phenomenon of deleveraging, he said, is visible in other parts of the world, including many developed nations, where corporate balance sheets are in the best shape.

Global corporations see India’s young and educated working-age population as an opportunity, and banks are no exception.

Many multinationals employ a large number of people in their global capability centres (GCCs) in India for captive technology support. ANZ’s India GCC is spread across two locations in Bengaluru. The bank has about 80 bankers and 9,000 GCC employees in India, accounting for 20% of its global workforce. It plans to increase the India GCC headcount by another 10-20%.

ANY capital addition will be determined by how quickly the bank signs up new customers, he said