Barclays to set up India private bank, hire 100-FT

SINGAPORE, March 31 (Reuters) - Britain's Barclays (BARC.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) plans to set up a private bank in India and hire 100 people by the end of the year to serve rich entrepreneurs, the Financial Times reported on Monday.

"We have a successful investment bank in India and we have a very good offshore business with Indian clients and we are building an onshore private bank in India. The economy is growing at an incredible pace," the newspaper quotes Tom Kalaris, the chief executive of Barclays Wealth Management, as saying.

The British bank is already doing business in India through its debt-focused investment bank Barclays Capital and offers credit cards and personal loans. It is also hiring 65 people for its private bank, mainly in Hong Kong and Singapore.

The London-based bank will be facing competition from the likes of Citigroup (C.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Merrill Lynch (MER.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Morgan Stanley (MS.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) who have announced aggressive plans to boost wealth management services in India. (Reporting by Jan Dahinten, editing by Jacqueline Wong)