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Citibank plans to increase presence in India
By siliconindia staff writer
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Tuesday, 20 April 2004, 19:30 IST
NEW DELHI: Citibank, which regards India as its top-most priority market after profits from the country operations grew by 45-50 per cent in the last few years, now plans to increase its presence through 300 centres in 35 cities in two years.
The foreign banking major is keen to grow its franchisees across all the customer segments and locations in India with a target to grow its retail customer base to over 10 million.
"India consistently ranks as one of the top-most priorities for Citigroup worldwide. We have barely scratched the surface -- the most exciting times still lie ahead of us," Citibank country business manager Sarvesh Sarup told PTI from Mumbai on Monday.
He said the growth in consumer business has been extremely high. "Profits have been showing a steady 45-50 per cent growth over the past few years."
"Our strategy for organic growth is time-tested and has proven to be extremely successful," he said.
As a part of its strategic plan, Sarup said: "Citibank hopes to get six-seven branch licences annually and increase its footprints to the top 35 cities over the next 24 months."
Citibank is also tripling its network of CitiCard Banking centres which combine ATMs and self-service phone and internet banking to 300, he said.
He said the bank had been able to extend home loans to seven new cities, while personal loans would be available in 30 cities.