India replaced Hong Kong as the biggest contributor to Standard Chartered&rsquo;s global profits in the first half of 2010. Jaspal Bindra, chief executive officer for Asia, who joined the bank&rsquo;s global board on January 1, tells Sumit Sharma that India, along with China, remains a dominant and promising growth story.

Q&A: Jaspal Bindra, Group ED and CEO Asia, StanChart

Business Standard

Banks have raised $4 billion (Rs 18,708 crore) since January 1 in overseas bonds, compared with no money in the same period a year ago. Rising capital inflows will also strengthen the rupee to 44 to a dollar by March, says Munish Varma, head of global markets at Deutsche Bank, India in an interview with Sudeep Jain.

Q&A: Munish Varma, Head global markets, Deutsche Bank (India)

Punjab National Bank has seen a build-up of non-performing assets in the first quarter but Chairman and Managing Director K R Kamath says it is not a cause for concern. With part of the increase due to agri loans, a focus area is going to be working on farmers to repay on time. The other is on preparing a pipeline of leaders, he tells Vrishti Beniwal and Sidhartha in an interview.

Q&A: K R Kamath, CMD, Punjab National Bank

The project equity arm of Infrastructure Development and Finance Company, which launched the $927 million Indian Infrastructure Fund in June 2008, had opted for a lower risk-return matrix and invests in operating assets of mid-sized projects. In an interview, IDFC Project Equity&rsquo;s President and CEO, M K Sinha, tells Manojit Saha the road ahead may be bumpy, as valuation hiccups and slow implementation are dampening the demand for funds.

Q&A: M K Sinha, President & CEO, IDFC Project Equity

The dynamics in the Indian economic scenario are unfolding. Inflation, as well as growth numbers, look to ease out. With interest rates on the rise, there are several questions that arise on the outlook for overall growth. Rahul Bajoria, regional economist, Asia Pacific, at Barclays Capital, shared his views with Akash Joshi.

Q&A: Rahul Bajoria, regional economist, Barclays Capital

Raghuram G Rajan, the Eric J Gleacher Distinguished Service Professor of Finance at the University of Chicago&rsquo;s Booth School of Business, is no stranger to the Indian financial sector. He headed the Planning Commission-appointed committee on financial sector reforms, which, among other things, suggested a change in the Reserve Bank of India&rsquo;s role and mandate apart from sowing the seeds for the Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC) that is being pushed by the government. Rajan, who is also an honorary economic advisor to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, spoke to Sidhartha about financial sector reforms and regulatory challenges.

Q&A: Raghuram G Rajan, Honorary Economic Advisor to PM

The fund flow from foreign institutional investors (FIIs) in Indian equity has grown over 50 per cent this year. Morgan Stanley, the global investment bank that accounted for over six per cent of the Rs 62,400 crore raised through equity on Indian bourses this year, says FIIs have a distinct preference for India over other developing countries. India Investment Banking Chairman V K Bansal spoke to Abhineet Kumar on various issues related to equity capital markets.

Q&A: V K Bansal, Morgan Stanley India

The youngest of the life insurance companies, IndiaFirst expects to break even within five years of operation, despite the recent regulatory changes affecting margins. In an interview with Shilpy Sinha, the company&rsquo;s MD and CEO P Nandagopal, talks about his strategy.

Q&A: P Nandagopal, MD & CEO, IndiaFirst Life Insurance

For Steve Bertamini, group executive director and chief executive officer, global consumer banking at Standard Chartered, India is one of the most important markets. The bank can double its annual revenue to $1 billion within five years, Bertamini tells Sumit Sharma in an interview.

Q&A: Steve Bertamini, CEO, Standard Chartered

Aaron Gurwitz, the chief investment officer at Barclays Wealth, expects India&rsquo;s economy and its markets to win. He tells his global clients to increase exposure to emerging markets and predicts India will outperform other emerging markets.

Q&A: Aaron Gurwitz, chief investment officer, Barclays Wealth

Six weeks ago, Ravi Kapoor was appointed as head of global banking at Citi India. In his first interview after taking over his new responsibility, Kapoor tells Vrishti Beniwal &amp; Sidhartha that the success of the Centre&rsquo;s disinvestment programme hinges on attractive valuations. But he refuses to discuss the fee paid to bankers, which, rivals say, has been driven down by Citi.

Q&A: Ravi Kapoor, Head, Global Banking, Citi India

Sanjay Bhandarkar, managing director, Rothschild (India), tells Sumit Sharma and Abhineet Kumar that private equity investments may rise as much as 50 per cent this year, compared with $2.8 billion last year, as overseas investor sense opportunities for organic growth and valuations seem more realistic.

Q&A: Sanjay Bhandarkar, MD, Rothschild (India)

Former Reserve Bank of India Governor Y V Reddy is attending a meet in Daejon &ndash; organised by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Korean government &ndash; to discuss what the world can learn from Asia and the challenges that need to be addressed in the region. On the sidelines of the conference, he spoke to Sidhartha on dealing with capital flows and regulatory issues.

Q&A:Y V Reddy, Former Governor, Reserve Bank of India

India is a much more steady market than China and presents a great long-term opportunity, Bala Deshpande, senior managing director at private equity firm New Enterprise Associates (India), tells Sumit Sharma.

Q&A: Bala Deshpande,Senior MD, New Enterprise Associates (India)

State-owned insurance companies plan to put a check on hospitals by asking them to standardise charges on treatments. Some hospitals are inflating claims and overcharging insurers, G Srinivasan, chairman and managing director, United India Insurance Company, tells Shilpy Sinha.

Q&A: G Srinivasan, CMD, United India Insurance

Anoop Pabby recently took over as managing director of Deutsche Postbank Home Finance Ltd, a fully owned subsidiary of Deutsche Postbank AG, Germany. Pabby spoke to Atanu Kumar Das about the challenges faced by home finance companies and how profitability is linked to customer satisfaction.

Q&A:Anoop Pabby, MD, Deutsche Postbank Home Finance

The economic slowdown of 2008-09 is now a distant memory. Markets across product categories are booming, and the hunger for capital is back &ndash; just the right playground for private equity. But ChrysCapital, one of the largest players in the private equity space (it manages $2.25 billion across five funds), has returned $300 million to its investors. This has cut the size of its fifth from $1.25 billion to $900 million.

Q&A: Ashish Dhawan, Senior Managing Director, ChrysCapital

P K Choudhury, vice-chairman and group CEO of credit ratings agency ICRA Ltd, says the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) may desist from taking any action in its quarterly policy review on July 27, while continuing to follow monetary tightening in the medium term. Excerpts from an interview to Sumit Sharma.

Q&A: P K Choudhury, Vice-chairman & group CEO, ICRA

The man responsible for taking IL&amp;FS overseas, Shahzaad Dalal, is vice-chairman of one of the country&rsquo;s largest private equity (PE) firms and the first to be listed, IL&amp;FS Investment Managers. He has set up a hub in Dubai and shuttles between the emirate and India. Recently, the Saudi BinLadin Group bought a 20 per cent stake in Maytas Infra, where IL&amp;FS replaced the Raju family (of Satyam) as promoter.

Q&A: Shahzaad Dalal, Vice-Chairman, IL&FS Investment Managers

Stuart A Davis, the chief executive officer at HSBC India, expects the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to increase repo and reverse repo rates by 25 basis points in its quarterly monetary policy review on July 27, as concerns over accelerating inflation and uncertain monsoon linger.

Q&A: Stuart A Davis, CEO, HSBC India

R S Reddy, the chairman and managing director of Andhra Bank, expects the Reserve Bank of India to leave its key rates unchanged when it meets for the quarterly monetary policy review on July 27. The liquidity is still not plentiful and growth in deposit is not robust, he says.

Page 40 - Interviews