India an island of calm in a choppy world: Barclays CEO Jes Staley

New Delhi: India is an island of calm in a world beset by turbulence, said Jes Staley, CEO of Barclays, one of Britain's biggest banks. PM Narendra Modi's policy changes are making it easier to do business in India while Europe is wracked by Brexit and other emerging markets are shaky following the commodities collapse.

"The PM has had a dramatic impact on India and...the world," Staley told ET in an interview. "I think with the challenges the globe is facing now, PM Modi is a source of stability and we need that around the world today."

Staley joins global chief executive officers such as John Chambers of Cisco and Satya Nadella of Microsoft who have endorsed Modi's economic management although many local businesses grumble that things don't seem to have changed much on the ground.

India is better protected against global uncertainty because its economy is not as dependent on export income and benefits from the decline in commodities, the Barclays CEO said.

India an island of calm in a choppy world: Barclays CEO Jes Staley

"I am a buyer (of India)," said Staley. "Economic prospects are very favourable. The government is working very hard to change laws so that India restructures itself to provide economic growth. India is not a developing country dependent on commodities almost uniquely. In fact, it's one of the countries which benefits when commodities get cheaper. That I think is a very positive sign."

Staley took over as Barclays CEO in December last year and has since announced a broad restructuring programme that involves shrinking operations in Asia, including India, where it shut the equities business. But its back-office operation in the country is substantial, employing more than 16,000. Barclays plans to expand this, the CEO said.

"We have great intellectual capital in our bank in India. One-third of the executive committee of Barclays are now from India," Staley said. "We will be done (selling down) by 2017 and we now need to focus on growth and helping to fund growth in places like India and elsewhere... We will not change the locations or the markets that Barclays operates in."

The bank is gearing up for future growth in the country.

"It was a very relevant or important decision that we made that we want to stay committed as an investment and corporate bank to India and we will," he said. "We hope to grow that business in the future."

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.