Goldman bullish on growth prospects in India

This was for the first time in its 142-year-old history that the Wall Street giant has held its board meeting in the country,joining the likes of PepsiCo and a few other multinationals which had held their board meetings here in the recent past.

The entire top management of the investment bank was on a three-day trip to the country and held meetings in Mumbai and Delhi with top business personalities and government leaders including the prime minister.

While Goldman Sachs met business leaders like Mukesh Ambani,Laxmi Mittal,Kumar Mangalam Birla,Rahul Bajaj,Chanda Kochhar,Venugopal Dhoot,Adi Godrej,Gautam Singhania,Noel Tata,K V Kamath among others in Mumbai,various government officials were consulted during their stay in New Delhi.

“We met with a number of clients whose businesses reflect not only India’s dynamic business environment,but also their significance to the global economy. In Delhi,we had equally informative discussions with government officials. We also met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh,” the company said.

It also said that the board meeting reinforced the enormous potential of India and the global investment bank remained committed to helping clients grow both inside and outside India.

As per estimates,Goldman earned USD 15.3 million in fees on share and bond offerings and M&A advisory last year in India,which was fifth among foreign banks and seventh in the industry.

The investment bank is yet to receive a commercial banking license in the country for which it had applied two years back.