Standard Chartered Bank celebrates 150 years in India; to bring in fresh investment of $250 million for operations

16 April 2008

Mumbai: Standard Chartered Bank, India's first and largest international bank, is celebrating its 150th anniversary of its operations in India.

Standard Chartered, which started as The Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China, had opened its first branch in Kolkata in April 1858. Today, it has operations in over 70 countries, and leads the way in emerging markets in Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

In India, Standard Chartered has 83 branches across 33 cities, which services 1,500 Indian corporations, and 2.1 million retail clients. Besides being crucial to its operations, India is the top contributor to the Standard Chartered Group's profits, and houses the largest unit of the group's service and operations hub, Scope International, that employs over a quarter of the bank's 73,000 people.

Peter Sands, group chief executive officer, Standard Chartered Plc, said, ''Standard Chartered is honoured to have been associated with India over the past 150 years, witnessing and participating in the nation's emergence as a political and economic giant. Nothing conveys the solidity of our commitment more strongly than our being here for this long. We have continuously invested in India over the years in our people, products, infrastructure and technology. We are committed to being the Right Partner to our customers, our people, the community, and the regulators.''

Standard Chartered Bank has invested another $250 million in its Indian banking operations, taking the total capital base to $1.9 billion.

The capital infusion bolsters the bank's capital adequacy and supports the growth of the wholesale and consumer banking services, including key recent initiatives that have widened the scope and quality of its services such as micro-finance, private banking, and mobile banking.