'India is doing far better than most other countries'

Q&A: JAMIE DIMON

JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon speaks to NDTV about the bank’s future plans in India, the debate in the US over outsourcing, and the anger over the fancy bonuses that bankers get. Excerpts:

How bad is the current crisis?
It’s the worst since the Great Depression. We have had a lot of financial crisis. I think they happen every 5 to 10 years but this clearly transcends what we have seen.

What do you think the Indian authorities should do?
India is doing far better than most other countries. The most important thing is India might slow down a little, but it still has a pretty good growth. So I don't think it needs to do quiet anything like it has been done elsewhere.

Most ordinary people are angry about the bonuses and perks that Wall Street and bankers get. Is that anger justified?
People have complaints. There is no question that the compensation paid in certain cases shouldn’t have been paid. But it’s wrong for anyone to blanket anybody.

What should be done? If you cut back too much, you won’t get the best talent. Should the market decide or should there be more checks & balances in the remuneration of the top managements of banks?
I think there is a good market out there. If you have to get the best, you have to pay for it. If you stop companies from doing that, you will damage the future health of the company. CEOs are heroes of talent and some of them get what they deserve and some of them don't. But I am not against the debate about people who are paid more, should pay more in taxes. I am in complete support of that. I think boards will be a lot conscious about how they pay executives. They will pay them more for their performance over an extended period of time and not for a year. And they won’t pay them if they took excessive risk.

How will this crisis affect your plans for India?
I am not sure if the crisis will affect us at all. We are a major investment bank here, we've expanded our coverage to over 150 companies now and we are very optimistic about the future of India. We don't worry about six months or a year. You look at a country and say this is going to do great for a long period of time. We will be here and build investment banking, commercial banking and asset management.

The negative feelings in the US about outsourcing worry a lot of Indians. What’s your take?
Firstly there's a lot of anti-trade sentiment around the world and it comes from both the left and the right. So in the US, it comes from both Republicans and Democrats, and personally I think it’s highly misguided. I think trade has been a great thing for the world; it’s been great for India. You should know we have got 12,000 people here in a global service centre in addition to 500 in asset management and commercial banking and they do things from call centres to very complicated computed programming, risk management, research etc. It’s been great for JP Morgan and we intend to do more of it, not less of it.

(The interview will be telecast on NDTV Profit on Friday at 9.30 pm and on NDTV 24x7 on Sunday at 11.30 am)