Banking dossier: Citigroup's 2008 losses equal that of all Indian banks

MUMBAI/NEW YORK: It's probably the price of being the largest that in the ongoing slump across global bourses, the market value lost by the world's biggest bank Citigroup, run by India-born Vikram Pandit, so far in 2008 is equal to the loss suffered by all the Indian banks together.

But, despite this huge loss of close to 43 billion dollars, the US banking behemoth is still valued more than all the Indian banks taken together.

The market capitalisation of Citigroup has dropped by 26.63 per cent since the beginning of the current calendar year, making it the worst performer among the top 30 blue-chips in the US that constitute the benchmark Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) index in the American equity market.

The percentage loss in Citigroup's market cap is lower than that of Bombay Stock Exchange's banking sector index Bankex as well as a number of Indian banks in the same period. However, owing to the larger market value of the US banking giant, the absolute loss is equivalent to the collective loss sufferred by all the 18 banks present on the BSE Bankex index.

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Citigroup, which has been among the worst affected from the US subprime crisis, has seen its market value getting eroded by close to 43 billion dollars since the beginning of the current year. A similar loss has been recorded by the 18 Indian banks during the same period.

While Citigroup's market value has dropped from about 161 billion dollars at the end of 2007 to 118 billion dollars at present, that of the 18 Bankex companies has dropped from about Rs 5,35,960 crore (136 billion dollars) to close to Rs 3,64,522 crore.