The Hindu : Business : Singapore's DBS Bank to expand operations in India

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Apr 10, 2005

Business

Business

Singapore's DBS Bank to expand operations in India

By P. S. Suryanarayana

SINGAPORE, APRIL 9. DBS Bank, Singapore's flagship on the Asian scene of financial services, is enthusiastic about expanding its banking business in India.

Operating in Mumbai since 1994, first as a representative office and later as a branch, DBS Bank has now secured a licence from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to open a new branch in New Delhi. With the Delhi branch expected to be "up and running'' before the end of the third quarter of 2005, DBS is hopeful of "leveraging off''' its "unique niche position in Asia,'' according to the bank's top officials.

Rajan Raju, DBS Managing Director and Head of the bank's South and Southeast Asia division, told The Hindu that "India is a good market and it is a market that we think we can do well in.''

Outlining the expanding profile of DBS in the Indian banking segments that cater mainly to corporate entities and small-and-medium enterprises (SME), Mr. Raju said "the focus last year was to get into the external commercial borrowing (ECB) market, and we got pretty aggressively into that market.''

With the total capital invested by DBS in India being $122 million as of now, another major area "we [have] worked on was to build our treasury platform, our trade finance platform, and we are in the process of building out a cash management platform,'' he emphasised.

"Having got trade and treasury, we went in and started doing domestic business [in India] around trade finance flows,'' Mr. Raju said.

Such "significant inroads'' in the Indian banking sector augured well for the New Delhi branch which, according to Pranam Wahi, DBS Chief Executive Officer for India, would "fast-track our growth in corporate and SME banking.'' One of several areas in India that DBS had now set its sights on was investment banking services, inclusive of assistance to domestic companies for entry into overseas markets.

Last year, "DBS was ranked the Number Two Bookrunner for India-syndicated loans by Thomson Financial after raising more than $440 million in over 13 issues.'' Mr. Wahi said "our exposures are second to none'' in India. With a rating of the order of "A+'' (S&P) and "Aa2'' (Moody's) and a capital adequacy ratio of 15.8 per cent, DBS was now at "mid-tier" among international banks in India, Mr. Raju said. Moreover, DBS would spread its sails to take advantage of the anticipated new winds of a "comprehensive economic cooperation agreement" between India and Singapore.

As for retail banking of direct relevance to ordinary people in India, Mr. Raju said DBS would venture into that area "over time". He said "one of our core strengths'' in Singapore was "mass market banking.'' Asked about the icing on the cake for DBS in India, he drew attention to the banking business in the SME sector. As for any potential take-over in India, DBS would go by "what the RBI allows us to do rather than what our aspirations are.'' Praising the "extremely professional'' RBI, he said "they are technically very competent, ask the right questions (and) guide us the right way".

In a global perspective, Mr. Raju said, "DBS is an Asian bank in an Asian time-zone, run by Asians,'' with the prime areas of operation being the Singapore-ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) sector, the Hong Kong-Greater China region and the Indian zone. About 70 per cent of the world's investible assets were now reckoned to be in these segments, he emphasised.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Business

News Update

Stories in this Section

Singapore's DBS Bank to expand operations in India

Hold 5 gigabytes in your palm!

Forex reserves up $297 m

Mercator raises $60 m

New quality norms will check dilution of brand equity in tea