``Now we have the biggest customer base in India's retail banking. That should stand us in good stead for strategic alliances, both Web-based and others,'' Standard Chartered's consumer banking head for India, Harpal Dugal, told Reuters on Wednesday.

StanChart's purchase of Grindlays for $1.3 billion took the bank to number one position in a market that is home to the world's fastest growing middle-class populations.

Until the acquisition, Standard Chartered stood fourth in India in terms of assets and third in advances and total income among foreign banks, according to data published by a newspaper. Standard Chartered and ANZ's combined total assets in India in 1998-99 (April-March) stood at Rs 19,999 crore ($4.57 billion) against Citibank's Rs 12,888 crore.

Dugal said Standard Chartered would seek alliances with firms related to airlines, hotels, telecommunications, insurance and automobiles. ``In fact, everything linked to an individual's lifestyle. That is what the focus is going to be,'' he said. Dugal said StanChart would reap the benefits of scale in India, using the larger customer base for e-commerce and new banking products.

State-owned banks still dominate Indian banking as foreign banks had very few branches, but the Internet is changing that.

After a slow start, Internet banking is set to expand rapidly. Internet subscribers in India are estimated to have risen to 5,30,000 in March 2000 against 90,000 in March 1998.

Dugal declined to elaborate what sort of alliances would be struck or if any firms had been identified.

``It is too early now. We are still in the integration process.''

Only last year, Standard Chartered made a one-time provision of Rs 165 crore towards costs of retrenching about 1,100 employees.

Now the acquisition will add around 3,300 Grindlays employees to Standard Chartered's 1,650.