India's private banks have been biggest winners from note ban: Here's how
India’s clampdown on unaccounted cash has sent a flood of money into the private banking industry, prompting a major lender to embark on a hiring binge for wealth managers.
HDFC Bank Ltd. -- the most preferred wealth manager in India among high net worth clients surveyed by Euromoney -- plans to add as many as 150 relationship managers by the end of 2020 to the current 250, said Rakesh Singh, group head of private banking. He started hiring at a faster pace last year, when he added about 50.
The recruitment drive at the private banking unit, which started in the early 2000s, moved into high gear last year as India’s rich started shifting investments away from property and gold and into financial markets, Singh said in an interview last month. Real estate and gold purchases were often financed with cash as a way to avoid Indian taxes, and have come under greater scrutiny since demonetization.
“Demonetization has been the inflection point for the private banking business in India,” Singh said, predicting HDFC Bank’s wealth assets will read more
