Maximum Value

With Citi India’s high-end customers now finally part of the Axis Bank family, the challenge lies in extracting the maximum value from them

- ANAND ADHIKARI

CITI INDIA CUSTOMERS can finally bank with Axis Bank. One year after the big-ticket Axis Bank-Citi retail assets transaction was completed, the country’s third-largest private sector bank is finally integrating the foreign bank’s operations. So, what exactly is Axis Bank gaining from the deal in which rival lenders like HDFC Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank had refused to outbid the price ₹11,603-crore) it paid for the assets? For context, the addition to Axis Bank’s deposits is less than 5 percent.

But another part of the deal grows Axis Bank’s credit cards portfolio by 20 per cent and private and wealth management assets by over 33 per cent, with the employee count growing by less than 4 per cent. These figures, though, only scratch the surface of the deal. So, what is the full picture?