India's Best Banks: A Century Long Spree

Citibank was established in 1812 as the City Bank of New York, as is well known. The bank arrived in India barely a century later, setting up operations in Kolkata in 1902. Across these 117 years, Citibank  has been a significant foreign investor in the Indian financial market. As promoter-shareholder, Citibank has played a leading role in establishing important market intermediaries such as depositories, credit bureau, clearing and payment institutions.

The American bank has helped lay the foundation for the Indian software industry by establishing Citicorp Overseas Software Ltd. and Iflex Solutions Ltd. It has pioneered the ITES industry in financial services through Citigroup Global Services Ltd. (CGSL). Oracle acquired Iflex in 2005 and CGSL was acquired by Tata Consultancy Services in 2008.

As its contribution to the environment, Citi India added two more green certified buildings to its office premises in 2012. In 2013 it moved its headquarters to The First International Financial Centre (FIFC), a world-class environmentally friendly building. In addition, Citi India, through its network of Citi Service Centres, has been a leading offshoring unit for Citigroup globally, providing employment opportunities in the areas of technology, processing, analytics and financial processes.

The challenges
When asked at a public forum about the challenges that the Citigroup face, Natasha Condon, Europe Sales Head for Trade Finances and Services said, “Because we are so global, we are not dependent on any one country for our overall success  but almost every time a country goes through change or geopolitical trouble we will be affected! So we are always dealing with new issues arising in different countries that may affect our business.”

The achievements
“Asia is capturing a greater share of global trade and US companies will increasingly target Asia, and we expect strong growth as intra-Asian trade corridors expand further,” said Gerry Keefe, Citi’s Head of Corporate Banking, Asia Pacific. 

On October 31, 2018, REC Limited successfully priced a $700 million five-year bond. The transaction was the issuer’s inaugural 144A/ Regulation S bond with 1.6x oversubscription. Citibank acted as joint bookrunner. On October 31, 2018, HDFC Limited successfully priced a Rs 1,235 crore ($167 million) partly paid debenture. This was the HDFC’s first ever issuance of a secured partly paid debenture. Citibank acted as the sole arranger.

 Citibank has received the 2019 Asiamoney Best Banks Awards for India as the Best Corporate & Investment Bank and the Best International Bank. The bank has been a good corporate citizen in India. During the 2017-18 financial year, Citibank invested Rs 62.4 crores in corporate citizenship initiatives that impacted 5.5 million lives in the country. In its corporate citizenship report for the year, the bank says, “We have worked towards ensuring that our business practices are inclusive, our properties are environmentally sustainable”. Citi India takes pride in enabling its employees to plough back into their societies.