“My guess is if we meet again in 10 years, there’ll be 400 companies in research, there’ll be 2,000 companies being covered, your economy 10 years from now will probably be three times the size,” Dimon said.
Speaking on the sidelines of the JPMorgan India Investor Conference, Dimon said the bank would continue to build its presence in India and work with the government and local clients.
“That’s the plan. We’re going to keep on building and working with your government, working with the clients here. That’s our job, to hopefully make things better for folks,” he said.
JPMorgan’s India presence
Dimon said JPMorgan’s India operations have grown sharply since his first visit to the country in 2005.
“When I first got here, I think we had 6,000 employees. We have 60,000 employees across lots of technical areas, investment banking,” he said.
The bank currently covers around 200 companies in India through its research operations and also works with multinational companies and Indian businesses expanding overseas.
“We’ve seen the country grow. We’ve grown with it. And it’s been a great experience,” Dimon said.
Dimon also said India and the US should work towards completing a trade agreement, arguing that stability and consistency in rules and capital treatment are important for businesses.
“I would like to see it finished,” he said, urging both governments to “sit down and try to finish it”.
Global risks could test the outlook
Dimon said the global economy faces several risks, including persistent inflation, high government borrowing, geopolitical tensions and rising demand for capital.
He said interest rates and bond yields could remain higher for longer, pointing to spending on infrastructure, AI and remilitarisation as factors that could keep demand for capital elevated.
“I think the odds of them going higher is more than other people think,” he said.
At the same time, Dimon said AI investment could eventually boost productivity and create deflationary forces. He said spending across the hyperscaler ecosystem could reach around $1 trillion next year, from about $700 billion this year.
For JPMorgan, Dimon said the plan was to continue expanding alongside India’s economy.
Also read: India, Canada to hold next round of talks from Oct 5 for proposed trade pact: Goyal