Citi names Pramit Jhaveri as head of India Operation

Current CEO Robinson moves to ANZ.

Citigroup today announced the appointment of Pramit Jhaveri as the head of its India business, replacing Mark Robinson — the second change effected by the foreign lender in 13 months.

The announcement came hours after the Melbourne-based Australia and New Zealand Banking group (ANZ) announced Robinson’s appointment as head of its south and south-east Asian businesses.

Jhaveri, who was previously head of Citi’s global banking in India and vice-chairman of Asia investment banking, will oversee all Citi’s businesses in India, including institutional clients group, consumer banking and wealth management.

Unlike Robinson, who was designated as chief executive officer (CEO) for South Asia, Jhaveri will be Citi Country Officer (CCO) for India. In South Asia, Citi operates in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, apart from India.

In a statement, ANZ said Robinson would oversee 10 markets, including the priority markets of Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia and India, as well as the regional hub in Singapore.

ANZ has major plans for Asia, and last year, it picked up some assets of Royal Bank of Scotland. It started refocussing on Asia after Mike Smith, who earlier headed the Asian operations of HSBC, took over as the CEO of the Australian bank in 2007.

Jhaveri, a 23-year Citi veteran, would report to Asia-Pacific Chief Executive Shirish Apte, the bank said.

Under Jhaveri’s leadership, Citi played a key role in several high-profile deals, including advising and providing financing for Tata Motors’ purchase of JLR and Tata Steel’s acquisition of Corus. It also advised Reliance Petroleum on its merger with Reliance Industries last year, and played a role in consolidation of the Indian towers sector, including acting as financial advisor to Tata Teleservices for the merger of its tower subsidiary WTTIL with Quippo, and to GTL for its acquisition of Aircel Towers.

Before taking over as head of global banking, Jhaveri headed investment banking, corporate finance and capital markets for Citi in the Indian subcontinent. Globally, Citi has decided to offload a number of its non-core assets, choosing to focus on a much smaller portfolio. It may even exit certain countries where its presence is not substantial. For this purpose, it has divided its businesses into two groups — Citicorp and Citi Holdings. Citicorp houses all the units it plans to retain, while those it wants to wind down are clubbed under Citi Holdings.

Citi Holdings also includes the lender’s consumer finance arm, CitiFinancial, which ran up big losses during the economic downturn.