Indian companies are joining forces with the country’s largest banks to help fuel their drive to become bigger, more international and more efficient.

Nearly 90% of the large and middle market Indian corporates participating in the most recent Coalition Greenwich India Corporate Banking Study are optimistic about the outlook for their businesses over the coming year. Fully a third of those companies say they are highly positive about that near-term future.

Those positive vibes reflect a robust economy powered by favorable demographics, a strong and growing consumer base and an influx of international capital from companies like Apple who are diversifying supply chains away from China. The favorable business conditions corporates in India are now experiencing are also a result of the Indian government taking steps over a number of years to create a more business-friendly environment.

“Corporates—and the Indian economy as a whole—are now reaping the benefit of various structural reforms introduced over the past decade or so, as well as the shifting geopolitical environment,” says Gaurav Arora, Coalition Greenwich Global Head of Competitor Analytics.

From 2021 to 2022, the share of Indian corporates working with one of the largest Indian private sector banks for overall corporate banking services increased to 38% from 33%. Over the same period, the share of corporates working with at least one large foreign bank climbed to 21% from 18%.

Many of the gains for large private sector and foreign banks came at the expense of the smaller banks, including some of India’s public sector banks. But even among the PSUs, the trend toward consolidation among the largest providers persisted, with State Bank of India doing a better job than smaller banks at maintaining corporate relationships. Over the 12-month period, the share of Indian corporates working with at least one of the country’s other, smaller, private sector banks dropped to 18% from 21%.

2023 Greenwich Leaders in Indian Large Corporate and Middle Market Banking

Among local banks, HDFC Bank has overtaken State Bank of India to earn the top spot on the list of 2023 Greenwich Share Leaders in Large Corporate Banking. For middle market corporates, HDFC again tops the list of 2023 Share Leaders among local banks and joins ICICI as joint 2023 Greenwich Quality Leaders.

Click here for the list of 2023 Greenwich Leaders in Indian Large Corporate and Middle Market Banking and the list of 2023 Greenwich Excellence Awards winners in Indian Corporate Banking.