Citi India has announced a new head of its private banking operations.

Citi India has bolstered its private banking operations with the appointment of a new head. 

Sameer Kaul assumes the position of head of private banking for Citi Private Bank India, after serving as head of the country's retail branch banking business. Kaul brings 17 years of industry experience to the role and has been with the firm since 1995.

Kaul reports jointly to Bassam Salem, Asia Pacific chief executive of Citi Private Bank, and Pramit Jhaveri, CEO Citi India, Citi said in a statement.

Citi India has a network of 42 offices across 30 cities and offers both commercial banking and wealth management products and services. The private banking unit caters to high net worth individuals and their families. 

According to its web site, Citi is one of the largest foreign direct investors in financial services in the country with a total capital of at least $4 billion.

The appointment comes after what had been a poor year in the Indian stock market during 2011, although prices - along with many other countries' equities - have recovered. Over the medium term, India is still regarded as one of the growth regions in wealth management. The number of billionaires in Brazil, Russia, India and China has surged by 33 per cent since 2007, defying global turmoil and explaining why wealth managers have sought to break into these markets, according to research firm Wealth Insight.

As a sign of how Western firms are targeting India, at the start of this year, Ameriprise, the US financial planning firm, announced that it had commenced operations to provide financial advisory and planning services to Indian high net worth individuals. Ameriprise India is the first international name to offer purely wealth management and financial planning services in the Rs23,000 crore ($4. 4 billion) distribution and advice market.