Citigroup chief meets PM, FM

With India emerging as a major market for global conglomerates, Citigroup group CEO Charles O Prince on Thursday began his whistle-stop tour with a series of meetings including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and finance minister P Chidambaram.

Prince's visit comes weeks after Chidambaram's official visit to the US, where he met top CEOs and invited them to participate in India's growth process.

Officials were tight-lipped over the outcome of the meetings of Citigroup head with Singh and Chidambaram, which lasted for about 20 minutes each.

Prince is slated to meet regulator RBI and the Citibank employees during his two-day visit, a citibank official said.

Citigroup, which has presence in about 100 countries and has about 100 million customers worldwide, is one of the biggest foreign banks in the country. Earlier, the top executives of Standard Chartered Bank and Barclays were in India with the EU delegation.

Most of the foreign banks want greater access to Indian market and have been pitching for further opening up of the financial sector. During his US visit last month, Chidambaram had reassured global investors of India's committment to carry forward its financial sector reforms as it was essential for the country to sustain higher growth.

Government has allowed up to 74 per cent foreign direct investment (FDI) in private banks. However, a foreign bank is allowed to hike its stake by 5 per cent annually in an Indian bank. Recently, India gave national treatment to three Singaporean banks as part of the comprehensive economic cooperation agreement with that nation.