Citi CEO bullish on India growth

Citigroup CEO Charles Prince today said Asia will be the fastest growing market for the US banking major in 2006 compared with the US, Europe and Latin America.

"We are very bullish on our growth prospects in India.," Prince said, but declined to do a comparison between India and China as to which one is more attractive.

He was responding to queries after handing over Citigroup Centre for Financial Literary to Ahmedabad-based Indian School of Microfinance for Women (ISMW).

Citigroup Foundation provided a grant of $3.5 million for the institute. This is Prince's first visit to India and the first in five years by a Citigroup CEO.

He said, "Citibank has a lot to do for being of a local bank scale and does not just aim to be the leading foreign bank in India. There is a lot of room to grow in India."

Standard Chartered is the biggest foreign bank in India in terms of assets, while Citibank is about one-tenth of the biggest Indian bank, State Bank of India.

Citibank's total assets as on March 30, 2005 were Rs 33,806 crore and has thus far brought in capital of over $1 billion. "We retain all our earnings here and have got lot of capital if its needed to support growth in India," Prince said.

The visiting Citigroup CEO said Indian GDP growth rate is good and it's a positive sign for the bank that Indian businessmen and industrialists see a higher growth potential.

On what makes Citigroup involve itself in micro-finance, Prince said micro-finance strengthens developing economies providing the bank a much better environment to do business.

The Ahmedabad-based school is the world's first educational institution to focus solely on the discipline of microfinance, and seeks to address the huge need for training in the sector.

The school is a partnership between microfinance pioneers, SEWA Bank, Friends of Women's World Banking and Coady International Institute, a Canadian organisation specialising in sustainable community development.