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