Standard Chartered Bank, the country's second-largest foreign bank, is removing the ceiling on its India exposure to tap into the 9 per cent economic growth and expand operations, especially in infrastructure funding.
"The country limit has become meaningless for India. Nothing seems to be enough in this kind of a growth scenario," Peter Sands, the visiting group CEO of the UK-based but Asia-Africa focussed bank, said in Mumbai on Thursday.
Sands is on a three-day visit to India, three months after assuming charge as group CEO. He was speaking at a breakfast meeting with select journalists.
Jaspal Bindra, regional CEO-South East & South Asia, said the country risk ceiling for India was in "double-digit billion dollars" but did not disclose the exact limit.
Standard Chartered earns 75 per cent of its profits from Asia and close to 10 per cent from India. Profits from its India operations grew 50 per cent to Rs 904.8 crore (Rs 9.05 billion) in 2005-06. However, India's share of profits has been constant owing to an expanded global base arising from acquisitions like the one in South Korea last year.
Asked if the bank was losing out on opportunities because of the exposure ceiling, Sands said, "We were not losing out on opportunities. We have done a good job here (in India)."
He, however, expressed the need for easier regulations for foreign banks to open branches in India. Citibank, the other large foreign bank, has 39 branches, while Stanchart has 89 branches.