Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), the world's largest bank in terms of market capitalisation, launched its Indian operations by inaugurating its Mumbai branch.
The bank, which has a licence for wholesale banking, plans to focus on commercial banking services in the first phase.
Industrial and Commercial Bank plans to focus on the bilateral trade between India and China and target Chinese companies in India in power, infrastructure and telecom, said Mr Yang Kaisheng, President, ICBC.
“The bipartite trade between India and China has exceeded $60 billion last year. It has grown 40 per cent year-on-year,” he said at a press meet held on Thursday.
ICBC is also open to helping Indian companies looking to raise bonds denominated in Chinese yuan.
The bank plans to tap the domestic market and enter investment, private and personal banking.
On Thursday, Economic Affairs Secretary Mr R. Gopalan said that Indian companies can now raise loans up to $1 billion in Chinese yuan.
ICBC also plans to start operations in other emerging markets such as Brazil and Peru, said Mr Wu Bin, General Manager, International Banking Department.