MC EXCLUSIVE India might soon be 3-4 percent of Citi’s overall topline: Citi India CEO K Balasubramanian

K Balasubramanian, CEO, Citi India

It’s been an eventful six months, said India K Balasubramanian who took over from Ashu Khullar as Citi’s CEO for the India subcontinent sub-cluster and banking head in April this year. These six months have seen Operation Sindoor, higher tariffs and the more recent GST rate cuts. An almost Citi lifer, Balasubramanian caught up with Moneycontrol’s Bodhisatva Ganguli and Hamsini Karthik in an exclusive conversation on Citi’s priorities and the Indian economy.

Best known for his deal making skills, Bala is confident that India is poised for 7-7.25 percent GDP growth in FY26 and Citi’s Indian outfit is well on track to continue growing its balance sheet at 35 percent. Watch the video interview right here.

Edited excerpts:

What’s your perspective of the Indian economy right now, in the context of GST rate cuts which came into effect last month and the overhang of tariffs?'

It's been a very eventful six months since I moved into this role as the India CEO. It started with the border skirmishes with Pakistan, and then we were hit by tariffs. FIIs were pulling money out of the country. But the good thing is, the core fundamental economic continues to be okay. GDP numbers for Q1 and Q2 FY26 were quite positive. The manufacturing sector continues to be okay. Services are doing exceedingly well.

New segments like GCCs have started contributing positively to the Indian economy. The basic consumption story is strong. The GST cut that happened effective September 22 has been a game changer. I've been talking to clients across the spectrum, be it consumer durables, FMCG or automobiles, there is a general sense of positivity in pick-up in activities in the last few weeks. We have had a very good monsoon spread across the country, which means that the rural economy should also start seeing cash flows. We potentially will be in a good position between 7 - 7.25% GDP growth. The way things are on US trade and tariff deals has unfortunately been a little bit of a slow burn.

So, the uncertainty on tariffs prevails?

At 50% tariff frankly which we have been hit with for the last several weeks, a lot of sectors like pharma are exempt. India's exports to the US is approximately around $85 billion of which close to 40% of the exports are not going to be covered under tariff. We're basically looking at 60% of the products that is covered under the tariff where in FY26 we've seen a lot of front loading of sales that has happened. So, in FY26, I don't think there is going to be significant impact. But if tariff continues to be at 50%, unfortunately for the 60% of the products, that's going to make us uncompetitive in the market. The sectors that are going to get hit quite adversely are textiles, footwear, handicrafts, gems and jewelry. The government is trying to see whether, by reducing the GST, some of it could be moved into the domestic market, or could be considered for export into alternate markets, in EU and other places. This is something that is going to play out over the next few weeks.

Read More: India to be the 2nd largest employee base for Citi

There were also some questions about Citi’s commitment to India when you divested the retail business. Are you over that phase of stakeholders accepting that you are committed to India?

In the initial phase because most people had their first credit card from Citi, or their bank account with Citi for ages, there was a lot of positivity and affection to the Citi brand. As a foreign bank operating in the country, it's very difficult to be playing a retail game similar to what SBI or other private sector banks are playing. It's not feasible from a long-term perspective. Clients agree and understand that, and we have moved past that phase now. It's been a little over two years since we exited from the retail bank, and our balance sheet continues to grow at 35 percent. Our profitability is very strong. Our revenue growth has been on the double digit for the fiscal starting April 2025 and our profitability this year is going to be better than what it was last year. We've got 35% plus share in the custody business probably the top market share. We are also No.1 in the multinational space and we’ve gained more than 23.4% market share.

What about your relationship with the Indian top corporates?

We have created a niche for ourselves and every large corporate that you can think about operating in the country banks with us. We take care of their funding needs, organic and inorganic growth strategy. Our daily operating flows globally, is between USD 4 - 5 trillion of cash. We have more than 4% share on the digital payments that happens in the country. We are pretty large on the trade side with close to 8% market share on imports and exports. We deal with almost all the large corporates in terms of their import and export needs in India. We have around 14% market share on the forex space where we help companies best manage their positions across multiple currencies. We help large corporates including Indian conglomerates across the world, through a network where we are present in 94 plus countries. We have a very robust multinational banking segment called GSG through which we support their operations in international markets. Large corporates is a very important piece of the puzzle, which we are very focused on. We want to put money in that business and grow their business.

Read More: Today's capex of a different form compared to previous decades, says Citi India CEO

How big is the India business in a global context?

India is very critical to our global CEO. She's personally taken responsibility and accountability for India. She is in India once a year, for sure; she tries to come twice a year. She's actively meeting Indian customers across the world. We're getting a lot of support from the CEO and her executive management team (EMT) whether it’s asking for investments or assistance for any client situation.

Three out 14 -15 people in the EMT are Indians and that helps getting the necessary share of attention into India. If we continue to grow at the pace we grew in the last five years India might be 3-4% of Citi’s overall top line, and maybe a little higher on the profitability. That would probably put us on the same zip code, if not a little higher of China or Brazil.

Read More: Citi India CEO expects $15 billion IPO over next two months

Between corporate, commercial, investment banking and custodial service, which is the most promising?

Investment banking is doing exceedingly well because the capital markets are very constructive. India still continues to be in a good position to attract foreign and domestic capital. Growth is a big driver in the Indian market. Every company is trying to see as to how they want to come and participate in this journey. We saw Hyundai happening last year and LG happened a few weeks back. Maruti happened many years back and there are at least a dozen plus companies which are in different stages of discussion with us and other banks in terms how they can monetize the value that they have created in Indian market. M&A is going to be a continuing thing. Securitization is still very nascent in India and we are focused on how we can build up capacity and create more of structured transactions in the market. Commercial real estate is becoming more relevant in India today, and these are all big businesses for us globally. Risk management in the insurance segment is becoming quite active in the market. Payments and digitization is going to be important. Structured trade where we have a big advantage has been a little low from a priority since the financial crisis.  Companies are looking at opportunities to take advantage of risk management and that’s going to be focus area.

Remittances and payments is becoming a renewed area of interest for foreign banks. How do you see this shape up for Citi?

This is like oxygen to a human being. We exited the Consumer Bank, but we still have a disproportionate share of the B2C segment, because most large companies that operated in the country, whether Indian conglomerates or multinationals, which has a B2C segment, banks with us. Therefore, we have to constantly invent and invest in the payments and digital landscape. We work with fintechs in India to co-create structures which will be of value to our customers.