Citi says growth is not hostage to buyouts

Citigroup welcomes competition on Indian turf. It is not averse to acquiring a bank if the right combination "" right price with a good cultural fit "" came along.

"The plan is to grow both organically as well as through direct acquisitions but growth is in no way hostage to acquisition," said Deryck Maughan, chairman and CEO, Citigroup International, here today.

He called upon the Indian government to open up the financial sector further.

"We will welcome and support further reforms in financial services that will permit greater foreign ownership of local banks. Many other countries that have opened their financial services to international participants have very good results. It enables customers to get better services at lower prices. Citibank or other leading global banks have improved financial systems in the countries where they are present. We would support the further opening of financial services in India to international investors," he said.

India has recently allowed foreign entities to acquire up to 74 per cent stake in a local bank. However, the guidelines on acquisitions are not yet in place.

"We are not going to wait around to see when the laws change. We will continue to invest in our business, expand our branch network, support our credit card business, increase the number of corporate clients and increase the penetration of our clients," Maughan said.

Talking about the bank's India strategy, Maughan said Citi will the global brand and global product line to deliver the best product to Indian consumers.

"India is one of the most exciting businesses that we have in the world. The revenues of Citigroup India have more than doubled in the last three years. We believe that we can maintain such high rates of growth for the foreseeable future. We would view the Indian consumer market as well as the corporate and investment banking business to be large and growing," he said.

On the Indian markets' growth potential, Maughan said India ranks among the top five markets of Citigroup globally.

"We expect a great deal in the next five to 10 years from India. The two largest markets outside US and Mexico are Japan and Germany. But if you look at the characteristics of the German and Japanese markets "" the low GDP growth, deeply entrenched competition and severe underpricing of services "" you cannot grow in these markets quickly. It's only a question of time before China, India, Brazil and other very large market places become among the very large businesses that we have," he said.

India, according to him, has enormous suppressed potential. "In the last three or four years the growth curve has really begun to move up. If you look at the whole set of indicators for different consumer products, they are all moving up," he said.