Citigroup to showcase India to investors

Holds first-ever 3-day global investors' meet in India.

After the visit of President George W Bush lifted Indo-US ties to a higher plane, American financial services giant Citigroup is set to hold its first-ever global investors' conference in India beginning tomorrow.

The three-day Citigroup India Investor Conference 2006 will showcase India to over 150 top institutional investors from the US, Europe, the Asia-Pacific region and Japan in Mumbai and Delhi.

Mumbai will host the conference for the first two days. Former US Treasury Secretary and Director and Chairman of the Citigroup's executive committee Robin E Rubin will deliver the key note address on the second day.

Speaking to Business Standard from Hong Kong, Robert Morse, CEO, Asia-Pacific, Citigroup corporate & investment banking, said, "Indian operations are very important for Citigroup and it is one of our five top-priority countries. Citigroup has operated in India for over 100 years and some of our Indian employees have migrated to some of the most senior positions in Citigroup both regionally and globally."

Over 70 leading Indian corporates, including large cap companies and many mid-cap firms, will make presentations to institutional investors attending the conference.

External experts, policy makers from India and macro-economists have also been invited to provide investors a feel of the India growth story.

"This is an important conference as funds with no India exposure have been under-performing. It will spread the India story in the relevant circle as the bluest of blue-chip companies will make presentations to global fund houses," said an executive with a foreign brokerage.

The conference happens amid an unrelenting rise in the Indian equities market. The Sensex has risen by about 1,200 points since the beginning of 2006.

Germany's Deutsche Bank held a conference of global investors in Mumbai, a reflection of India's growth potential overriding concerns about how expensive Indian equities had become.

"The Indian government and the regulators have a done a great job in developing the capital markets. Indian corporations are very competitive," Morse said.

With over 15,000 employees, India accounts for 5 per cent of the global staff strength of the group. It has about $1 billion of capital invested in India and $10 billion worth of assets.

"Citigroup is committed to this country. We continue to introduce new products and services to serve our demanding and sophisticated Indian clients and continue to invest heavily in some of the critical priority lending sectors," Morse said.

Citigroup is a leading underwriter of Indian equity and equity-linked transactions and led several landmark transactions in 2005. Already in 2006, it has managed overseas equity and debt issues of Larsen & Toubro, Bajaj Hindusthan, Andhra Bank, Federal Bank , Ranbaxy and Tata Motors.