Bloomberg BofA Board Adds Billionaire Ambani, Boosting Access to India March 16,2014, 14:52 PM EDT By Hugh Son (Adds Murthy, Mittal board memberships in fifth paragraph.) March 17 (Bloomberg) — Bank of America Corp. picked Mukesh Ambani. India’s billionaire chairman of Reliance Industries Ltd. to join its board as the lender seeks to ‘expand revenue from outside the U.S. Ambani, whose Mumbai-based company owns the world’s. largest refining complex, will stand for election at an annual meeting this year, Charlotte, North Carolina-based Bank of America said yesterday in a statement. The 53-year-old is. the world’s ninth- richest person and the wealthiest in India, with a net worth estimated at $27 billion, according to Forbes: magazine. The appointment may bolster Bank of America’s efforts to ‘expand its corporate banking, trading and wealth management operations in the world’s second-fastest growing major economy. Chief Executive Officer Brian T. Moynihan, 51, told investors last week that non-U_S. operations are increasingly vital to revenue growth. “Getting somebody like that gives the bank access to regulators, which gives them an inside track to do things like finance the multibillion-dollar infrastructure projects that India has committed to,” said Phillip Phan, a professor at the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School in Baltimore. “In places like India, regulation, business and government are very tightly interlinked.”More Reach HSBC Holdings Plc, the U.K. bank that gets most of its profit trom Asia, in March 2008 named Infosys Technologies Ltd. co-founder N. R. Narayana Murthy to its board, while New York- based Goldman Sachs Group Inc. appointed Lakshmi Mittal, the billionaire chairman of steelmaker ArcelorMittal, as a director in June of that year. Ambani said in the statement that it’s a “privilege and a great honor’ to be the first non-U.S. citizen to join the bank's board_ Investors will benefit from Ambani’s “global perspective” and experience managing a diverse set of businesses, bank Chairman Charles Holliday said in the statement. Reliance’s businesses. include chemicals, oil refineries, gas production, pharmaceuticals, clothing and solar energy. The company had $43 billion in annual revenue for the year ended March 2010. In October, Bank of America helped Reliance arrange a $1.5 billion sale of senior notes in the US., after advising the company on its $1.7 billion purchase of shale-gas assets from Atlas Energy Inc in April Ambani's influence Bank of America also advised Reliance on a 31.9 billion rupee sale of treasury stock in September 2009. Adding Ambani gives Bank of America more recognition in India, the world’s second-most populous country. His influence extends into international political circles, with memberships on the Indian Prime Minister's Council on Trade and Industry and the Indo-U_S. CEOs Forum, according to the statement. He's also co-chair of the Japan-India Business Leader's Forum and serves on the Foundation Board of the World Economic Forum. “This move adds a lot of credibility, it sends the message that Bank of America is committed to the area,” said Jason Tyler, who helps oversee $5.7 billion at Chicago-based Ariel Investments LLC. “They have done what they can in the United States, it’s time for them to look elsewhere for growth.” Bank of America is No. 8 among investment banks in managing equity sales in India this year, maintaining its 2010 ranking, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. In merger and acquisition advisory as well, the company is in eighth spot, the data show.$1.3 Trillion Economy Bank of America, which gets more than 80 percent of its revenue from the U.S., has done business in India for 46 years, Thomas Montag, head of the firm's trading and investment-bank Units, said last week at a conference. Montag's operations, largely acquired in the 2009 deal to purchase Merrill Lynch & Co., were involved in the biggest indian corporate bond offering, ne said India’s $1.3 trillion economy may expand as much as 9.25 percent in the year starting April 1, the fastest pace since 2008, compared with an estimated 8.6 percent gain in the current year, the finance ministry said last month. The economy expanded 8.2 percent last quarter, the fastest after China. Moynihan has said banks can't safely grow much faster than gross domestic product without taking undue risks. In practice, the bank will increase its U.S. revenue 1 percent faster than the country’s gross domestic product, which would be about 3.5 percent under a normal scenario, Moynihan said. Economic Growth India can become a $5 trillion economy within two decades, Ambani told bankers and reporters. in New Delhi on March 4. “How many countries can have that kind of growth?" he said. Reliance said Jan. 21 it had cash and cash-equivalents of 316.3 billion rupees as of Dec. 31. The company may get another $7.2 billion in the year starting April 1 after it completes the sale of 30 percent stakes in 23 oil and gas fields in India to BP Pic. India's economy may expand more than China's in the next 10 years if it lifts curbs on foreign investment in retail and boosts spending on roads and bridges, Nouriel Roubini, the New York University professor who predicted the global financial crisis, said in December. —With assistance from Kartik Goyal and Rakteem Katakey in New Delhi, and Ruth David in Mumbai. Editors: Rick Green, Chitra Somayaji To contact the reporter on this story: Hugh Son in New York at hson1 @bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: David Scheer at dscheer@bloomberg.net.