(Bloomberg) — Goldman Sachs Group Inc. plans to ramp up its credit score enterprise in India and sees an rising alternative to focus on the nation’s rich diaspora as international traders shift their focus from China to what’s now the world’s fastest-growing main financial system.

Most Read from Bloomberg

The funding financial institution desires to broaden the vary of loans it presents by way of its shadow banking unit, based on Sonjoy Chatterjee, chairman and chief government officer for Goldman in India. The agency additionally plans to get a license to scale up in foreign money buying and selling, which might enable Goldman to take care of any counterparty corresponding to monetary traders, fairness clients or a company buyer, he stated in an interview.

Goldman joins Wall Street lenders and personal fairness giants chasing alternatives in an financial system that’s forecast to develop 7% within the 12 months ending March. India is already house to the New York-based agency’s largest abroad workplace, which homes 1000’s of employees from quants to software program engineers. Goldman tops the league desk for India offers this 12 months, based on information compiled by Bloomberg.

“Indian markets have benefited from the emerging market equity flows that have shifted from China, though obviously the China story is not going to go away,” Chatterjee stated.

Credit Push

The credit score enlargement by way of the agency’s non-banking monetary firm comes on high of a non-public credit score fund that Goldman ran by itself steadiness sheet within the South Asian nation, he stated. Most NBFCs, sometimes called shadow banks in India, could make loans however not settle for deposits.

“This will be more of what we might want to originate and syndicate, keeping only a residual portion,” he stated.

Read More: Citigroup Sets India as High Priority Market Amid China Risks

Story continues

The Reserve Bank of India final 12 months allowed standalone main sellers, who underwrite main issuances of presidency bonds, to supply all foreign-exchange merchandise to customers. The transfer was made with a view towards strengthening the position of the standalone sellers as market makers, on par with banks working main vendor enterprise, the central financial institution had stated in a press release.

The nation had seven standalone main sellers as of 2020, together with Goldman Sachs (India) Capital Markets Pvt., PNB Gilts Ltd. and Morgan Stanley India Primary Dealer Pvt. PNB Gilts had stated in its annual report earlier this 12 months that it had been granted the license to function within the FX market.

“We couldn’t trade the currency in India because we are not a bank,” Chatterjee stated. “So that’s another area we want to scale up.”

In wealth administration, many Indian entrepreneurs have moved overseas throughout the pandemic, which has created a “more prominent” alternative to serve such purchasers from workplaces in Singapore, London and Dubai, he stated.

Private Equity

Chatterjee, who joined Goldman Sachs as a accomplice in 2010 after spending 16 years at India’s ICICI Bank, stated personal fairness corporations need to deploy a considerable proportion of the capital they’ve raised for Asia funds in India. That in flip is prone to gasoline dealmaking within the nation in future.

Read More: Goldman’s Biggest Office Beyond New York Attests to India’s Rise

“Private capital continues to remain very hungry to invest,” he stated. “When you have a large Asia fund of $8-10 billion, India is the most obvious destination.”

–With help from Nasreen Seria, Manuel Baigorri, Anup Roy and Malavika Kaur Makol.

(Updates with background on regulatory change from seventh paragraph.)

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

©2023 Bloomberg L.P.