Since 2008, the bank was managing its businesses in India through its representative office and then set up its corporate and investment banking operations after receiving a banking license from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in 2009.
FirstRand Bank currently has $175m worth of assets in India.
FirstRand Bank chief executive Sizwe Nxasana said the bank is not positioning itself as a global investment bank, but is increasing its presence in the region.
The bank said that it will launch retail loan products like mortgages and credit cards and is also hopeful of introducing some of the technology based products in the country in the future.
"Commodities are in our DNA. We understand this business well. Hence, we decided to start lending against gold," Nxasana said.
Commenting on the inauguration of Mumbai branch of FirstRand Bank India chief executive officer and head said the bank sees much potential in India and think it is an excellent market to activate the technology it has in South Africa which can find applications in this market.
"We will be using outside partners. If we don’t have mortgage then we have someone else giving it. If I don’t have vehicle finance, I will tie-up with someone else for that. There are certain products that we don’t want to get into initially and we will use partners to collaborate," Madhav said.
The bank also has a plan to open six more branches in different parts of Indian cities, after obtaining retail operations licenses from RBI.
With a capital base of nearly $75m in India, the bank presently has 90 employees in India, of which, 35 are engaged in retail operations.
