ANZ's Smith says excited about India

BENGALURU: Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) has got RBI's approval to open two new branches in India in Gurgaon and Bengaluru. It began a second innings in the country when it opened its Mumbai branch in 2011. The Gurgaon branch opened this month.
The Australian lender is betting big on India as a growth engine in the region offering a full range of institutional banking services including transaction banking, foreign exchange and interest rate solutions, deposits and advisory services.
"Our commitment to India is growing -- certainly I see it as a very important part of our regional strategy. I thin, we were probably slower in our build-up of our India business than we should have been. India is more significant to us now and that is likely to increase particularly taking into account China's slowing growth," said Michael Smith, CEO of ANZ, in Bengaluru on Monday.
Smith said that the Australian lender, which has a market capitalisation of AUD 85 billion and assets of AUD 772 billion, would probably apply for more licences. "While branching is not as essential as it used to be because of the sheer size of the country, it makes sense to (set up branches)," he said.
ANZ had previously sold its India business to Standard Chartered Bank, but then made a re-entry in 2011.
The ANZ Bengaluru hub is the largest technology capability for the bank outside Australia, employing over 2,500 in the technology team. The team is involved in trade finance and mortgage credit assurance. Globally, it employs over 5,500 technology professionals. In India, it employs 7,300 people that includes both technology and operations. The headcount has progressively gone up over the years from around 800 employees in 2006.