The Hindu Business Line : Barclays pumps in more capital

British bank Barclays has recently infused fresh capital of over $70 million in its Global Retail and Commercial Banking (GRCB) business here, according to Mr Samir Bhatia, Managing Director of Barclays’ GRCB in India.

He also said that the Barclays Group would not be averse to bringing in more capital if needed to support business growth here.

Mr Bhatia, who was in the Capital today on the occasion of the launch of the fourth branch of the bank, told Business Line that growth so far has been good in the GRCB division in India. He added that there would be no constraint in bringing in additional capital if the growth in business continued to be good. Barclays had in 2006 brought in capital of $300 million for its Indian operations.

Meanwhile, GRCB’s headcount in India has grown sharply to around 800 persons against around 270 persons in May this year.

Barclays Bank had launched its commercial banking services in November 2006 and rolled out its retail banking products and services in May. Besides the New Delhi branch (launched today as a 24x7 branch), Barclays Bank has three branches – one in Mumbai and two in non-metro centres in the South — Kanchipuram in Tamil Nadu and Nelamangala near Bangalore.

In retail banking, Mr Bhatia said that Barclays has entire range of products including personal loans, credit cards, loans for small business. “You will see us bringing in more products which provide additional flexibility to customers. We are here (in India) for the long-run,” he said.

On the vertical that would be a growth driver for the bank in India, Mr Bhatia said that he expected to have “a balanced book across all products”.