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Mumbai , Sept. 25

HAVING tripled its revenues from India over the past three years, Citigroup hopes to maintain the same rate of growth in the next three to four years and believes its business model in the country needs no change to achieve it, even on the face of rising competition.

"We are comfortable where we are. We don't think we have to do anything different," said Sir Deryck Maughan, Chairman and CEO, Citigroup International, responding to a question as to why Citibank continues to occupy Number 2 position among foreign banks in India.

"We are not a distant Number 2 in India," said Sir Deryck talking to mediapersons here today.

With a capital in excess of $600 million, Citigroup is the largest single foreign direct investor in India. It has a customer base of over 900 large corporates, over 13,000 small and medium enterprises and two lakh retail customers.

Size means nothing unless the organisation ensures reasonable returns on investment and value to shareholders, said Sir Deryck who is currently on a visit to this country.

Citigroup in India with a balance sheet size of Rs 25,000 crore reported a 20 per cent rise in net profit for the year ended March 31, 2003. For the group, India ranks among the top five countries in the world in terms of market potential. "We have local tradition of over 100 years in India. With this and our strong management strength blended with our international technology, we believe we have a winning proposition," he said

Asked whether the bank was looking for acquisition route to growth, Sir Deryck said ``our growth is not hostage to acquisition." The group has an internal investment plan based on its financial position. The group will continue to invest in its business in India. However, he said he was not averse to taking advantage of an opportunity for acquisition if it would add value to the group's business.

On the group's venture capital investments acquisitions in India, he clarified that this was entirely different from the Citigroup's consumer finance business.

He said his group would support further opening up of Indian financial markets to international investors, as going by the experience in other counties, this would benefit the Indian customers.

Reacting to questions on the group's investment interests in sectors such as Mutual Funds and insurance, Sir Deryck said, as far as Citigroup's customers were concerned, the products were made available to them through group's distribution channels.

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