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Sydney : Australia and New Zealand Banking Group received approval to set up operations in India, the second fastest growing major economy, and targets a A$100 million ($90.50 million) pretax profit from India in three to four years.
Australia's fourth-largest lender, which is focussing on the emerging pools of wealth in fast growing Asia, hopes to set up a branch in Mumbai in the next 12 months. "India is a real market of substance," Alex Thursby, ANZ CEO Asia Pacific, Europe and America told reporters. "I am confident it will give us a good part of the A$1.5 billion 2012 targeted profit from Asia."
ANZ's entry into India comes ten year after it sold its assets in the country to Standard Chartered. It is re-entering a market that is crowded and highly regulated. State-run lenders control nearly three-fourths of India's market and only a handful of foreign banks, such as Citigroup, Standard Chartered and HSBC have a major share of corporate lending.
ANZ, which waited for 2 years to get the banking license from the Reserve Bank of India, was the second largest foreign bank in the country when it quit along with some smaller south Asian markets to focus on Australia, New Zealand and Asia-Pacific.
Almost a decade later, ANZ is reviving its Asian focus and aims to get a fifth of its profit from there. Last year it bought some Asian assets of Royal Bank of Scotland and is now focussing on China, India and South East Asia. ANZ plans to focus on institutional lending and the mining and agricultural sector, Thursby said.
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