Barclays to hire 20 for India equities: Sources

UK-based Barclays Bank will hire about 20 people for its newly launched equities business in India over the next couple of months, three sources with direct knowledge of the matter said on Tuesday.

The bank will hire staff for equities sales, research and trading jobs as part of its plan to build up its equities business in Asia's third-largest economy, said the sources.

A spokesman for Barclays in India declined to comment.

Barclays Capital, the investment banking unit of Barclays, said last month it had appointed Bhavtosh Vajpayee from CLSA as the head of its Indian equities business. The bank said it would hire more staff in the coming months as part of the rollout.

The bank has hired Purvesh Shah from UBS in India as the head of its India equity capital markets business, two of the sources said. Shah is expected to start his new job in October, they said.

Barclays, which is set to cut about 3,000 jobs globally this year to reduce costs, on Tuesday announced the appointment of the head of the equity research team and head of equity sales trading in India.

The bank said last month it had cut headcount in India as a result of merging the client relationship teams of its commercial and investment banking units.

Barclays is rolling out its equities business in India at a time when sluggish market conditions have hit volumes and fierce competition has driven down fees.

India's main stock index in Mumbai is down nearly 20% this year.

Several firms have delayed share sale plans, including Oil and Natural Gas, which has been deferring a more than USD 2 billion offering since early this year, and Steel Authority of India, which has delayed a USD 1.8 billion issue.

A host of global banks including Citigroup, Credit Suisse, JPMorgan and Standard Chartered compete with local firms in India in the equities business.