British lender Barclays Bank on Thursday announced a Rs 3,000-crore capital infusion into India operations to aid its growth in the country. The bank, which is into corporate and investment banking as well as wealth management, will be able to take significantly higher exposures to a borrowing entity or a group as the capital base has increased by 55 per cent.
The bank, which has 600 employees working in the India operations across four branches, said the overall capital invested in the country has now gone up to Rs 8,300 crore, after the single-largest fund infusion in its three-decade journey in the country. “We have ambitious growth aspirations, and the investment will help accelerate that as we look to leverage the attractive opportunities that the present situation offers,” its Country Chief Executive Jaideep Khanna said.
Khanna added that as economic activity gathers momentum, there is an increased demand for capital from clients. “We are well placed to support their objectives and remain committed to working closely with them.” In a statement, the bank said the expansion in tier-I capital reinforces its commitment to India, where it provides financing, advisory and risk management businesses in the investment bank function, and an entire suite of corporate banking capabilities including cash management and trade finance.
The last capital infusion by the bank into its India operations was in 2009-10, when it funded Rs 540 crore. The last major foreign lender to infuse capital into India was Singapore’s DBS which received Rs 2,500 crore from parent after announcing a deal to merge troubled Lakshmi Vilas Bank with a view to expand retail operations, while German lender Deutsche Bank had infused Rs 2,700 crore in August 2020. In 2011, Barclays pulled out of retail operations in the country which included deposit taking and lending from multiple branches, and decided to focus on the other businesses.
