SWIFT India was formed in 2012 as a joint venture of SWIFT SCRL and nine banks in India, for the domestic financial community and by the community. SWIFT India opened for a second capital call that was oversubscribed, with Citibank and Standard Chartered Bank showing keenness to be a part of the initiative.

The shareholders of SWIFT India currently comprise (in alphabetical order): Axis Bank Ltd, Bank of Baroda, Bank of India, Canara Bank, Citibank, HDFC Bank Ltd, ICICI Bank Ltd, Punjab National Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, State Bank of India, SWIFT SCRL and Union Bank of India. The shareholders of SWIFT India bring the insights and knowledge of domestic customers and users of the services of SWIFT India. They represent their own institutions and the interests of the broader Indian financial community, which includes domestic banks, market infrastructures and their respective customers.

On the occasion of forging this partnership, Debopama Sen, South Asia Head for Treasury and Trade Solutions, Citibank, said: “Citi has had a long standing global association with SWIFT, which now extends to this strategic partnership in SWIFT India. Our focus at Citi is to support the growth of the digital ecosystem that is taking shape in India with our global experience. This association will help enable efficiencies in managing Corporate-to-Bank digital flows in India on a secure and robust platform.”

Sanjay Gurjar, Managing Director & Head, Transaction Banking for India and Nepal, Standard Chartered Bank said: “At Standard Chartered, we continue to promote digitisation and innovation for our clients. Given our long association with SWIFT across markets, SWIFT India's Corporate to Bank connectivity was a logical extension of our endeavour to help clients automate and digitise flows, whilst gaining efficiency through standardisation and process automation."

Kiran Shetty, Chief Executive Officer, SWIFT India said: “We are committed to support the ambitious digitisation agenda of India and are delighted to welcome equity participation from Citibank and Standard Chartered bank to our existing pool of shareholders. This further reinforces the trust & commitment of the Indian financial community in SWIFT India, to accelerate digitisation of domestic information flows & financial messages of the world class standards.