In an interview with ET, Fraser said, “You can feel India’s superpower potential instead of calling it a dream. “The country’s ability to realize and transform its scale is enormous. Ease of doing business has gotten better. This is a very unique point for India… speed and scale.”
The country’s intellectual capital, a growing market and digital payments infrastructure can all together help drive an economic growth rate that other countries can only dream of.
Fraser said, “Doing business in India has become easier. “even if it is iBe it digital architecture, whether it is some other framework, they are all over the place. Having a backbone here is not something that many different countries have. The government has done a remarkable job by being very visionary. It gives a lot of confidence to the people that India stands as a center of excellence.
55-year-old Fraser is different wall Street Bankers not only for being the first women to lead the ultra-competitive financial services industry, but also for their work culture and approach to social issues. When the CEOs of JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs were pushing employees to return to work amid the pandemic, Fraser was generous and allowed employees to choose work styles and locations.
It has had to make some tough decisions, such as selling off Asia’s retail assets, including one in India, boosting the return ratio and reducing the growing regulatory complexities surrounding Citi’s operations, which span several countries over a century. .
Citi is in the process of selling its consumer business
But Fraser says the bank is increasing its investments in India as it expands corporate banking as well as technology services that make India the second largest after the US in terms of employment.
“The key piece to City was not retail,” Fraser said. “We have been in the country for 120 years. India for City is something that has a huge impact on the history of our firm.”
‘America will be strong, Europe will face recession’
Fraser said, “City India is about how we connect the world to India and India to the world. How do we support the growth of Indian companies that need to tap global capital and bring capital to India? Is.”
Global financial markets are facing strong headwinds as the economic conditions of different economies warrant different actions from central banks. Fraser said the US would remain strong and the Federal Reserve would continue with quantitative tightening, with Europe facing a recession.
“There are different dynamics going on in different countries,” Fraser said. “What’s happening in the market is a huge amount of volatility. This is likely to continue. QT is one the world is keeping a close eye on. The next six months are going to tell a lot.”
While the US is staring at a recession, India could be the ‘poster child’ with its growth rate of over 7%.
“India is in a very good position,” Fraser said. “The opportunity is for India to lose. The next few decades will be Asia’s and I see India at the forefront of a superpower in this.”