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Lavanay
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« Reply #5 on: May 30, 2008, 07:41:54 AM » |
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Anil Ambani's Reliance Money Unit Plans Foray Into Hong Kong
Indian billionaire Anil Ambani's Reliance Money retail-broking unit began a foray into Hong Kong's $400 billion fund-management market in partnership with a local broker.
The company, a division of Mumbai-based Reliance Capital Ltd., aims to manage investments in the South Asian nation for institutional investors and expatriate Indians living in Hong Kong and China, Chief Executive Sudip Bandyopadhyay said today.
Reliance Money is targeting a bigger share of the record $19.5 billion invested in India last year by overseas funds, more than double the funds invested in the previous year. About 70 percent of funds sent to India by institutional investors goes through Hong Kong, Bandyopadhyay said in an interview today.
Reliance Money is also wooing the 25 million Indians living outside the country. It earlier opened branches in the Middle East, and plans to set up an outlet in London within a few months, and in Singapore, the chief executive said.
In Hong Kong and China, Reliance aims to sell broking and wealth management services to expatriates with at least $50,000 through its alliance with Hong Kong-based Goldride Securities Ltd., Bandyopadhyay said. Goldride will also assist in transactions for resident Indians seeking to invest in Hong Kong and China, he said.
Hong Kong has at least 200 fund management companies managing more than $400 billion invested in Asia, including India, according to Reliance's statement today.
Overseas operations will contribute 50 percent of Reliance Money's revenue in five years, Bandyopadhyay said.
Sensitive Index
The Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensitive Index, or Sensex, climbed for the sixth straight year in 2007 as investors tapped opportunities in the world's second-fastest growing major economy. This year, the index has slipped 19 percent amid concerns that the growth may slow.
Within India, the company plans to grow its customer base of 2.2 million by tenfold, Bandyopadhyay said at a press conference in Hong Kong, without giving a timeframe.
``We are just scratching the surface there,'' he said, adding that there are 13 million mutual fund accounts in India currently.
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