Barclays on Thursday (Aug. 26) announced it will invest more than $400 million into its India-based business — its biggest in 30 years — as part of a move to capitalize on increasing corporate and investment banking activity in that nation, according to a Reuters report.
Barclays, which pulled out of the India retail business in 2011 and the country’s equity investment space in 2016, sees the $400 million as a catalyst for growth in its corporate and debt investment banking and an injection of capital for private business as well. Barclays India mostly lends to corporate clients.
Barclays has about 14 percent India’s debt capital market, leading rivals JPMorgan and Standard Chartered (13 percent each) and HSBC (12 percent), according to the Reuters report, which cited information from Dealogic.
“As economic activity gathers momentum, there is increased demand for capital from clients,” said Jaideep Khanna, Barclays country CEO for India, in the company announcement. Barclays India’s Tier 1 capital is up 55 percent as a result of the $400 million investment.
The company opened an international banking unit branch at GIFT City in the western state of Gujarat in February.
Related: Indian FinTech Khatabook Closes $100M Series C At $600M Valuation
Indian FinTech Khatabook recently closed a $100 million funding round led by Tribe Capital and Moore Strategic Ventures that values the startup at about $600 million, according to a Tuesday (Aug. 24) blog post.
The oversubscribed Series C also had participation by Alkeon Capital, Capital Group, Sequoia Capital, Tencent, RTP Global, Unilever Ventures and Better Capital. Balaji Srinivasan and Sriram Krishnan were among the independent investors in this fundraising round.
Khatabook Co-founder and CEO Ravish Naresh wrote in the blog post that the company has become an “integral part” of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) in “almost every district in India” over the last 30 months.
“As we build financial services, we will be looking for the right partnership opportunities to enable the seamless rollout of solutions benefiting the economic aspirations of millions of small businesses,” Naresh said in the post.
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