Jaspal Bindra returns to head StanChart India

Bindra is the head of StanChart's newly-carved out South Asia region. Low left for South Korea at the end of January 2005, having been assigned the specific task of integrating Korea First Bank (KFB) with Standard Chartered Bank operations in Korea.

"It has been a happy home coming," said Bindra, who took charge yesterday as general manager - South Asia.

He was heading Indian operations before becoming global head of client relationships in wholesale banking and based in Singapore.

Based in Mumbai, Bindra will for the time being oversee Stanchart's operations in India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan till Low's successor is identified. Pakistan has been kept out of the South Asian unit.

On the new guidelines applicable to foreign banks, Bindra said that StanChart was open to all options including acquisitions in India to fulfil its growth plans. However, it would await clarifications from the RBI on branches in "unbanked" areas.

Mumbai has become the hub for the bank's South Asia operations. "India is a central part of our strategy, and acts as a major hub on two accounts. The Chennai BPO will provide services to 35 markets overseas....We would like to exploit the sysnergy that comes from our international network for our Indian clients," Thomas Harris, vice chairman, StandChart, had said in mid-January.