Pramod Kumar will be the new Chief Executive Officer, replacing Ram Gopal who is retiring after leading the bank in the country for nearly six years, according to people familiar with the matter. The British bank also hired Suneeta Shetty from HSBC Holdings Plc as its India Chief Operating Officer, the people said, asking not to be identified as the developments are not public yet.
A Mumbai-based spokesperson for Barclays declined to comment, when asked by Bloomberg News about the management moves.Kumar joined Barclays almost 12 years ago and is currently its head of banking under its investment bank division in the country, according to his LinkedIn page. Barclays’s Asia Pacific head Jaideep Khanna is based in the country, helping to maintain close ties with India’s growing ranks of corporate giants and wealthy. The bank’s revamped India team will have to grapple with intensifying competition from rivals such as HSBC Holdings Plc and HDFC Bank Ltd., which are beefing up their local operations, as well as the turmoil surrounding a key client, the Adani group.