Citigroup Chair and CEO Jane Fraser on Thursday warned that unless the situation in the Middle East becomes clearer and moves towards an equilibrium, existing economic buffers could come under increasing strain. "That is a concern," she said speaking at the Citi India conference 2026 in Mumbai. 

The ongoing West Asia war has caused economic havoc for several Asian nations, which import crude oil through the Strait of Hormuz. It has caused their currencies to depreciate sharply against the dollar. 

The ceasefire between Iran and the United States appears to be extremely fragile after Kuwait said on Wednesday that an Iranian drone attack hit its international airport, killing one person and wounding dozens more. 

Fraser said the headwinds which India faces [relating to inflation, currency and rates] “is pretty similar headwinds to every other country I have been too in the last two weeks, talking about the same issues,” she said, in a fireside chat with K Balasubramanian, India subcontinent sub-Cluster and India CEO of Citi. 

If the West Asia war were to continue, “the second half of the year could see muted growth, but there is a lot of dry powder. There is a lot of wealth which could be created [for clients] in the longer run. I am not going to say that the road will be smooth, but there is a lot of longer-term potential which people might not want to miss out on,” Fraser said. 

On Wednesday, Fraser met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and discussed investment opportunities in India, capital flows, AI, and alternative energy, Citi said in a statement. 

Additionally, they discussed opportunities related to the build-out of alternate energy sources for the country, including green energy sources such as solar and green hydrogen. 

Speaking about the scope and solutions using AI, Fraser said there are two races going on. “One is to apply this transformative technology fast to businesses, growth in revenues through business models and product development. The second race is to see that the threats of AI are being addressed; where collectively and individually we ensure that the negative side of AI is diminished,” she said. 

Citi, in April 2021, announced its plan to exit the lucrative retail banking business in India as part of an ongoing strategic review of its business.

Citi had set foot in India 124 years ago when it started operations in then Calcutta, part of British India. The focus was to double down in its institutional business. 

As of FY25, the size of Citi’s business in terms of balance sheet, has grown 20%, top line revenues grown by 30% and net interest income by 35%, Balasubramanian told the audience. “That shows the depth of the change which has happened,” he said. 

He added that Citi's custody business in India commands a 37% market share while its multinational banking business holds a 20-21% share and its foreign exchange business accounts for a 14% market share.