India

Entered market 

1979

A representative's office was first opened for India in 1979, initially operating from the Taj Mahal Hotel before a suitable location was found. From here, in 1980, the representative's office then moved to Cuffe Parade, Bombay, and primarily dealt with matters of export finance. Following the grant of a banking licence by the Reserve Bank of India in 1989, the representative's office was replaced by a corporate branch of Barclays Bank PLC, which opened in 1990 in Bombay's main financial district. A new representative's office opened in Delhi in 1991, which was then upgraded to a branch in 1994. Barclays became the first foreign bank to register with the Reserve Bank of India as an overseas investor. A research team from Barclays de Zoete Wedd began to operate from the Bombay office in 1994, prior to the establishment of a BZW office in 1995. This office was established for equities research and corporate finance, although in 1997, corporate finance was transferred over to Barclays Bank PLC. Later on, in 2007, Barclays launched a comprehensive retail banking business in the country, including Barclaycard, personal loans, business installment loans, and investment services products. In 2008, Barclays Wealth launched its business in India, opening a new office in Goregaon (East), Mumbai, followed by offices in Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai and Kolkata in 2009. In the same year, Barclays achieved another first, becoming the first foreign bank to operate in the city of Ahmednagar in Western India. In addition to this, Barclays launched its website in Hindi the same year. Barclaycard launched in 2007. A computer service centre opened in 2007 in Delhi with 600 staff. Mobile phone banking for credit card customers was established in 2009. In November 2010, Barclays Wealth reached a milestone of $1bn in assets within the Indian business, a 72% increase from the start of the year. In 2014 Barclays announced a new function allowing mobile payments to India through its Pingit mobile payments service in the UK, opening it up to the largest remittance market between the UK and another country. In 2016 Barclays announced the opening of a Rise hub in Mumbai in partnership with 91 Springboard. The fifth site to be established by Barclays, Rise is a global network of FinTech start-ups, designed to support innovative and transformative tech. Begun in 2015 at Whitechapel, London, by 2018 there were also hubs in Lithuania, Tel Aviv, Cape Town, New York, and Mumbai. In 2019 Barclays open a new campus at Pune, the largest single location outside its global headquarters in London.    

Traded as

Barclays