JPMorgan sees India among its top three fastest-growing Asian markets in 2024

MUMBAI (Reuters) – India could be among the three fastest-growing markets for JPMorgan in the Asia Pacific region next year, along with Australia and Japan, a senior official at the Wall Street bank said.

“People are starting to get excited about the whole China plus element and while other countries have benefited, India could be the biggest beneficiary,” Filippo Gori, JPMorgan’s managing director for Asia Pacific, told Reuters, referring to a strategy for companies. that diversify supply chains. beyond China.

This is because India has the scale to absorb some of the supply chain that many companies around the world are looking to move, he said in an interview in Mumbai.

Global corporations like Apple Inc have stepped up production outside India while others like Tesla are in discussions to start manufacturing in the country.

Asia’s third-largest economy is forecast to grow 6.5% in the financial year ending March 31, 2024 – the fastest among major economies – and is trying to attract global corporations, including by offering tax incentives and of another type.

“It seems to me that the only missing component (in India) is a more organized infrastructure, which is more dispersed and less uniform than in China,” said Gori, who sees low-end manufacturing coming out of China, but not high end. finish manufacturing yet.

Deal volume for JPMorgan, across M&A, equity and debt fundraising, has been weak across the region this year and India has been no exception despite the enthusiasm.

“But the level to which research and activity is increasing in India is substantial,” Gori said.

JPMorgan has expanded its investment banking team in India, adding two senior managing directors in the last 12 months. It has also grown its commercial banking division, which focuses on midsize businesses, over the past five years. Additionally, it has grown its corporate center business, which handles offshoring-related work, to a workforce of 50,000 now from 35,000 in 2018.

Commenting on the impact of the slowdown in China and the flow in its markets, Gori said the bank was yet to see a sharp slowdown in business volumes in the market.

“I think we need to distinguish between the headlines and the day-to-day because China has really been exceptionally resilient.”

The bank’s main customer base is international companies operating overseas in China and that business has not been affected by geopolitics, Gori said.

“I won’t rule out that there may be activity coming from China because clearly with an economy that is going through a restructuring, some trading activity could arise.”

Our standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.