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India’s booming economy, together with Citibank’s global network spanning 95 countries, has proved a winning formula over the last year.
With India growing faster than China and producing tech unicorn startups at rapid speed, international bankers have turned their focus to Asia’s third-largest economy. Citi is well ahead of the pack as the only foreign player with a full-service institutional platform in India.
Citi’s investment banking, advisory, capital markets teams, trade and transactions services, markets and securities units and risk-management division have seen better operating environments than was the case in 2022. Despite GDP growth of roughly 7%, rising interest rates, high inflation and geopolitical shocks made this more of a defensive year than one of growth.
Citi’s profit after tax of $492 million for the financial year ending March 31, 2022, fell 12.17% year on year. This reflected rough markets and increased operating expenses. But it also reflected the sale of the US bank’s consumer business to Axis Bank in a deal worth $1.6 billion.
While it was an “emotionally difficult decision,” says CEO Ashu Khullar, it was a “strategically right” move in the long run.
Khullar