Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news. All Right, folks, now,
Speaker 1: let's get to a region of the world that we
Speaker 1: are seeing increasingly catch the attention of investors.
Speaker 2: And that is India. JP Morgan, CEO Jamie diamond says
Speaker 2: there's a substantial opportunity for India as companies look to
Speaker 2: diversify their supply chains away from China. Let's according to
Speaker 2: an interview with US CNBC TV eighteen. He did caution, though,
Speaker 2: that the transition will take years as firms navigate the
Speaker 2: complexities of relocating operations. Increasingly, Carol, we see a growing
Speaker 2: number of stories about companies expanding their presence in India
Speaker 2: and investors certainly making bets there.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I printed out a bunch of them with a
Speaker 1: view on the Indian economy. We are delighted to have
Speaker 1: with us the chairman of the State Bank of India CSSETI,
Speaker 1: which is the largest public sector bank and the biggest
Speaker 1: lender in India. He joins us here in studio, chair
Speaker 1: SETI so nice to have you here on Bloomberg Television
Speaker 1: and Radio. You were in DC. Let's start there for
Speaker 1: the IMF meetings. What if the meetings gave you optimism
Speaker 1: for India and the World War broad and what did not.
Speaker 3: Yeah, thanks for having me on the show. I think
Speaker 3: the positive news which are merged and the IMF matings
Speaker 3: is that global inflation is coming down. I'd say it's
Speaker 3: a good news. While the growth rate seems to be moderate,
Speaker 3: still in the range of three to three point five percent.
Speaker 3: The bright spark, obviously is India, which is expected to
Speaker 3: grow at around seven percent to seven point two percent.
Speaker 3: Even the IMF play places the growth rate out of
Speaker 3: seven percent, the Central Bank of India believes that the
Speaker 3: growth rate could be seven point two percent. I think
Speaker 3: it's a it's a it's a really interesting story which
Speaker 3: is unfolding in India, both in terms of growth trajectory
Speaker 3: which the country is taking on, and the equity market
Speaker 3: is doing well and the inflation is also moderating there
Speaker 3: while the food inflation is still a matter of concern.
Speaker 2: Then, so let's talk about some different sectors of the economy.
Speaker 2: You heard me mention the comments by Jamie Diamond over
Speaker 2: at JP Morgan Chase about supply chains transitioning to India
Speaker 2: on the ground, what can you tell us about that
Speaker 2: actually happening in India right now.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think there's most visible success stories. Of course,
Speaker 3: Apple twenty five percent of Apple sixteen is produced in India.
Speaker 3: A couple of things which are very seriously being pursued
Speaker 3: by the Government of India is a performance linked incentive
Speaker 3: for various industries, more than sixteen to twenty industries, particularly
Speaker 3: in the areas of electronics and you know, semiconductors. So
Speaker 3: these are the sectors which are getting the performance linked
Speaker 3: incentive from the Government of India. And there's a good
Speaker 3: amount of foreign capital which is coming into these sectors.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and what in particular tell us a little bit
Speaker 1: about that. I think I'm not kidding when we say
Speaker 1: the ton of stories. I have a pile stock stories
Speaker 1: India clipsing China and MSCI Global stock ages to dry flows.
Speaker 1: That was back in mid September. Blackstone sees Asia as
Speaker 1: growth engine, has scale in India.
Speaker 2: Juans and Wong was there last week Brookfield.
Speaker 1: To add to its thirteen billion dollar bet on India's projects.
Speaker 1: So there's so much going on. You point that out.
Speaker 1: We're in particular give us some insight for our Bloomberg audience,
Speaker 1: who's a global audience, but where the money has picked
Speaker 1: up dramatically.
Speaker 3: So the money is mainly coming in the couple of sectors,
Speaker 3: particularly in the renewables. I think there's a huge amount
Speaker 3: of focus with the commitment what India has given under
Speaker 3: the twenty six that you know, by twenty thirty, the
Speaker 3: addition in the renew br energy would be almost five
Speaker 3: hundred gigabytes. That is attracting a lot of attention. And
Speaker 3: the logies sticks is another area, the ware housing, roads, sports,
Speaker 3: These are all the areas which are attracting the global
Speaker 3: investment in a big manner.
Speaker 1: You know, I was in India now like ten twelve
Speaker 1: years ago and one of the things that I found
Speaker 1: so dramatic, and it was a trip that I took
Speaker 1: it like two in the morning with my team. We
Speaker 1: were going to Agra to see the taj Mahal. But
Speaker 1: what was fascinating is that's when you saw everything moving around,
Speaker 1: because that's when the roads were less busy and just
Speaker 1: so much infrastructure moving around. What can you tell us
Speaker 1: too about the infrastructure build out that many have deemed
Speaker 1: so necessary to take India to the next level.
Speaker 3: Absolutely, I think one of the most important requirements for
Speaker 3: Indian economy to continue to grow is strengthening the infrastructure.
Speaker 3: And there are two things which are happening. I think
Speaker 3: there's a significant government expenditure capital expenditure which is focused
Speaker 3: on the infrastructure building up, and there's a private investment
Speaker 3: also is coming in in a big manner. In terms
Speaker 3: of infrastructure, we see a lot of airports being built,
Speaker 3: seaports being strengthened, and road network of course is one
Speaker 3: of the best now in India. And we have dedicated
Speaker 3: freight corridors which are coming in, you know, to enhanced
Speaker 3: the speed of moving the roots from one place to another.
Speaker 2: So I think, yeah, I was just going to say
Speaker 2: we only have a few minutes left, but I want
Speaker 2: to move from the macro to the micro and talk
Speaker 2: a little about your plans over at SBI and where
Speaker 2: you're thinking about expansion in terms of parts that you're
Speaker 2: focused on growing. What are the goals for growth over
Speaker 2: the next six months two years.
Speaker 3: So, as you know, I think in terms of the reach,
Speaker 3: we have one of the best reaches. We have the
Speaker 3: largest network of branches, largest network of ATMs. We have
Speaker 3: served almost five hundred million customers and every Indian family
Speaker 3: in some way you know, is engaged with SBI. We
Speaker 3: have significantly invested in the technology and digitalization in the
Speaker 3: last two three years, and we would like to leverage
Speaker 3: that technology and digitalization to reach the underserved unserved across
Speaker 3: the country. Still, I think, you know, there are a
Speaker 3: lot of banking needs which are unmat in India which
Speaker 3: we want to reach them. And this investment in technology
Speaker 3: and digitalization has helped us to reach the bottom of
Speaker 3: the pyramid in a much lower cost, which means that
Speaker 3: you know, the investment in technology helped us to increase
Speaker 3: our operational efficiency. My focus in the next six months
Speaker 3: would be that how do I leverage the investments of
Speaker 3: what we met in technology to increase the operational efficiency
Speaker 3: and productivity for employees.
Speaker 1: I am curious too that you know, we've noticed too
Speaker 1: that deposits have been challenging for a lot of really
Speaker 1: all Indian lenders for the past few quarters. So your
Speaker 1: strategies that have worked and what else do you plan
Speaker 1: to do what's really worked in terms of building out
Speaker 1: the positive.
Speaker 3: Yeah. One thing, of course is you know, in India,
Speaker 3: despite so much digitalization, Yeah, the physical presence is very
Speaker 3: much important in terms of deposit mobilization, and we have
Speaker 3: the largest physical presence there number two we have.
Speaker 1: Does that mean you continue to build out the physical
Speaker 1: presence we do.
Speaker 3: We want to enter into areas where we know we
Speaker 3: don't have a branch, we would like to set up
Speaker 3: that physical branch. And we have a very strong mobile
Speaker 3: application which is you know currently you will be surprised
Speaker 3: that every day we open fifty to sixty thousand Savings
Speaker 3: Bank account a day, so we have twenty seven percent
Speaker 3: market share and Savings Bank which is the low cost deposits.
Speaker 3: So our focus would be, you know, how to be
Speaker 3: strengthen this franchise and start mobilizing more and more low
Speaker 3: cost deposits.
Speaker 1: And increasingly just got about fifteen seconds. Are they wealthier
Speaker 1: deposits too? That you're noticing a lot of wealth creation
Speaker 1: we're seeing in India and.
Speaker 3: We have largest number of clients who qualify to be
Speaker 3: wealth management customers and we are investing in wealth management technology.
Speaker 1: To reach out to the air AI too. Just quick ya.
Speaker 3: Of course there's a large scale adoption of the I.
Speaker 3: You can't you can't speak about banking without talking about.
Speaker 1: You can't speak about anything it assumes without talking about AI.
Speaker 1: Chair SETI thank you so much. We really appreciate it
Speaker 1: c s Seti, Chairman of the State Bank of India.
Speaker 1: For those who are watching on TV, the closes coming
Speaker 1: your way. Tim and I continue on Business Week