HSBC bullish on India, increases headcount by 1,000

Amidst controversies over alleged money laundering in cross-border transactions and a tax probe, HSBC remains bullish on India. The London-headquartered lender has also increased the India employee headcount by 1,000 last year, according to the bank’s annual report.

By its annual report, the India headcount stands at 32,000, the second highest after the UK’s.

The lender also posted a better profit before tax (PBT) from India’s operations as compared to last year. PBT inched up to $700 million at the end of December 2014 from $653 million a year ago. The retail banking and wealth management business that had made a loss of $21 million in December 2013, posted a profit of $4 million at the end of 2014. With this, all segments in the India business are in green this year.

“Outside Hong Kong and mainland China, we conduct business in 18 countries and territories in Asia, with particularly strong coverage in Australia, India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore,” it said in its annual report.

The revenue from Indian operations also inched up and was $1.8 billion at the end of December 2014. “In India, we continued to grow our balance sheet in commercial banking, including term lending and payments and cash management deposits, particularly helping UK corporations to invest in India,” it added in the report.

The bank is being probed by the income-tax department in India. HSBC’s Mumbai office has been ‘surveyed’ with regards to the money laundering probe the lender is mired in. HSBC is under the scanner of tax departments in other countries also.

By the report, the total taxes paid by India were $290 million in 2014.