JPMorgan India invests $450 mn across sectors

JPMorgan India, which plans to invest $1 billion across sectors in the country, has so far committed $450 million in real estate, infrastructure, manufacturing and financial sectors.

“We have a fund of $1 billion to invest in Indian companies. We have committed nearly half the money in real estate, infrastructure, manufacturing and financial sectors,” JPMorgan India CEO Kalpana Morparia said.

“These investments are opportunistic,” she said, adding there was no time-frame for completing investments as the money belonged to the company. JPMorgan, which started its Indian operations in 2001, has approached the Reserve Bank of India for licences to set up four more branches in the country.

The branches would be in Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore and one more destination in the south, she said. Apart from its branch in Mumbai, the company has back-offices in Mumbai and Bangalore, with a headcount of 11,500.

Notwithstanding the global financial crisis, JPMorgan will increase its headcount in India. “JPMorgan is focused on increasing its footprint across corporate and investment banking, transaction banking and asset and wealth management segments in Asia,” she said.

JPMorgan is a US-headquartered bank that has weathered the credit turmoil in its home country. Outside the US, JPMorgan is involved in only corporate and investment banking business.