Citi looking to expand retail branch network in India: Pandit

Asserting that organic growth will be Citigroup's focus in India, Chief Executive Officer Vikram Pandit has said the banking major is looking to expand its retail branch network in the country.

The partially US government-owned Citi is also planning to make investments this year for expanding the entity's business units in countries, including India, China and Japan.

In an interview to British daily The Financial Times, Pandit said the bank was lobbying with local authorities in India to add to its 42-strong retail branch network.

"Organic growth is our focus in India. We are helping Indian companies to globalise and we want to continue to expand to serve this key market," he said.

Citi has about 11.7 per cent stake in India's leading private sector lender HDFC Bank.

According to Pandit, Citi planned to make investments in countries like Japan, India, China, Indonesia, Malaysia and Hong Kong.

He noted that the banking major was committed to retaining its coveted stakes in Chinese and Indian lenders while pushing to expand its retail network in both countries.

Pandit said that its ongoing sale of businesses in Citi Holdings — the division that holds the bank's non-core assets including US subprime mortgages — would help in providing capital to fund growth opportunities in Asia.

Citi has about 50,000 staff in 18 Asian countries.

Pandit stressed that Citi's presence in 109 countries would help the entity to benefit from the rise in cross-border trade involving Asia. Regional economic growth was spurring increased demand for banking services, he added.

The banking behemoth had received billions of dollars from the US government to tide over the financial meltdown. It had a loss of $7.6 billion in the 2009 December quarter.

The American government still owns a 27 per cent stake of Citi, the report said.