Reliance Capital Blog

Rel Cap to hold 74% stake in Insurance Company Post Nippon deal

2011-09-02T02:07:00.000-07:00

Post the deal Rel Cap will hold 74% stake in the company and 26% will be controlled by Nippon under strategic agreements, Ghosh confirmed.

Nippon Life buy 26% in Reliance Insurance

2011-03-20T08:32:00.000-07:00

Japan's largest life-insurer, Nippon Life is eyeing 26 per cent stake in Anil Ambani-owned Reliance Life Insurance Co for $724 million

Reliance Cap arm buys 26% stake in ICEX

2011-01-03T20:15:00.001-08:00

The Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) on Monday announced its entry into the commodities futures space by acquiring a 26% stake in Indian Commodity Exchange (ICEX) for about Rs 50 crore, sources said.

The deal values ICEX at about Rs 200 crore. As part of the deal, Reliance Exchangenext (RNext), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Reliance Capital, ADAG's flagship company in the financial services space, will buy the stake from Indiabulls Financial Services and step in as an anchor investor. The regulatory approvals are already in place, a release from Reliance Capital said.

Other than Indiabulls, MMTC, IDFC, KRIBHCO and Indian Potash have stakes in ICEX, which is a screen-based derivatives exchange for commodities , was launched in November 2009. Post this deal, Indiabulls will hold 14% stake in this commodities bourse.

The buying of stake in ICEX also marks the entry of RNext into the commodities derivatives space, one of the growing exchange spaces in the country. The ADAG group company already has set up a spot exchange for commodities trading through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Reliance Spot Exchange ( RSX). This is an electronic mandi that focuses on agri commodities.

Read more: Reliance Cap arm buys 26% stake in ICEX - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/Reliance-Cap-arm-buys-26-stake-in-ICEX/articleshow/7213971.cms#ixzz1A2L543e9

Reliance Capital seeks partner for China entry

2010-09-24T19:45:00.001-07:00

Reliance Capital, owner of India’s largest mutual fund manager, is seeking a Chinese partner to tap funds in the most-populous nation, said Vikrant Gugnani, chief executive of the firm’s international businesses. “We want to get China investors access to the India growth story,” Gugnani said. “We’ve had a fair amount of meetings in the past six months: now, we’re really focused,” he added. Reliance Capital, controlled by billionaire Anil Ambani, seeks to boost assets under management and private-wealth clients across Asia, Gugnani said.

Reliance Consumer Fin aims Rs 40K cr loan disbursals

2010-09-24T19:44:00.001-07:00

Betting big on infrastructure sector, Anil Ambani Group firm Reliance Consumer Finance plans to bolster its business to increase loan disbursals by over four times to Rs 40,000 crore in next 3-4 years.

Reliance Consumer Finance, which is a part of Reliance Capital Group, is looking to tap vast financing opportunities available in the fast growing infrastructure sector in the country.

"We are planning to ramp up our loan order book about four times from the current Rs 9,500 crore to Rs 40,000 crore in the next three-four years," Reliance Consumer Finance CEO K V Srinivasan told PTI.

"Our key focus area for driving the growth will be infrastructure sector, as there is huge opportunity available in the sector to cater to financing requirements of primarily medium-sized companies and large firms as well," Srinivasan added.

Other key segments to which Reliance Consumer Finance offers its services are small & medium enterprises financing, Commercial vehicles and equipment financing and mortgages.

Reliance Consumer Finance had a customer base of over 1,17,000 customers, as on June 30, 2010, across the top 16 Indian metros.

Last month, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had said there may be 30 per cent gap in infrastructure funding requirement, targetted at Rs 41 lakh crore, in the 12th Five Year Plan (2012-2017).

He said the fundamental constraint in financing infrastructure relates to the limits on banks' lending to the sector due to asset-liability mismatch.

In the 11th Five year Plan ending March 2012, the government had announced infrastructure investment target of over Rs 20 lakh crore.

Reliance Capital To Invest In Action Construction Via Pref Issue

2010-09-06T09:40:00.001-07:00

Action Construction Equipment Ltd is planning to make a preferential allotment to Reliance Capital that will see the financial services arm of Reliance ADA Group picking around 3.2% stake. Although the firm has not disclosed at what price it will issue the shares, at the last traded price, the company could raise around Rs 21 crore.

The firm that generated revenues of Rs 427 crore with net profit of Rs 17.9 crore for the year ended March’10 gets almost two thirds of its revenue from sale of cranes. The rest of the revenues come from material handling and other construction equipment besides tractors.

The firm that raised around Rs 60 crore through a public issue four years ago has used almost the entire sum for working capital management, new manufacturing plants and acquisitions. It has its production facilities in industrial township of Faridabad.

Early this year Mona Agarwal, part of the promoter group had subscribed to warrants at a price of Rs 41.45 a piece that will eventually lead to inflow of around Rs 21 crore at the time of conversion into equity. The promoter holding already stands at 66% and with the preferential allotment and warant conversion into equity, the promoter holding will remain at the same level. Reliance Capital's stake will accordingly shrink to 3% after the warrants are converted by the promoters.

Marks and Spencer to open 50 stores in India in 3 years

2010-06-30T02:12:00.001-07:00

British high street retailer Marks and Spencer (M&S) is to more than double its retail presence in India, targeting 50 stores in the next three years.

M&S currently operates 17 stores in India through a joint venture with Reliance Retail. Last week it opened its latest store in Chennai.

A spokesperson for M&S told just-style.com, the UK apparel and textile industry's online source, that the joint venture with Reliance Retail has allowed it to "gain better control" in India.

For M&S, market control means controlling the choice of location and space of its stores. In India, it is primarily looking at city malls: "In India there are lots of great opportunities but a lot of it is about relying on the space becoming available, so we do want to open stores but it's about making sure we get the right locations, and the right shopping malls."

The spokesperson said future stores in Indian cities would offer a wider range of the M&S range: "As well as trying to expand our presence, it's about getting the size of the store right. So where some of our franchise stores are a little bit small, the stores we are opening now, we're trying to build them a bit bigger so that we can offer a bigger catalogue."

M&S had formed the joint venture with Reliance Capital in 2008 assessing that local sourcing will help it lower prices for Indian consumers.

Reliance Capital to launch Shariah-compliant funds in Malaysia

2010-06-30T02:11:00.001-07:00

Reliance Capital Asset Management's Malaysian arm today announced the launch of its first Shariah-compliant products, including an India Fund, from next week.

Being schemes adhering to Shariah laws, the money generated will not be invested in any instruments that carry interest rates.

The asset management company will launch two Islamic funds, Global Equity Fund and India Country fund, Reliance Asset Management Malaysia (RAMMY) said in a statement.

"We will launch the India Country fund next week and the Global Equity Fund by the end of July," Reliance Capital CEO Vikrant Gugnani told PTI.

According to Shariah or Islamic law, the receipt or payment of interest is barred, in addition to speculative activities such as gambling, among others.

He said the funds would basically target institutional investors and the AMC would also come up with products for retail investors.

"Targeting the institutional investors is the first step we have taken. We will come up with products for retail customers in next two years," he added.

RAMMY will be the flagship venture in the Islamic asset management business of Reliance Capital.

RCAM is the largest fund house in India with average assets under management of Rs 1.19 lakh crore. RCAM has over 72 lakh investors. The 37 fund houses in India currently manage assets worth Rs 8.03 lakh crore.

Both the funds will be managed from Malaysia by RAMMY. However, for the India Fund, the AMC will appoint a local company as investment advisor, the statement said.

"Islamic finance is a serious niche business for Reliance... Over time, we aim to create a sizable business and help establish Malaysia as the global hub for Islamic asset management," RAMMY CEO Ian Lancaster said.

The company will seek asset management opportunities in government-linked companies (GICs) and the private sector, the statement added.

Reliance Cap Buys 18% In Bloomberg-UTV

2010-06-22T09:45:00.001-07:00

Anil Ambani-owned Reliance Capital Ltd (RCL) has acquired 18% stake in Bloomberg-UTV business news channel for an undisclosed amount. Shares of Reliance Capital went up Rs 4.10 or 0.54% to trade at Rs 761.65 on the Bombay Stock Exchange today.

Bloomberg UTV is a strategic partnership between Bloomberg LP, a global leader in business information, and the founder of UTV, Ronnie Screwvala. Post restructuring, Bloomberg will own 15% of Bloomberg UTV and the balance 67% is controlled by the UTV founders.

UTVi was rebranded as Bloomberg UTV after Bloomberg picked up a 15% stake in October 2009. It signed a content and co-branding agreement with Bloomberg after the deal. UTVi was broadcast by UTV News Ltd, a company wholly owned by Ronnie Screwvala, also chairman and promoter of UTV Software Communications Ltd.

The investment will form part of Reliance Capital's exposure to the media sector including its existing investments in the Network 18 group (which operates CNBC-TV18, CNN-IBN, IBN 7, Colors and Awaaz channels), and TV Today network (which operates the Aaj Tak and Headlines Today news channels).

According to a report jointly published by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and KPMG, the media and entertainment industry in India is likely to grow 12.5% per annum over the next five years and touch $ 20.09 billion by 2013.

Anand Shah, media analyst with Angel Broking, is of the view that more consoildation is bound to happen in the Indian media industry in near future. "Currently, there are lots of loss-making media groups in the country, for whom the survival will be difficult. However, in electronic media, only those with more channels and strong networks can survive in the present condition. As of now, there is lesser room for too many media players."

Once the FDI cap is removed, the consolidation will not happen as much because more money will be pumped into the industry, he added. According to VCCEdge, since 2005, 38 M&A deals worth $730 million were struck in the broadcasting space. In media, 156 M&A deals worth $1.6 billion took place since 2003.

The major deals in broadcasting space in 2010 include Zee Entertainment Enterprises' acquisition of 9X channel from INX Media Pvt. Ltd. for a price of approximately $14.4 million (Rs 640 million). In another deal, Zee Entertainment Enterprises acquired 50% stake in Dubai-based Taj Television Ltd. for a price of $44.14 million (Rs 2 billion) from Bukhatir Investments Ltd. The company had acquired 50% stake in Taj Television for $57.15 million in late 2006. Taj Television Ltd. owns and operates Ten Sports channel.

In 2009, Turner Asia Pacific Ventures Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Time Warner Inc. acquired 85.68% stake in NDTV Imagine Ltd. for a price of $126.5 million (INR 5.91 billion) from NDTV Networks plc. NDTV Imagine Ltd. is a Hindi general entertainment channel established by NDTV Group.

Two months back, NDTV had terminated its agreement with Scripps Networks Interactive Inc. for the sale of a 69% stake in its subsidiary NDTV Lifestyle (which operates NDTV Goodtimes) for $55 million. The transaction was expected to be completed by the end of the first quarter of 2010.

Everest Kanto Raises Rs 81Cr Via Pref Issue To Reliance Capital

2010-06-22T09:42:00.001-07:00

Gas cylinder maker Everest Kanto Cylinder Ltd is raising around Rs 81 crore ($17 million) through a preferential allotment of shares to two separate mutual fund schemes of Reliance Capital.

Reliance Growth Fund will pick around 4 million shares while Reliance Regular Savings Fund - Equity Option will subscribe to around 2 million shares. The two funds will together pick around 5.6% of the expanded capital base of the firm. The shares will be issued at Rs 135 a piece around 4% premium to the market price of Rs 131.

The proceeds of the proposed preferential offer will be utilised for capital expenditure, working capital and repayment of debt.

The company that reported around 69% drop in consolidated net profit for the year ended March’10 over the year ago period is looking to commission two new plants in Gujarat this year. It has spent Rs 185 crore in the two plants and is expected to spend another Rs 30 crore in one of the units.

The firm counts among its investors Beacon India and New Vernon who held around 1.5% each as of March 31. Promoters own close to 59% of the firm.

Reliance Life may sell 26 pct to Swiss Re-report

2010-03-29T01:25:00.000-07:00

Reliance Life Insurance Co. Ltd., a unit of the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group controlled Reliance Capital , may sell a 26 percent stake to Zurich-based re-insurer Swiss Re for at least 7 billion rupees ($154.9 million), the Mint newspaper reported on Monday.

Talks on the stake sale by the only private sector insurer in India that does not have an overseas stakeholder yet, have reached the final stage and an announcement is likely in April, the paper said citing three people familiar with the development.

Indian laws allow a foreign entity to own up to 26 percent in a domestic insurance firm.

UBS Securities and Deutsche Bank AG are advising Reliance Life on the deal, while Ernst & Young Pvt Ltd has been hired to conduct due diligence, the report said.

Will be interested in banking licence: Reliance Capital

2010-03-02T05:46:00.000-08:00

Finance Minister did his bit for the Indian banking system on the Budget day. He said that Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is considering giving some additional banking licenses to private sector players. Non Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) could also be considered, if they meet the RBI's eligibility criteria. Reliance Capital was the first stock to shoot up when the finance minister made that statement.

Talking about the same, Sam Ghosh, Chief Executive Officer of Reliance Capital, said that if a banking opportunity arises, the company would like to get into banking. “We have to await detail guidelines on banking license,” he added.

Here is a verbatim transcript of an exclusive interview with Sam Gosh on CNBC-TV18. Also watch the accompanying video.

Q: Would you be interested in becoming a bank?

A: At this point, we have to await RBI’s (RBI) detailed guidelines, only then can we think about which way to go forward. Obviously it is a good sign that finance minister raised the issue at the Budget. It is positive for non-banking financial companies (NBFCs). There is an opportunity to get into it but until RBI comes out with the guidelines, as you know the devil is in the details. Let us wait and see what happens there.

Q: IDFC flatly refuses to become a bank. Does Reliance Capital want to become a bank?

A: You may have heard our Chairman’s statement sometime back at the AGM. He had mentioned that certainly if a banking opportunity arises, we would like to get into banking.

Q: Does Reliance Capital already have some kind of letter pending with the RBI in seeking that kind of a license?

A: No, we don’t at this stage. Some of the corporates already have one, but we certainly haven’t applied for anything.

Q: There seems to be one loophole which is that the RBI frowns upon large corporate houses getting into banking as a space. How do you think that might be circumvented even if the government relaxes norms for NBFCs to go the bank way?

A: That is why I mentioned that we have to wait for RBI’s guidelines. Unless we know exactly which way that goes forward then only can we decide can we apply for a banking license or not.
Q: There are two basic criteria. One is that the minimum networth should be Rs 300 crore and that eventually the no single body can own more than 10%. Would you be comfortable on these two? Would you be comfortable in bringing your stake down to 10% over a period of time but still lending your name to a bank?

A: The capital issue is not a major issue. The more important issue is let us see how RBI comes out with guidelines of 10% or not and then until we get the entire details of what is required. Then only we can be go forward and think whether we want to go ahead with a banking license.

Q: As part of the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) can I ask you an unrelated question on the position of shares that Reliance Capital has been doing in Fame from the market?

A: I don’t think I should be answering that question because this is purely an investment opportunity. If that investment opportunity comes along, Reliance Capital may take a share in it, but ultimately it is the entertainment’s team decision.

Q: Put it more from strategic to management control because you have been inching up stake. Are you getting quite close to the point where you may have about 15% in the company?

A: I think you need to talk to the entertainment team. If they feel that this is the right way forward then that will be the right way forward.

Q: We heard Uday Kotak a couple of days back pointing out that in terms of companies in line seeking banking licenses it could actually be in triple digits. What is your own sense of how many NBFCs may want to convert themselves to banks if given the opportunity?

A: Looking at the NBFC space, a number of them would be looking at converting themselves into banks certainly some of the large corporate houses. However, until the details come out from RBI, RBI guidelines come out then only we will find out exactly how many are interested in applying for a banking license.

Q: There is a lot of talk in the market about Reliance Life and Reliance Asset Management being in advance stages with strategic partners for a stake sale and that could be important in ascribing some kind of benchmark valuation to that space as well. Can you confirm this?

A: On the Reliance Life side, we have already mentioned that we would be looking at an initial public offering (IPO) as and when we get the opportunity obviously. We are awaiting Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority’s (IRDA) disclosure norm requirements as well as Securities & Exchange Board of India’s (SEBI) final comments on that so that we know how we can go forward so that has been stated for sometime.

On the asset management side, no comments have been made on this front at this point. We are however as a group open if there is opportunity available. We will certainly look at it but at this stage made no comments on whether we are going to find a strategic partner or not.

Q: On the Reliance Life IPO, our understanding was that things have got a bit delayed because of the IRDA nod, which has prompted the group to look at the option of a strategic partner. Is there any truth to that?

A: No, IRDA has more or less finalized the disclosure norms and it should be going to SEBI or it has gone to it. Once that comes through, then we can go forward on that front. Suddenly there has been a delay. We were expecting this three-four months back but IRDA obviously has time to go through it as well as the Actuarial Society has given its comments on it.

Q: By when do you expect to do your IPO?

A: As soon as SEBI in the next couple of months will come out with the final disclosure norms required for life insurance company, we will decide when we want to file our DRHP, etc. This will be the next stage.

Reliance Mutual Fund is one of the fastest growing fund houses in the industry

2010-02-04T23:05:00.001-08:00

By For a common man interested in the meteoric rise of the Indian stock market, there is no better financial instrument than a mutual fund to get all the advantages of investing in the markets directly at a lower cost, without having to worry about the expertise required to invest in stocks.

A mutual fund is a trust that pools the savings of investors who share a common financial goal. The money thus collected is then invested in shares, debentures and other such capital market instruments.

Mutual fund schemes cater to needs like financial position, risk tolerance and return expectations of investors. The income earned and the capital appreciation realized is then shared with the investors in the proportion of units owned by them.

HOW IT ALL BEGAN

The mutual fund industry as we know today is a little over a decade old in India. However, the inception of mutual funds in India began with the setting up of the Unit Trust of India by an Act of Parliament in 1963. This was the single mutual fund till the year 1987, when other public sector mutual funds such as SBI Mutual Fund, Punjab National Bank Mutual Fund, Indian Bank Mutual Fund and Canbank Mutual Fund entered the market.

Insurance players such as Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) and General Insurance Company (GIC) also ventured into the asset management space in the early 1990s. By the end of 1993 the mutual fund had Rs 47,000 crore as assets under management.

It was in 1993 that a new era in the mutual fund industry started with the entry of private sector funds. The erstwhile Kothari Pioneer, now merged with Franklin Templeton, was the first private sector mutual fund registered in July 1993.

As of today there are around 37 asset management companies that are yet to penetrate the market as would be ideally desirable. In India, the mutual fund industry manages a total corpus of Rs 6 lakh crore with a penetration of only about 3% as compared to 50% to 60% in the developed countries.

A LEADER IS BORN

Reliance Mutual Fund is the largest player among asset management companies that is making an attempt to direct a portion of India’s large domestic savings into the fund industry. It is the first asset management company to cross the Rs 1 lakh crore-mark in assets under management and has 72 lakh customers out of the total 3 crore customers in the entire MF industry in India. Besides, it has the distinction of being the most trusted asset management company for three years back to back by AC Neilson.

Reliance Mutual Fund has grown to be the leader in the mutual fund industry in a short span of less than five years, beating established players in the field. With Assets Under Management (AUM) of 1,18,251 crore, the fund house is a clear leader with a 20% lead over its nearest competition.

With more than 90% of the applicants having less than Rs 50,000 worth of investments and over 1 million SIP investors, Reliance Mutual Fund proves that it is truly a retail-focused fund house.

Reliance Capital Asset Management Ltd acts as the investment manager of Reliance Mutual Fund. Reliance Capital Asset Management is a subsidiary of Reliance Capital which holds 93.37% of the paid up capital of Reliance Capital Asset Management.

The mutual fund is the fastest growing mutual fund in the country and offers investors a well-rounded portfolio of products to meet varying requirements of customers. The mutual fund is present in 118 cities across India.

THE GROWTH PATH

The fund house has been able to earn the repute of being one of the fastest growing fund houses in the industry owing to its aggressive strategies, especially in its flagship fund Reliance Vision Fund and is offering five year returns of 25.14% as compared to the category average of 21.87%.

Another category outperformer in the equity diversified fund from the house of Reliance Mutual Fund is Reliance Growth Fund that has given five year returns of 30.17% against the category average of 25%.

The fund house is also a leader in sector-specific funds and is running five sector funds - Reliance Banking Fund, Reliance Diversified Power Sector Fund, Reliance Pharma Fund, Reliance Media and Entertainment Fund and the recently launched Reliance Infrastructure Fund - the highest number of sectoral funds in the industry. Also, Reliance Diversified Power Sector Fund (with an NAV of Rs 78) is the best performing fund among the top 10 funds in the five year category having yielded returns of 44.04% over the last five years.

THE RISE AFTER THE FALL

However, the recession left an indelible mark on the fund house as it saw its profits fall by 16% to Rs 126 crore in March ’09 as compared to Rs 150 crore in March ’08, the fund house remained constant in its strategies and was able to use cash as a hedge during the financial crisis. In some equity schemes, the cash proportion was as high as 15% to 18% as compared to 3% to 5% cash during normal times.

According to Reliance Capital Asset Management Chief Executive Officer Sundeep Sikka, who explained in a media interview at the end of the crisis that no fund house could have possibly insulated itself from a crisis of such mammoth proportion.

“Of course there were effects, with the dramatic fall in the markets, but we have remained consistent in our beliefs. India is an amazing domestic consumption story. We still have 6% annual growth. If this 6% growth was happening in a Western nation, they would be worried about the economy overheating!” Sikka explained.

The fund house thus remains consistent in its strategy on investing in the domestic consumption story though the fund managers have always followed a stock-specific investment strategy. The strategy is obviously paying off as the fund house bagged two prestigious awards of the fund industry in the fag end of calendar year 2009.

The fund house recently won the most prestigious Asia Risk awards for being the first Indian asset management company to implement an enterprise-wide risk management system.

The MSCI BarraOne risk model was rolled out in late 2007 and has been fully integrated for use on 21 equity funds during the year 2008. Reliance Asset Management Company has been one of the pioneers in managing operational risks in India and has implemented a system-wide operational risk framework.

The fund house had achieved the distinction of emerging as the best fund house with the most number of CPR 1 ranks {CRISIL’s Composite Performance Rankings (CRISL~CPR) for the period July-September ’09} repeating its first quarter performance.

“Our mission is to bring Indian asset managers to a global level through increased penetration into the retail market, which comes from simple and transparent products.” said Sikka. While Reliance Capital Fund Management is already the biggest asset manager in India, its potential for further growth looks substantial.

Reliance Asset Management Company has a vision of being a leading player in the mutual fund business and has achieved significant success and visibility in the market. At Reliance Capital Asset Management Ltd, the implementation and observance of ethical processes and policies have helped the AMC in standing up to the scrutiny of our domestic and international investors. Appreciating his team for getting the company to the global platform, Sikka said the company’s aim is to fulfill the financial dreams of its investors.

The fund house has always been a leader in making innovative moves and as its latest initiative is looking forward to offering more plans and schemes on the recently launched trading platform for mutual funds on the stock exchanges.

The new platforms will enable investors to buy and sell mutual fund products through over two lakh trading terminals of stock exchanges in the same way as equity shares are traded through brokers.

“The two platforms will help our investors reduce their administrative tasks as this will be taken care of by our exchanges,” Sikka said.

Rel Cap eyes Malaysian govt fund biz

2010-02-04T22:59:00.000-08:00

Reliance Capital Asset Management Company is negotiating with Malaysia to manage up to $5 billion (Rs 23,000 crore) of public and
government funds, including money that is part of the national pension fund, persons aware of the development said.

Malaysia is also in talks with other global fund managers for the deal and the Anil Ambanirun company expects to win a mandate to manage around half the $5 billion that the Southeast Asian nation’s government wants private asset managers to handle.

Investment arms called government-linked investment companies (GLICs) manage the funds now and also own stakes in a number of top Malaysian firms. Such companies, called government-linked companies (GLCs), include Telekom Malaysia, automaker Proton and Malaysia Airlines. Surplus cash with some of the GLCs will also be managed by private fund managers.

“He (Mr Ambani) is looking to manage some of Malaysia’s portfolio assets. Also, some of our GLCs,” Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak told ET after a meeting with Mr Ambani.

Reliance Money plans to sweep market with new product

2010-02-04T22:58:00.001-08:00

Reliance Money, distribution and broking brand of Reliance Securities Ltd (RSL), on Tuesday launched a new product for customers,
allowing unlimited equity trading for a fee of Rs.6,000 for three months. It plans to sweep the market with this product.

"There are around one million potential traders in the country and we are looking at sweeping the market," Reliance Securities executive director Vikrant Gugnani told reporters.

The product would help aggressive investors and regular traders to trade without brokerage charges for three months.

The product, priced at Rs.6,000 for three months, offers unlimited delivery trading and margin trading turnover and is available to new customers.

"This product is aimed to provide huge price advantage - up to 25-50 percent of brokerage - to aggressive investors and traders who easily end up spending much more on other platforms," Reliance Securities chief executive officer Kapil Bali said.

RSL has 949,000 retail broking clients across the country. RSL is a group company of Anil Ambani's Reliance Capital Ltd.

Reliance Capital Partners buys 3.4% stake in Fame India

2010-02-04T22:57:00.001-08:00

Reliance Capital Partners, a part of the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani (ADA) Group, has bought a 3.4 per cent stake in multiplex operator Fame India over the last two days from the open market, according to stock exchange filings. The shares were purchased after Inox Leisure acquired a 43 per cent stake in Fame India from the promoters.

The group did not own shares in Fame India at the end of the December quarter.

Several brokers said there is possibility of a counter offer from the ADA Group. Another group firm, Reliance Media Works (earlier Adlabs Films), is also an operator of multiplexes in India. A group spokesman declined to comment on the issue.

Reliance Capital, an ADA Group company, also sold on Wednesday 310,000 shares of Inox Leisure, in which it held a 9.08 per cent stake at the end of December, 2009.

The Fame India stock has been on the rise for the last four days, gaining over 20 per cent. On Thursday, it closed at Rs 48.40, up 5 per cent, on the BSE. The Inox Leisure stock fell 12.7 per cent to Rs 74.80.

Reliance Cap net drops 52%

2010-02-04T22:55:00.000-08:00

Reliance Capital, the financial services arm of the Reliance-Anil Dhirubhai Ambani (R-ADA) group, reported a 52 per cent fall in consolidated net profit at Rs 63 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2009, against Rs 132 crore in the same quarter the previous financial year.

On a standalone basis, the company’s net profit fell 64 per cent to Rs 41.29 crore, compared with Rs 114.43 crore in the quarter ended December, 2008.

“Lower capital gains were booked this quarter, owing to the planned partial stake sale later this year in the operating businesses, subject to necessary approvals… The full benefit of this unlocking of value will form a part of Reliance Capital’s net profit for the current financial year,” the company said in a statement.

Reliance Capital Asset Management, the country’s largest fund house, saw its assets under management grow 71 per cent to Rs 1,19,982 crore as of December 31, 2009, compared with Rs 70,208 crore.

RCap recorded an 86 per cent rise in net profit to Rs 48 crore from Rs 26 crore at the end of the previous quarter.

Reliance Life Insurance saw a 40 per cent increase in total premium to Rs 1,603 crore, against Rs 1,148 crore a year ago. New business premium was at Rs 92 crore in the reporting quarter, against Rs 830 crore in the corresponding quarter a year ago — an increase of 11 per cent. The capital invested in this business till date is Rs 2,808 crore.

The general insurance arm reported a marginal 2 per cent increase in gross direct premium against Rs 509 crore in the December 2008 quarter.

RelCap to buy majority stake in Quant Capital

2009-12-10T09:18:00.000-08:00

Reliance Capital Ltd, the financial services arm of Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, will acquire a controlling stake in the Mumbai based equity research and broking firm Quant Capital Group.

"Reliance Equity International, a wholly owned subsidiary of Reliance Capital, and Quant Capital will integrate the businesses to achieve benefits of synergies, costs and increased scale of operations." a company statement said. Deal is subject to regulatory approvals, it said. Financial details were not
disclosed.

Sandeep Tandon, MD & CEO of Quant Capital, said, "It would be a win-win situation for both of us. We would use the infused money to expand and strengthen our operations in wealth management, currencies and commodities." The existing management team at Quant Capital will continue to be responsible for its operations, he said.

Quant, which employs close to 150 people, focuses primarily on complex financial equity products and is among the top 5 broking firms in institutional derivatives segment with daily turnover of more than Rs 1,000 crore.

Besides traditional fundamental research, Quant provides quantitative and behavioural research to forecast trends for global currencies, commodities and equities.Market watchers believe this deal would enable Reliance Capital to strengthen its client base.

"Quant is a professionally driven unlisted company and was looking to infuse capital since last one year in order to grow its business further. It specialises in derivatives segment and has good FII clientele which may be the reason for Reliance Capital to buy stake in Quant," they said.Quant was incorporated in December 2007 and started broking operations in May 2008.

There were reports in August 2008 on Quant reaching final stages for raising $100 million from strategic investors.

2009-10-08T00:28:00.000-07:00

Reliance Capital expects a government waiver for floating its life insurance venture’s initial public offering (IPO) by November 15, Chief Executive Officer Sam Ghosh said.

“Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (Irda) disclosure norms are likely to come by October 31. Considering that, we expect the government’s response (to the waiver) by November 15,” said Ghosh.

Irda is in the process of drafting listing norms for insurance companies and is currently talking to the Securities and Exchange Board of India about disclosures that are to be made mandatory for these companies when they tap the equity market.

Reliance Life Insurance Co, which was launched four years ago, has applied for the waiver due to the Irda directive that specifies insurance companies that have Indian promoters with more than 26 per cent stake, can float an IPO only after 10 years of operations.

Sam GhoshReliance Capital acquired AMP Sanmar Life Insurance Co in 2005, which started operations in 2002. So, the two companies together have been in business for seven years.

According to Ghosh, the company is likely to file draft red herring prospectus for the IPO in the first week of January, depending on governmental and regulatory approvals.

The company plans to divest up to 20 per cent stake — 10 per cent via pre-IPO placement and a further 10 per cent by public issue. The company would also consider a strategic sale of up to 20 per cent.

“Strategic sale will not be to more than three partners, including a foreign player,” Ghosh said. In July, Reliance Capital had said it plans to sell partial stake in Reliance Life Insurance “later this year”, subject to regulatory approvals.

Reliance Life Insurance aims to manage assets worth Rs RS 40,000 crore by March 2013, versus Rs 10,000 crore as on September 30, which would make it among the top three private insurance companies in the country. Currently, it is placed sixth among private sector insurers. Its assets are likely to be Rs 15,000 crore by the end of 2009-10 (April-March) and the company expects to double it by March 2012.

From 2005 until September, the company clocked a 240 per cent growth in assets.

“Most of the growth happens in the third and fourth quarters,” Ghosh said.

Reliance Life hopes to break even by 2010-2011, Ghosh said, adding total premiums are expected to be Rs 20,000 crore by March 2012 compared with the Rs 10,000 crore target for the current financial year. The insurer plans to grow organically by floating nine products by March and would focus on health insurance products, he said.

Ghosh expects the insurance industry to grow 15-20 per cent this year and by over 25 per cent in 2010-2011.

Reliance Life looks for overseas partner, plans public issue

2009-10-08T00:26:00.000-07:00

After operating without an overseas partner all these years, Anil Ambani group's Reliance Life Insurance is now looking out for an
international strategic partner to hold up to 20 percent stake, apart from planning an initial public offer.

"We have started the process of identifying the strategic investor," said Sam Ghosh, chief executive of Reliance Capital. "The process will take around four months time," Ghosh told IANS in an interview.

"A strategic investor will enable us to discover the right price for our share as we are planning a public issue. From business point of view we do not need an overseas partner. But an overseas life insurer will be a better for our business," he said.

Reliance Life is a subsidiary of Reliance Capital.

The stake offered to a strategic investor depends on the government allowing Reliance Life to go public. The life insurer plans to divest up to 20 percent stake, of which 10 percent will be to the investor before going public.

In case Reliance Life is unable to get a clearance for its initial public offering from the government, then it will consider offering the entire 20 percent stake to the overseas partner, Ghosh explained.

Reliance Life, he said, will need Rs.400 crore ($80 million) as additional capital this year and half of that next year to meet the solvency norms. "There won't be any expense over-run for the company from next year onward. We will break even next fiscal."

Queried about the cap on charges stipulated by the insurance regulator and the impact on business plans, Ghosh said: "Our insurance products are priced properly and profitably to meet the expenses. As such we are not affected by the cap on charges."

Targeting premia of Rs.20,000 crore ($4 billion) in new policies and renewals, Reliance Life also plans to expand its branch network to 1,600 over the next two years from 1,250 branches at present.

For the current year, Reliance Life is confident of earning a total premium of Rs.9,000 crore, with new and renewals contributing equally. "Our plan is to grow our new business annually by 25 percent. Renewal premium will fetch the balance."

According to him, the company is targeting asset under management of Rs.15,000 crore ($1.5 billion) by the end of this year, Rs.40,000 crore ($8 billion) by 2013 from the current levels of Rs.10,000 crore ($2 billion).

"By 2013 we will be one of top life insurers in terms of AUM," he said, adding the focus on the popular unit linked insurance policy (ULIP) will also come down from the current 93 percent to 80 percent, with the balance accounted for by traditional policies.

"Health will be around 4 percent."

Reliance Exchange Next CEO says spot bourse launch on October 17

2009-10-08T00:18:00.000-07:00

Reliance Spot Exchange will launch its formal operations with muhurat trading October 17 and will offer trade in steel, said Rajnikant Patel, chief executive officer of Reliance Exchange Next.

Reliance Spot Exchange is the first venture to be started by Reliance Exchange Next, the bourse business vertical under Reliance Capital. “We hope to be in the commodity futures and equity exchange spaces in the next three-five years. But, we have not set a timeline for ourselves as we want to initially concentrate on getting it right with our first venture, which is the commodity spot market business,” Patel said. The exchange’s membership is by invitation and it has already roped in 10 top players in the steel and other allied industries.

Reliance Capital net profit down 55 per cent

2009-08-11T00:28:00.000-07:00

The Anil Ambani-led Reliance Capital Friday reported a 55.6 percent fall in net profit to Rs 153.29 crore for the quarter ended June 30
as against Rs 345.3 crore in the like period last year.

The company's total income for the first quarter stood at Rs 1,468.12 crore, down 3.05 per cent from Rs 1,514.40 crore in the corresponding quarter the previous fiscal.

Reliance Capital has interests in asset management, mutual funds, life and general insurance, private equity and proprietary investments among other financial services.

The earnings per share fell to Rs 6.15 in the June quarter from Rs 13.97 a year ago.

Reliance Capital eyes banking; public offer for insurance arm

2009-08-11T00:25:00.000-07:00

Reliance Capital plans to enter the investment banking business over the next year, even as the company is looking to sell part stake in
the insurance business to unlock shareholder value, its chairman Anil Ambani said here Tuesday.

"At Reliance Capital, we continually scan the horizon for new business avenues. Over the next 12 months, we plan to take our first steps in the world of investment banking," Ambani told the company's annual general meeting here.

"Given the scale and magnitude of our relationships across corporate India and the sheer size and reach of our distribution network, we're ideally positioned to create a significant presence in the investment banking business," he added.

The chairman said the group's insurance business now ranked among the top four in the country and that it was considering options to unlock shareholder value by going for a public issue, find a strategic partner or a stake sale.

"A final decision in this matter will be taken shortly, driven by the sole objective of maximising returns for our shareholders," Ambani said.

According to him, in the four years that Reliance Capital has been functioning, the revenues went up up 14 fold, net profits rose 28 times, total assets grew nine fold, and net worth expanded five times.

"It is noteworthy that this growth is purely organic - and made entirely in India."

He also said the group was looking at expanding the private equity operations with an underlying philosophy of addressing the needs of the under-served domestic investors, before setting out overseas

"The focus of our private equity investment will be on growth capital, buyouts, minority investment and acquisition financing. We will put money in sunrise and growth sectors alike."

Ambani also wrote a preparatory letter for the meeting to shareholders where he listed the future plan of action and options before the company. These include:

-Increase the distribution reach from 5,000 to 25,000 cities and towns

-Increase the number of business partners from 500,000 to one million

-Enter the banking sector when regulations permit

-Globalise operations

-Expand asset management, insurance, broking operations across Asia, Africa and the Middle East

Reliance to test water with insurance IPO

2009-06-10T23:57:00.002-07:00

Reliance Capital is planning to become one of the first Indian companies to test the waters of the country's bullish post-election stock market with an initial public offering of its life insurance unit.

The offering of Reliance Life Insurance, part of the group controlled by billionaire industrialist Anil Ambani, would be the first listing of a life insurance or general insurance company in India.

Sam Ghosh, chief executive of Reliance Capital, said: "We are thinking of selling 10 per cent or 26 per cent, either through an IPO only or through an IPO plus a stake sale to a strategic partner."

The move would signal a revival of India's moribund market for equity offerings, which has yielded few offerings since its peak in January last year, when another Anil Ambani-controlled company, Reliance Power, staged the country's largest listing.

Cash-starved Indian companies are hoping the good times are on their way back after the Bombay Stock Exchange's benchmark index surged a record 2,000 points last Monday following the election of a stable government.

The market ended the week up 14 per cent at 13,887.15 points with more gains expected if the Congress party-led government introduces long-awaited reforms in insurance and pensions and revives the privatisation programme for state-owned enterprises.

Reliance Capital bought its life insurance unit four years ago from Australia's AMP and its Indian joint venture partner Sanmar.

Mr Ghosh said Reliance owned 100 per cent of the company, giving it the freedom to sell up to 26 per cent to foreign investors, as permitted by Indian rules on foreign direct investment in the sector.

He did not say how much the company plans to raise from the market but said Reliance Life has total premiums of about $1bn and is the fourth-largest operator in India's life insurance market. It employs 25,000 people and has 150,000 agents.

"This will set a value for what Indian life companies are worth. There are a lot of valuations floating around out there, but now we can let the market decide."

He said the company would appoint an investment bank next week to arrange the listing process, which it expected would take about three months.

On whether the market would remain buoyant enough to support new listings, Mr Ghosh said he expected it to sustain itself at about the present levels.

"Retail investors have enough money that if something good comes along, they will invest," he said.

Reliance Life Plans to Raise Capital

2009-06-10T23:57:00.001-07:00

Reliance Life Insurance Co., a unit of Reliance Capital Ltd., is exploring options to raise at least $200 million, joining a stream of Indian companies looking to take advantage of the improving market sentiment and easing liquidity situation.

"We are evaluating all options," Reliance Capital Chief Executive Sam Ghosh told Dow Jones Newswires Friday. "It could be an initial public offer, a strategic investor who could be an overseas insurance firm, a private-equity firm who could be an anchor investor or a combination of all options."

Mr. Ghosh said Reliance Capital is considering selling 10% to 26% of the unit over the next three-four months.

"We will take a decision on the final route to raising capital over the next month to 45 days," he said. "After that we need to gain approval from the insurance-sector regulator and the capital-market regulator."

Current regulations allow foreign entities to own up to a 26% stake in Indian insurance companies. The United Progressive Alliance, which will form the federal government later Friday, is widely expected to hike the limit on foreign direct investment to 49%.

The Reliance Capital unit is among the few life insurers in India which don't have any foreign partners at present.

The businesses of Reliance Capital, part of the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, also include general insurance, asset management, private equity, stock broking, depository services and consumer finance.

Mr. Ghosh said Reliance Life Insurance will need $150 million to $175 million of working capital over the next five years.

An analyst with a foreign brokerage, who asked not to be named citing his company policy, said he had valued Reliance Life Insurance at $1.3 billion but expects a share sale only at a much higher premium to the market price.

"A foreign insurance company making a strategic investment in Reliance Life seems like the best fit but there aren't many big players left who aren't already present in India via a local joint venture," the analyst said. "So the question is who is left to bite."

Among India's private insurance firms, ICICI Prudential is a joint venture between ICICI Bank Ltd. and U.K.'s Prudential PLC, SBI Life Insurance Co. is a joint venture between State Bank of India and France's BNP Paribas Assurance, and Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance Co. is a joint venture between Bajaj Finserv Ltd. and Germany's Allianz SE.

Reliance Capital hikes stake in Network 18 Media

2009-06-10T23:55:00.000-07:00

Reliance Capital has increased its stake in electronic media firm Network 18 Media& Investments Ltd to 7.27 per cent for over Rs 40.83 crore
Reliance Capital acquired over 26.75 lakh shares of the media company through open market purchases and allotment on conversion of partly convertible cumulative preference shares and warrants, Network 18 Media& Investments said in a filing with the Bombay Stock Exchange.

This resulted in Reliance Capital owning 52.30 lakh shares of the media company engaged in operating business news television channels, CNBC-TV18 and CNBC Awaaz, it said.

Prior to this latest acquisition, Reliance Capital held over 25.55 lakh equity shares, representing 3.55 per cent stake, of the electronic media firm, it said.

Reliance Capital, a financial services company, has interests in asset management and mutual funds, life and general insurance, private equity and investments and stock broking services.

ADAG set to take over Wall St Fin

2009-03-09T05:47:00.000-07:00

Reliance Money, a fully owned subsidiary of Reliance Capital Ltd of the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, is set to take controlling stake in Wall Street Finance Ltd, the Bombay Stock Exchange-listed non-banking finance company.

The ADAG group entity, which already has 36.55% in the remittance major through a subsidiary called Reliance Money Express, is looking to infuse more capital through a preferential allotment.

This will eventually lead to a majority stake for the Ambani group, according to a source familiar with the development.

"We are looking to infuse funds. First, the shareholders must approve," said Sudip Bandyopadhyay, director & CEO, Reliance Money, who is also a member of the Wall Street board, talking to DNA Money from Hong Kong. He refused to give details.

Wall Street Finance itself is seeking a shareholder approval for alteration of share capital in an extraordinary general meeting on Friday. According to a filing with the Bombay Stock Exchange, the company is seeking to pass an ordinary resolution wherein it will expand the current authorised share capital of the company from Rs 22 crore to Rs 82 crore.

The company will create and allot 1 crore equity shares of Rs 10 each and 60 lakh redeemable preference shares of Rs 100 each. It will also cancel 10 lakh cumulative preference shares of Rs 100 each. A second shareholder meeting on Friday will also consider a scheme of arrangement between Wall Street Finance Ltd and Goldman Securities Pvt Ltd (a 100% arm).

The demerged Goldman will be vested with InstantCash, a money-remittance brand in the US, now owned by Wall Street Finance's US unit, which has a remittance licence in that country. This will be followed by renaming of Goldman Securities.

According to World Bank data, India overtook China to become the world's largest recipient of remittance money in 2008, amounting to $31 billion. The global business leader in this segment is Western Union. Reliance Money is aiming to break into this league through both international and local remittance business.

Wall St Finance has already applied to the Reserve Bank of India in October last to be a domestic money remittance licencee, which will compete with the money order business.

The company's shareholders will also consider a special resolution to give sweeping powers to the company's board of directors to decide on the time and mode of share allotment. Repeated attempts to contact Areef A Patel, promoter of Wall Street Finance, failed.

The Patel family, which runs the Patel Roadways, one of India's biggest fleet operators, was holding close to 66% stake in this 20-year-old company. Late last year, the family transferred half of that stake to Reliance Money Express by selling Wall Street Constructions, another group firm, to Reliance Money Express.

By virtue of that transaction, Reliance Money became a co-promoter of Wall Street Finance because it got a 35% stake in the company. Subsequently Wall Street Constructions was merged with Reliance Money Express and the former now ceases to exist.

Meantime, both Reliance Money Express and the Patel family have been buying shares in the open market over the last two months, after this transaction. Reliance Money, which had a stake of 35.63% as on December 31, 2008, has upped it to 36.5% by buying over 1 lakh shares in the open market.

Areef A Patel also bought nearly 44,000 shares in the open market after December 31, 2008.

Reliance Capital gets nod to float NBFC, home finance firm

2009-02-03T00:21:00.000-08:00

Reliance Capital has got the regulatory approval to set up a housing finance company (HFC) and a non-banking finance company (NBFC) and intends to kick off operations with focus on small ticket loans. The companies, which will be subsidiaries of Reliance Capital, are in the process of setting up teams and is looking to commence operations in a couple of months.

“The market is not conducive to large-scale business at the moment. We will start slowly, focussing on the small ticket loans, and once things start improving, we will build on it,” said Reliance Capital CEO Sam Ghosh. To start with, funding requirements of both the finance companies is expected to be met though Reliance Capital and based on the business volume, the company will look for other sources of funds.

“At the moment both the companies are well capitalised. If the business volume picks up, to maintain the capital adequacy ratio of 15 per cent, we will look at other options of external funding,” Ghosh told Business Standard. He also did not rule out the possibility of tapping the equity market in a few of years.

At present, the home finance is clubbed with the consumer finance business of Reliance Consumer Finance but the Anil Ambani group sought separate licences to avail of special benefits associated with being a housing finance company regulated by National Housing Bank. The biggest benefit is the facility to tap the refinance window which gives access to cheaper funds. In addition, HFCs can also repossess assets where installments are overdue, can do with a lower capital adequacy ratio and access to external commercial borrowings.

“The approval will help Reliance Capital grow the housing finance business in a more focused manner and achieve certain objectives. Our objective is to be one of the leading housing finance companies over the next three to five years,” the company said in a statement.

Reliance Capital to dilute stake in its broking arm

2009-02-03T00:19:00.000-08:00

Reliance Capital wants to strengthen presence in the brokerage of reinsurance products and risk assessment.

Reliance ADAG is in talks to sell a minority stake in its insurance brokerage business to the UK-based insurance broking firm THB.

Even as the diversified Indian group is talking to four international firms including Lockton (world's largest privately held independent insurance brokerage firm based in US) besides two other UK firms-- Howden and Tyser to sell a stake in Standard Composite Insurance Brokers (SCIB), THB is the frontrunner for the deal, which could be worth Rs 250-300 crore, according toa report in The Economic Times.

SCIB is a subsidiary of Reliance Money, the stock brokerage and financial products distribution company of Reliance Capital. Reliance Capital is the public listed financial services firm promoted by Reliance ADAG.

The idea behind the transaction is to build a stronger presence in the brokerage of reinsurance products and in risk assessment vertical, where Reliance Capital is a small player. It is now looking to get strategic expertise from foreign partners who are specialists in the reinsurance business. Some of the big international players in the Indian re-insurance distribution business are Aon Global and Marsh.

Established in 1968 THB provides insurance broking, risk management and underwriting services to wholesale and retail clients and last year acquired Lloyd's broking interests. It went public on the Alternative Investment Market of London Stock Exchange in 2002.

There are two alternatives before Reliance Capital for the transaction: either dilute a minority stake in the existing insurance broking firm SCIB to the foreign partner or form a company which would house the reinsurance and risk assessment businesses where the foreign partner would hold the majority stake.

R-Cap may tap strategic investors

2009-02-03T00:14:00.000-08:00

Aiming to become the leading market player in the next 3-5 years, Anil Ambani group's Reliance Capital will look at tapping strategic investors for its home loan and consumer finance businesses in about a year's time or as and when market cond itions improve.

The company last week received the necessary regulatory approval from the National Housing Board for setting up a home loan subsidiary, in addition to RBI's nod for setting up an NBFC subsidiary for its consumer finance business, both of which it plans t o put in place in the next couple of months.

“The company may look into the option of involvement of a strategic investor but not at present. May be in a year's time or as and when market condition improves,” Reliance Capital CEO, Mr Sam Ghosh told over telephone from Mumbai.

“At this point of time the valuations of these entities are not clear. Once the business picks up and the exact valuation of the entities is known, we may consider the option (of strategic investor),” Mr Ghosh added.

He, however, noted that the company had no plans under consideration to tap the equity market for raising funds and added that Reliance Capital had enough capital in hand.

“Going forward the company would like to go for organic growth,” he said.

Both the HFC and consumer finance subsidiary, where prime focus would be vehicle loans and lending to SMEs, would be in place in the next two months, and the employees currently working with the related businesses at Reliance Consumer Finance would be re located to the new entities, he noted.

Reliance Capital is already into the mortgage business through its consumer finance arm.

At present, the home finance business is clubbed with the consumer finance business of Reliance Consumer Finance, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Reliance Capital

R-Money scouts for SME stock exchange partner

2009-01-20T08:50:00.000-08:00

Reliance Money, a Reliance Capital subsidiary and a part of the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG), is planning to float a stock exchange for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), with 26 per cent stake. It is also scouting for partners to start the venture in about a year’s time.

The company is also mulling to enter the currency futures space through the exchange.

Recently, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) had issued guidelines for SME exchanges, and had set a minimum net worth criteria of Rs 100 crore for entity willing to start it.

“We are looking at starting SME exchange, and currency futures can be a part of it. We had discussions with Sebi in this regard. We will apply to the regulator for starting the exchange,” said Sudip Bandyopadhyay, director and chief executive officer of Reliance Money.

To start with, the company will have 26 per cent stake in the exchange, which will come down to 15 per cent, in accordance with the guidelines, he added. The company is also in discussions with Nigeria-based non-resident Indian business group, Chellaram, for starting a stock exchange in Nigeria. The company is also eying to partner government agencies to start the exchange.

“The biggest attraction for us in Nigeria is that it is is the largest country in Africa, sixth largest producer of oil and rich in minerals. The government there is also keen to set up an exchange, Chellarams are already our partners in the distribution business, so we will be happy to partner them for the exchange. We can start it with 100 per cent equity, but our idea is to get relevant government agencies as partner. Our stake in it could be around 26 per cent,” said Bandyopadhyay.

Reliance Money has been active in the exchange business for quite some time, as recently it had pick up 15 per cent stake in Hong Kong Mercantile Exchange (HKMX).

This apart, it has a 10 per cent stake in National Multi-Commodity Exchange (NMCE), which would go up to 26 per cent, said Bandyopadhyay.

The company has also forayed into spot exchange business with the launch of new company, Reliance Spot Exchange Infrastructure, which has a paid-up capital of Rs 3 crore. The company is planning to start spot exchange for agri-commodities, as well as non-agri ones such as metals, including, steel, copper and zinc.

The spot exchange is likely to begin operations in three months, and has got approvals for state governments of Rajasthan and Gujarat.

Reliance Capital Q3 net up 11% at Rs 131.5 cr

2009-01-20T08:36:00.000-08:00

Helped by its mutual fund, life insurance, brokerage and financial products distribution businesses, Reliance Capital on Tuesday posted a 11 per cent rise in its net profit to Rs 131.5 crore, for the third quarter of this fiscal. The company had a net profit of Rs 118.1 crore in the year-ago quarter.

The total operating income of the Anil Ambani group's financial services arm jumped 36 per cent to Rs 1,572.9 crore in the quarter ended December 31, 2008, from Rs 1,155.6 crore in the year-ago period.

Among its various group companies, Reliance Mutual Fund recorded a net profit growth of 36 per cent to Rs 26 crore for the quarter under review as against Rs 19 crore in the year ago period. However, the assets under management of Reliance Mutual Fund recorded a decrease of 11 per cent at Rs 70,230 crore as on December 31, from Rs 78,906 crore a year ago.

In the life insurance segment, Reliance Life Insurance registered robust growth of nearly 57 per cent as the policyholders funds under management increased to Rs 4,495 crore as against Rs 2,286 crore last year.

Meanwhile, Reliance Money has generated revenue of Rs 102 crore for the quarter ended December 31, as against Rs 64 crore for the corresponding previous period, an increase of 60 per cent. As on December 31, the net worth of the company stood at Rs 7,24 9.6 crore making the company one of the top three private sector financial services groups in terms of net worth.

R-ADAG in talks to sell a stake in insurance distribution biz to UK co

2009-01-11T23:17:00.000-08:00

Reliance ADAG is in talks to sell a minority stake in its insurance distribution business to the UK-based insurance broking firm THB
for Rs 250-300 crore.

A person with direct knowledge of the negotiations said Reliance ADAG is talking to four international firms including Lockton, Howden and Tyser to sell a stake in Standard Composite Insurance Brokers (SCIB), ADAG’s insurance distribution company, but THB is the lead contender for the stake purchase.

A senior executive at an insurance brokerage firm, who is close to the negotiations said: “Reliance Money is looking to build a strong presence in the distribution of reinsurance products and in risk assessment vertical, where it is a small player. It plans to bring in strategic expertise from foreign partners who are specialists in the reinsurance business.” The other big international players in the Indian re-insurance distribution business are Aon Global and Marsh.

THB is an independent UK-based insurance broker, established in 1968. It provides insurance broking, risk management and underwriting services to wholesale and retail clients. The firm, which floated the Alternative Investment Market of London Stock Exchange in 2002, acquired Lloyd’s broking interests last year.

According to an executive close to the development, Reliance Money is looking at either giving a minority stake in the existing insurance broking firm to the foreign partner or forming a company which would house the reinsurance and risk assessment businesses where the foreign partner would own more than 50%.

SCIB is a subsidiary of Reliance Money, the stock brokerage and financial products distribution company of Reliance Capital. Reliance Capital is the public listed financial services firm promoted by Reliance ADAG.

When contacted Reliance Money CEO Sudip Bandyopadhyay, declined to comment on the developments. He, however, said: “Our insurance broking business has been growing very fast and we are looking at all options to scale it up further.”

The company undertook business worth Rs 130 crore in the first nine months of 2008-09, which is 200% more than the same period last year. It is likely to touch Rs 300 crore by March ’09 as the last quarter is usually the peak period for selling insurance products.

Another person with knowledge of the negotiations between Reliance and THB said the valuations would be more than two times the revenues. Given that Reliance Money is targeting Rs 300 crore for FY09, SCIB should be valued around
Rs 600-700 crore.

SCIB works with multiple insurance companies including Tata AIG, Reliance Life Insurance, Kotak Mahindra Old Mutual, Birla Sun Life in the life insurance space and Royal Sundaram, IFFCO-TOKIO in the general insurance business. It sells insurance products through more than 10,000 outlets in India.

Reliance Money, FTIL plan to set up their own stock exchanges

2009-01-11T23:14:00.000-08:00

Reliance Money, the broking arm of Reliance Capital and Financial Technologies India (FTIL), which operates one of the world`s largest exchange networks are pondering over the idea to setup their own stock exchanges, reports Business Standard.

Both the companies see a huge scope in this business as only 5% of Indian households invest in equities compared to the international average of up to 50%. The companies also have plans to enter the rapidly growing business of equity derivatives, which are basically instruments whose value is at least partly derived from one or more underlying equities.

Currently National Stock Exchange enjoys a virtual monopoly in equity derivatives with daily average volumes at Rs 100 billion in the spot segment. In comparison, the Bombay Stock Exchange has daily average volume of just Rs 40 billion. The NSE`s daily average volume in derivative segment is Rs 400 billion.

Reliance Money is already a big player in commodities exchange space after picking up 10% in the National Multi Commodity Exchange (NMCE). Now the company wants to increase its holding to 26%. NMCE has applied to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to set up a currency futures exchange.

Reliance Money`s spot exchange for agriculture commodities is also expected to start trading next month.

The FTIL group which has interests in a currency futures exchange, commodity futures, power exchange and spot exchange for agricultural commodities and plans to set up an exchange for SMEs.

Reliance Cap joins race to manage private sector pension fund

2009-01-11T23:10:00.000-08:00

Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group-led Reliance Capital would join the race for managing pension fund for the unorganised sector under the
New Pension System (NPS) for which the regulator PFRDA invited applications on Friday.

"We will participate in the Expression of Interest (EoI) invited by the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA)," said Reliance Capital Asset Management CEO Vikrant Gugnani.

Without specifying which of the group entities will be filling the EoI, Gugnani, who has recently been appointed as the President and CEO of the international business division, said one of the group companies will participate.

The regulator is planning to launch NPS scheme for the unorganised sector from April 1, 2009.

In addition to Reliance Capital, several other public and private sector entities including banks, insurance companies and financial institutions SBI, ICICI, HDFC and LIC are eligible to manage pension funds for the sector.

In pursuance of the pension sector reforms, PFRDA today invited EoI from eligible entities for sponsoring pension funds. The interested parties can submit their bids to PFRDA by January 9, the authority said.

The government had already introduced the new pension system for the central government (excluding armed forces) with effect from January 1, 2004.

The sponsors of the funds, the authority said, would be required to "manage the assets of citizens to be covered by the new pension system on voluntary basis."

In addition to public and private sector financial firms, the central and state government companies will also be eligible to participate in the bid provided they have been managing assets worth Rs 8,000 crore during the last one year.

To manage funds under NPS applicable to the central and state government employees, PFRDA has appointed SBI, LIC and UTI Mutual Fund.

The three fund managers have already incorporated their pension funds as new companies under the Companies Act.

According to advertisement, joint ventures among the eligible groups can also apply, provided these come under the jurisdiction of the RBI, SEBI or IRDA.

The firms would be incorporated as separate companies in which foreign investment, direct or indirect, should not exceed 26 per cent of the paid-up share capital.

Each pension fund will offer standard payment options including a default option with asset allocation prescribed by PFRDA, it said.

The regulator added that the fund manager will be appointed for a period of three years on the basis of a technical and financial bid.

The subscribers will be given a unique Permanent Retirement Account Number (PRAN) and all accretion to the accounts will be used for providing him a pension.

R-ADAG may pick 50% in UK currency co

2008-12-16T08:31:00.000-08:00

Reliance ADAG is close to acquiring 50% stake in a UK-based currency exchange and money transfer firm for an undisclosed amount. This will enable
the Indian company to sell its financial products to the 1.4 million NRI population.

The name of the UK firm is under wraps but a person with knowledge of the development said the target company was recently named as one of the fastest growing firms in the UK with more than 250 outlets.

“It could either be TTT Moneycorp or No1 Currency,’’ he said, adding, the deal will be routed through Wall Street Finance, an Indian public-listed firm that ADAG acquired recently to enter the money transfer business.

TTT Moneycorp is a retail, wholesale and commercial foreign exchange services firm in the UK owned by the Shlewet family trust and backed by the Royal Bank of Scotland while No1 Currency was formed in 1996 and is owned by its two founding partners David Hale and Mark McElney.

Wall Street Finance board director Sudip Bandyopadhyay, who is also the CEO of Reliance Money, declined to comment on the deal.

ADAG’s plans to buy the UK company is in sync with its strategy for a wider distribution of the group’s financial products. Reliance Capital operates the largest asset management firm in the country and is involved in other businesses such as retail brokerage, distribution of insurance products and lending.

In 2008, R-ADAG actively picked equity stakes with international financial services firms. This has come despite the financial services business being the worst hit in the wake of the global credit crisis.

In particular, the group has picked a minority stake in the upcoming commodity exchange in Hong Kong and is in advanced stages of negotiations to pick more than 50% stake in a new commodity and currency trading exchange in Nigeria.

As reported first by ET in its edition dated October 20, 2008, the group is also in the hunt to acquire the Asian assets of US-based insurance firm AIG which was bailed out by the US government in October to prevent it from going bankrupt.

AIG has been looking to sell parts of its businesses and assets to focus on the core general insurance business.

Reliance Money inks pact with DBS Vickers Securities

2008-12-16T08:12:00.001-08:00

Reliance Money, a unit of Reliance Capital and part of the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani group, has entered into an agreement with DBS Vickers Securities, to facilitate trading in global commodity exchanges for Indian companies.

Globally, exchange traded commodity futures is one of the largest market sections in the financial markets witnessing participation from the producers, users, traders alike.

Under the arrangement, the company would provide trading facilities for different derivatives including agricultural products, metal and energy products, which are traded on major exchanges worldwide.

In addition, it would also provide trading facility on OTC (over-the-counter) products in segments such as energy and freight.

DBS Vickers Securities is a member of the Singapore Exchange. It is the securities and derivatives arm of the DBS Group, a leading banking group of Southeast Asia.

Reliance Money inks pact with DBS Vickers Securities

2008-12-16T08:12:00.000-08:00

2008-12-16T07:54:00.000-08:00

Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group firm Reliance Capital today announced the appointment of Vikrant Gugnani to lead the company's international business initiatives, as a part of its plans to expand presence in global markets.

Gugnani has been promoted as the President and Chief Executive Officer of international business to lead the company and build businesses further in the global markets, Reliance Capital said in a statement.

At present, Vikrant Gugnai is the CEO of Reliance Capital Asset Management, the country's top fund house in terms of assets under management.

The company has started to develop a global footprint as a key growth engine for its businesses for the future, the statement added.

"We are confident of continuing the success story abroad as well and establish Reliance's trust and quality service," Gugnani said.

The company further said that current deputy CEO Sundeep Sikka would now take over as the CEO of Reliance Capital Asset Management. Earlier, Sikka was with mutual fund arm of ADAG.

The company is committed to nurturing and building a pipeline of internal leadership talent and am confident that both Vikrant and Sundeep will create new opportunities and provide great business leadership, Reliance Capital CEO Sam Ghosh said.

Over the last few years, Reliance Capital has invested in building presence in key emerging markets such as the Gulf countries, South East Asia and Africa.

Reliance Capital to set up Islamic fund management co in Malaysia

2008-11-24T00:36:00.000-08:00

The Anil Ambani group-controlled Reliance Capital Asset Management Ltd (RCAML) said on Friday that it will establish an international
Islamic fund management company in Malaysia.

The leading asset management company recently received an in-principle approval from the Securities Commission of Malaysia to establish the fund management firm.

Reliance Capital now holds the unique distinction of being the fifth company in the world and the first in India to be allotted the coveted mandate, a release said here.

"We are proud to be the first company from India and the fifth in the world to be given this opportunity. We are the No 1 mutual fund house in India and the new opportunity is in line with our ambition to be one of the leading players globally," Reliance Capital CEO Vikrant Gugnani said in a statement.

Reliance Capital is managing a corpus of over Rs 71,093 crore as on October 31 for over 70 lakh investors. It offers investors a well-rounded portfolio of products to meet varying investor requirements and has a presence in over 400 cities across the country.

Rel Money eyes new Nigerian exchange

2008-11-14T00:04:00.000-08:00

Reliance Money, the brokerage company of Reliance Capital, is in advanced stages of negotiations to pick up a majority stake in an
upcoming commodity and currency trading exchange in Nigeria. This comes close on the heels of the R-ADAG firm picking up a 15% equity stake in Hong Kong Mercantile Exchange(HKMEx).

The proposed Nigerian exchange is expected to start trading by the second quarter of 2009. It would begin with commodity and currency contracts and may eventually evolve as a full-fledged trading exchange offering equity trading as well.

While Reliance Money would hold the majority stake, local business groups would be brought in as minority partners in the venture. Unlike HKMEx, where the local government has a stake, the Nigerian exchange would be a private enterprise.

When contacted by ET, Reliance Money CEO Sudip Bandyopadhyay said: “We are looking at various growth opportunities abroad. We will announce them as and when we finalise something.” There is already a stock exchange in Lagos.

The deal would mean an expansion of operations in Nigeria for Reliance Money. Earlier this year, the company had entered into a tie-up with Lagos-based industrial group — the Chellarams, for distribution of financial products and services.

The transaction is part of the global expansion strategy of Reliance Money, which is also in the process of starting full-fledged financial services operations through a JV in Saudi Arabia and has plans to expand its business in over 15 countries spread across Europe, North Africa, the Middle East and South East Asia by March 2009.

Reliance Capital unit stops fresh loans

2008-11-14T00:00:00.001-08:00

Reliance Consumer Finance, a unit of Reliance Capital Ltd, has stopped giving fresh loans due to the tightening local liquidity conditions, a newspaper report said on Saturday quoting a top company official.

Reliance Consumer joins other financial lenders such as Shriram Transport Finance Co Ltd and Indiabulls Financial Services Ltd in clamping down on new loans.

"In light of the prevailing market conditions, we deliberately slowed down the growth till September 2008," Sam Ghosh, chief executive officer of Reliance Capital, was quoted by the Hindustan Times daily as saying.

"In fact, beginning October, we have put on hold further disbursals and will review resumption as the situation in the credit markets improve," he said. "Wherever we had made commitments earlier, we are lending," Ghosh added.

Reliance has cut its personal loans portfolio to 13 percent of the total loan book against 15 percent at the end of June, the report added.

Company officials could not be immediately reached for comment.

Reliance Capital is part of the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani group and runs India's largest asset management firm, a stock brokerage and insurance businesses.

Reliance Capital Q2 net up 15% at Rs229 cr

2008-11-13T23:55:00.000-08:00

Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group firm Reliance Capital said its net profit grew by 15% to Rs229.4 crore and total operating income rose by 38% to Rs1,313 crore for the second quarter ended 30 September, compared with the year-ago period.
The company had a net profit of Rs200.10 crore in the September quarter last fiscal, Reliance Capital said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.
As on 30 September, Reliance Capital’s net worth stood at Rs7,068.20 crore, making it one among the top three Indian private sector financial services groups in terms of net worth, it added.
The company’s total assets stood at Rs22,133 crore, while its earnings per share rose by 15% to Rs9.34 during the quarter.
During the half year ended 30 September, Reliance Capital reported a net profit of Rs572.50 crore, a 9% growth over the year-ago period. The firm had a net profit of Rs525.30 crore in the corresponding period last fiscal.
The total operating income rose by 34% to Rs2,856.30 crore in the first half of the current fiscal.
The investment portfolio as on 30 September amounted to Rs7,287 crore at cost, it said.
The company does not have exposure to money and forex derivative market, the filing added.
Further, the group’s financial products distribution firm Reliance Money’s net profit for the September quarter stood at Rs19 crore, while its revenue rose by 128% at Rs93 crore.

Post offices to sell gold coins

2008-10-15T04:29:00.000-07:00

The Indian Postal Department today announced the sale of 24 carat gold coins from their post offices.

In the pilot phase the coins will be available in over 100 India Post outlets in Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Gujarat.

The gold coins, which are launched in collaboration with World Gold Council and Reliance Money are in the denomination of half gram, one gram, 5 grams and 8 grams.

The prices of these coins will be competitive based on the prevailing prices of gold.

In the second phase of the project the gold coins will be sold with the India Post logo.

The Minister of State for Communications and IT, Jyotiraditya Scindia, said that this pilot project on the sale of gold coins would be a beginning of many more such retail services that India Post will undertake.

He said that the venture reinforces India Post’s dedicated service to the ordinary Indian.

Union minister for communication and IT, A Raja also directed the Department of Post to take the gold coins to rural post offices so that the benefit goes to the common man.

He announced that the sale will gradually extend based on public response.

Reliance Money acquires 15 pc in Hong Kong Mercantile Exchange

2008-10-14T09:19:00.000-07:00

Anil Ambani-run Reliance Money, today said it has acquired a 15 per cent stake in the Hong Kong Mercantile Exchange (HKMEx), the first In
dian firm to acquire a stake in an international exchange.

With this holding, Reliance Money becomes the second-largest shareholder in the commodity exchange and will have a board membership.

"Even as Asia has emerged as a key market for global commodities, the region does not have a strong commodity exchange. We believe that our deal with HKMEx will help us capitalise on the growing demand for commodities in this region," Reliance Money's Director and CEO, Sudip Bandyopadhyay, said in a press release issued here.

The company has recently received approval from the FMC and Ministry of Consumer Affairs for acquiring a 10 per cent stake in domestic National Multi-Commodity Exchange of India. Reliance Money now plans to up this stake to 26 per cent.

Reliance Money gets nod to acquire 10 pc stake in NMCE

2008-09-30T09:48:00.000-07:00

Financial services firm Reliance Money has obtained approval from Ministry of Consumer Affairs to acquire a 10 per cent stake in the Nati
onal Multi-Commodity Exchange of India (NMCE) Board.

"We are pleased with this development, as it marks our foray into the national commodity exchange space that is expected to cross an annual turnover of Rs 74 lakh-crore (volume) by next year," Reliance Money Director & CEO Sudip Bandyopadhyay said in a statement here today.

Reliance Money had proposed to acquire a total of up to 26 per cent stake in NMCE in two phases. NMCE had accordingly applied for necessary approvals from the regulator Forward Markets Commission (FMC), which in turn, recommended the acquisition to the Ministry of Consumer Affairs.

The Anil Ambani-led Reliance ADAG is the first large business group to get into the commodity exchange space in India.

"We believe that this strategic tie-up between Reliance Money and NMCE will help us utilise the vast growth potential of commodity trading business in India to its optimum," he said.

"We are also set to leverage our wide distribution network of 10,000-plus outlets across 5,165 cities and towns to add value to NMCE," Bandyopadhyay, who has been inducted on the NMCE Board as an Additional Director, said.

Anil Ambani wants to enter banking business

2008-09-16T10:13:00.000-07:00

Reliance-Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, or R-Adag, plans to enter the banking sector when the industry opens up and infuse Rs2,000 crore in its two insurance arms, besides venturing into asset reconstruction, institutional broking and private equity, chairman Anil Ambani said on Tuesday.

R-Adag’s businesses include telecommunications, financial services, power and utilities and entertainment.

Charting the future plans of Reliance Capital Ltd before its shareholders, Ambani said the company will enter the banking sector, “as and when the regulatory environment permits”. Under the current law, industrial houses are not allowed to start a bank in India.

In the next three-five years, the company will aim at more than tripling its customer base to 50 million, increasing the distribution reach from 4,000 locations to 20,000 locations and doubling the cumulative investment in its two insurance firms—Reliance Life Insurance Co. Ltd and Reliance General Insurance Co. Ltd—to Rs4,000 crore.
The conglomerate will also set up a separate housing finance subsidiary and a non-banking finance unit.

“We have already filed applications with the regulators concerned in this respect and are awaiting their approval,” said Ambani who is also planning to start a ‘Reliance Capital University’ to train financial services professionals.

The group has also identified opportunities for cross-selling Reliance Capital products to other R-Adag customers—such as offering life insurance to energy customers and marketing Reliance mutual fund plans to telecom subscribers. A new company called Reliance Capital Services was set up in July for cross-selling financial services to shareholders, customers and other stakeholders.
Reliance Infrastructure Ltd, India’s third largest utility company, plans to bid for engineering and construction contracts for atomic power stations, he told shareholders.

The Mumbai-based company will also explore setting up equipment manufacturing facilities for power generation in India, West Asia, Africa and Southeast Asia.
The group is pursuing opportunities in steel, shipping and cement but that will be independent of Reliance Infrastructure, said Ambani, who plans to invest Rs40,000 crore to set up a steel factory in Jharkhand.

Ambani also referred to the US credit crisis that has felled financial powerhouse Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and forced Merrill Lynch and Co. Inc. to sell itself to Bank of America Corp.

“The single biggest risk facing the global markets is the multi-dimensional credit crisis in the US, which has already caused major financial casualties,” Ambani said.
He quickly added that the impact on India was likely to be “far more moderate” because of the “calibrated, cautious and conservative approach of our policy planners”.

Rel Cap to invest Rs 2,000-cr in insurance, enter PE, ARC biz

2008-09-16T10:06:00.000-07:00

Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group company, Reliance Capital, plans to enter the asset reconstruction, institutional broking, housing finance and PE businesses and would besides invest Rs 2,000-crore in its insurance businesses, the company's Chairman, Anil Ambani, said here today.

"Reliance Capital would enter the banking sector as and when regulations permit. The company would also enter the asset reconstruction, institutional broking and PE business. We may set up a housing finance subsidiary and a non-banking finance company," Ambani told shareholders at the company's annual general meeting (AGM) here.

"We plan to invest Rs 2,000 crore in our insurance business, taking our cumulative investment to over Rs 4,000- crore, or nearly USD 1-billion," Ambani said, adding that the company has identified areas where it has experienced higher expenses and claims and is in the process of re-pricing the risk.

"We are also looking at getting into newer segments of liability insurance as well as marine and hull insurance," he added.

Going forward, the company plans to set up a separate housing finance subsidiary and non-banking finance company (NBFC) for the consumer finance business.

"We have already filed applications with the concerned regulators in this respect and are awaiting their approvals," he said.

Reliance Money enters US market

2008-09-08T09:57:00.000-07:00

Expanding its reach to American markets, Anil Ambani group's brokerage and financial services distribution entity Reliance Money has forged an alliance with the third largest online broker in the US, OptionsXpress.

The partnership would enable Indian investors to access the US stock market, while at the same time, NRIs and persons of Indian origin there would also be able to trade in Indian stock market, Reliance Money CEO Sudip Bandyopadhyay told PTI.

Besides, R-Money could use this opportunity as a starting point for further expanding its presence in the US and Canadian markets, he said.

R-Money has already similar tie-ups in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Hong Kong and plans to expand its operations in other countries as well.

REL Money picks up 26% in NMCE

2008-07-13T09:40:00.000-07:00

Reliance Money, the broking and financial services arm of Reliance Capital, is picking up 26% in Ahmedabad-based National Multi Commodity Exchange (NMCE) subject to regulatory approval. NMCE may issue fresh shares to enable Reliance Money take stake in the commodity bourse.

Reliance Money CEO Sudip Bandyopadhyay declined to reveal the deal value, other than saying that his firm had bought the stake for ”an attractive valuation”. Reliance Money will get two seats on NMCE board, Mr Bandyopadhyay added.
In February 2008, the Bombay Stock Exchange had bought a 26% in NMCE.

According to sources involved in the transaction, the value of that deal was around Rs 40 crore. Market watchers say Reliance Money would have paid roughly the same amount. Mr Bandyopadhyay said his company will use its existing chain of 12,000 outlets to expand its commodity operations. Agri commodities will be the priority, and the company will later look at non-agri commodities like bullion and metals.

According to Mr Bandyopadhyay, post the deal, Central Warehousing (CWC) will hold 26% in NMCE, Gujarat Agro Industries 7%, Nafed 5% and Punjab National Bank 10%. However, NMCE managing director Kailash Gupta said the shareholding pattern is still being discussed with the shareholders.

Mr Gupta said that its a strategic alliance with Reliance Money to increase the reach of NMCE through the Reliance Group’s network, which also includes the ADAG group’s telecom customer base. Actively traded commodities on NMCE include pepper, rubber, raw jute. In rubber, the government has suspended futures trading in May for four months.

ADAG enters Saudi financial services sector

2008-07-08T09:56:00.000-07:00

Overseas financial services business is the new target of Indian firms. Reliance-ADAG is picking up 26% stake with management control in a full-fledged financial services company in Saudi Arabia. The group is in the process of raising around 200 million Saudi riyals (Rs 230 crore) from Middle East sovereign wealth funds and other institutional investors who will together hold 74% stake in the venture.

R-ADAG will be the single-largest shareholder in the firm, which has been christened Riyada Reliance Money. There will be a small group of around seven to eight investors. However, none of them will have more than 26% stake in the company.

Riyada Reliance Money will be engaged in various activities, including brokerage, depository services, investment advisory, asset management and investment banking. Incidentally, this would also mark the group’s entry into investment banking, an area where R-ADAG’s financial arm Reliance Capital is not present in India. The venture will be an extension of R-ADAG’s existing retail brokerage and financial products distribution business which is under Reliance Money, which is a subsidiary of publicly-listed Reliance Capital.

Reliance Money’s director & CEO Sudip Bandyopadhyay said: “We are in negotiations with various firms to raise funds and have received positive response from some sovereign wealth funds.”

There are a number of sovereign wealth funds in the Middle East, including UAE’s Abu Dhabi Investment Authority which is believed to be the world’s biggest sovereign fund.

Some of the other sovereign wealth funds in the region include Dubai-based Istithmar and Dubai International Capital besides Kuwait Investment Authority and Qatar Investment Authority. Incidentally, Saudi Arabia itself is reportedly in the process of launching a similar investment fund.

Some of these sovereign wealth funds’ investments have come under heavy scrutiny as they have picked up equity stakes in large global firms including some blue-chip financial majors such as Citigroup, Standard Chartered, HSBC and Merrill Lynch.

Mr Bandyopadhyay explained R-ADAG’s decision to start a financial services venture in Saudi Arabia, “The entire Middle East, Saudi Arabia in particular, is flush with funds in the wake of oil prices shooting to new historical highs. Besides, Saudi Arabia has a large base of non-resident Indians estimated to be 2 million strong.”

In addition, there is a policy aspect. The equity brokerage market in Saudi Arabia has opened up due to a policy change a year ago which bars banks from providing brokerage services in Saudi Arabia. This has left just about 20 odd brokerages in business which are largely domestic Saudi Arabian firms. R-ADAG had also looked at the option of acquiring one of the existing firms but decided to set-up the business on its own.

R-ADAG also has a small presence in few other markets in the region including UAE and Oman and had recently struck a partnership in Hong Kong which marked its entry into the Chinese market. The basic objective to expand in these markets is to target a growing number of NRI population globally. Reliance Money, one of the largest broking houses in India has over 2 million customers and 8,500 outlets across 4,250 locations.

Reliance MF scouts for global acquisition

2008-07-08T09:54:00.000-07:00

Reliance Capital Asset Management, which manages Reliance Mutual Fund was scouting for global asset management companies for acquisition to make the company a global player in the next five to seven years.

"We want to be global player in the next five to seven years and toward that we are open for acquisitions in the overseas markets," Reliance Capital Asset Management Ltd (RCAML) CEO Vikrant Gugnani said here today.

He was in city to announce the company's new product SIP+insure scheme which offers systematic investment plan along with free insurance.

He, however, did not elaborated on the details of acquisition plan and neither shared about markets he was looking at.

Reliance has already began the journey toward the aim of being a global asset management company. It has established a company in UK, Reliance Capital AMC UK Plc.

"The UK company has already got the license as a investment management company and expected to be operational," Gugnani said.

The company has assets of Rs 98,430 crore as of May with presence in 300 cities across the country.

He pointed that there had been shift of investment to SIP products and he expressed confidence on success of the SIP with insurance product.

SIP+Insure offers investor to investment a minimum of Rs 2,000 per month and minimum contribution has to be three years

Reliance Capital sets up arm for UK operations

2008-07-08T09:52:00.000-07:00

Reliance Capital Asset Management Company has set up a wholly owned subsidiary for its UK operations.

The subsidiary would start operations after six months, Vikrant Gugani, CEO of Reliance Capital Asset Management Ltd, said here.

The subsidiary, to be named Reliance Capital asset Management (UK) Pvt Ltd, would sell its funds in UK and would also launch Europe-focused funds soonStressing that the company would focus on inorganic growth in offshore markets in the coming years, Gugani said, “We have a target to become the first Indian global asset management company within the next five-six years.” The company already has a subsidiary in Singapore and it also operates in Mauritius and West Asian countries.

Speaking at the launch of the SIP+Insure option here, Gugani said, “The equity market would remain volatile this year and it is safer to invest in equity funds only over a three-year horizon. The newly launched investment option comes with a free life insurance cover and is currently provided in 10 select equity schemes of Reliance Mutual Fund.

He also pointed out that even though the number of new investors is are now less compared with the March-April figures, the number of new sign-ups for the Systematic Investment Plans have been growing by almost 35-40 per cent over the last three months.

Reliance Capital enters Nigeria

2008-07-08T09:51:00.001-07:00

Reliance Money, the broking and financial services arm of Reliance Capital (Q, N,C,F)* has entered into a distribution tie-up with the Nigeria-based Chellarams, reports Business Standard.

The tie-up is for catering the needs of Nigeria based non-resident Indians in Africa. Reliance Money would be launching its broking and portfolio management services (PMS), mutual fund and insurance distribution business.

The company`s portfolio management services in Nigeria would be offered at a threshold level of as low as USD 50,000. It is also panning to get a membership of the Lagos stock exchange.

Reliance plans UK fund foray

2008-06-13T10:12:00.000-07:00

India's No. 1 fund firm Reliance Capital Asset Management plans to sell its funds in U.K. from September and launch emerging market and Europe-focussed funds in the country by the next fiscal, a top official said on Thursday.

The firm, a unit of Reliance Capital Ltd, will also start an asset management business in Singapore in the next two years and expand in Gulf, where its presence is restricted to Dubai so far, Chief Executive Vikrant Gugnani said.

"We see a potential for India-dedicated funds not only in U.K. but also for central and eastern Europe," Gugnani, a former Citibank executive, told Reuters in an interview.

"UK will start off as advisory office but will gradually upgrade to a full-fledged asset management company," said Gugnani, whose firm's average monthly assets stood at 984 billion rupees in May.

A five-year bull run in the local stock market has lured overseas investors, despite a more than 25 percent decline in 2008, making distribution of India-dedicated funds in the international markets a lucrative business for asset managers.

More than 35 India-dedicated offshore funds registered for sale in the U.K. managed assets worth nearly $16 billion at the end of May, data from Lipper, a Thomson Reuters company, showed.

Global asset managers such as Robeco, part of Dutch Rabobank Group, and Britain's New Star Asset Management are also looking to offer India-dedicated funds.

Reliance Mutual Fund will add at least 84 branches and increase headcount by 40 percent in FY09 as it looks to attract retail investors from Tier I and Tier II cities to retain its position as India's largest asset manager.

The firm is also looking to expand in Gulf Co-operative Council locations such as Kuwait, Muscat, Egypt and Bahrain and evaluating options to start a representative office in the US, Gugnani said.

There were 169 India-dedicated offshore funds managing about $40 billion at the end of April, data from global fund tracking firm Lipper showed. About 23 of these managing more than $176 million, were launched in the first five months of 2008.

DOMESTIC PLANS

Reliance Mutual Fund, which managed 67 percent more money than its nearest rival ICICI Prudential at the end of May, has seen average assets jump more than 70 percent in the past year.

Its investor base has swelled to more than 6 million from 40,000 in September 2003. The firm plans to add 88 branches by September and hire 400 people, as it looks to add 4 million investors in FY09.

Gugnani said his firm is also evaluating options such as accepting cash as only 30 percent of Indians had bank accounts.

"There's a huge untapped parallel base which no body has addressed, even we haven't until now," he said, adding mutual funds received only 3-4 percent of India's savings and their assets is just about 14 percent of the country's GDP.

Reliance Capital to offer insurance cover on funds

2008-06-01T02:07:00.000-07:00

Indian mutual fund firm Reliance Capital Asset Management Ltd said on Friday it will offer life insurance cover investors opting for systematic investment plan (SIP) route in 11 of its funds.

Upon the pre-mature death of an investor opting for SIP of 3-15 years, the firm will pay the balance unpaid SIP installments subject to a maximum of 1 million rupees, the asset manager said in a notice. The scheme will be effective May 12.

SIP allows an investors to invest a fixed amount in a fund on a pre-decided date and periodicity.

RTVL invests in Seattle-based Pelago Inc

2008-06-01T01:58:00.000-07:00

The Anil Ambani group run Reliance Technology Ventures Ltd (RTVL)on Tuesday said that it has invested in Seattle-based Pelago Inc. RTVL, however, did not disclose the amount invested in the US company.

The company is the corporate venture capital arm of the Reliance ADA Group and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Reliance Capital. "Pelago offers consumers and advertisers a unique proposition by combining local search and discovery with an underlying social networking flavour.

"While it offers consumers to discover, rate and review places and events, Pelago also enables advertisers to get better ROI (return on investment) through its highly precise location-based advertising platform," RTVL's CEO Mr Harshal Shah said in a stat ement issued here.

Pelago offers a new break-through in mobile and web-based services under the brand name 'Whrrl'. The service catalogues peoples' activities, chronicling an individual's history of places visited and events attended through icons pinpointed on Whrrl's bui lt-in mapping application.

Whrrl-users and their friends can then rate, review and comment on these places and events, the statement said. The 'Whrrl' service is currently available nationally in the US.

Pelago's CEO Mr Jeff Holden said, "Whrrl allows you to discover the world through the eyes of your friends and other people you trust. In this way, it makes a person's social network valuable in a completely new way." - PTI

Reliance Capital to offer insurance cover on funds

2008-05-16T09:50:00.000-07:00

Reliance MF first to cross Rs 1 lakh-crore AUM mark

2008-05-16T09:48:00.000-07:00

Anil Ambani-promoted Reliance Mutual Fund — the number one mutual fund in the country in terms of assets under management — has added another feather to its cap. It has become the first mutual fund house in India whose AUM has topped the Rs 1 lakh crore-mark.

An official at Reliance Mutual Fund confirmed that the AUM has crossed the coveted milestone, but added that numbers to be released by the Association of Mutual Funds of India (Amfi) on Friday may not reflect the achievement. This is because Amfi figures take into consideration the average AUM for the whole month.

For the past year, Reliance’s AMC has been topping the AUM charts backed by strong inflows into equity schemes, as retail investors rushed to benefit from the booming stock market. Its Average Assets Under Management (AAUM) was in the order of Rs 90,938 crore for March, 2008. It also has one of the largest investor bases in the country with 66.87 lakh investors on its scrolls.

Only UTI AMC, a government-backed mutual fund which has been in operation for the past few decades, has a larger retail base.

Last month saw AUMs of most fund house grow since the hardening of the interest rate scenario and the possibility of higher yields attracted many investors towards debt offerings like FMPs.

Data on its website reveals that Reliance MF has a presence in 115 cities across the country. Its schemes are managed by Reliance Capital Asset Management, a subsidiary of Reliance Capital, which holds 93.37% of the paid-up capital of RCAM, the balance paid-up capital being held by minority shareholders. Reliance Capital is listed on the BSE and NSE.

Just a couple of months back, Reliance Mutual Fund announced one of the largest NFO collections ever when it collected around Rs 5,660 crore through its Reliance Natural Resources Fund. Incidentally, two years back, it was Reliance itself that had registered the biggest NFO in the Indian mutual fund history with Reliance Equity Fund. As per results announced by Reliance Capital, net profit of Reliance Capital Asset Management for financial year 2007-08 was at Rs 150 crore, an increase of 210 %.

Reliance Mutual Fund was one of the earliest private AMCs to be floated way back in 1995, after the government allowed new private players in the asset management space.

Reliance Money to launch Shariah-compliant investment scheme

2008-05-02T00:47:00.000-07:00

Reliance Money today joined hands with Parsoli Corp to launch the country's first Shariah- compliant Portfolio Management Scheme for investors in India and West Asia seeking to invest as per the Shariah Laws.

The brokerage and financial products distribution arm of Anil Ambani group, Reliance Money would offer this PMS for as low as Rs 5 lakh, the company said in a statement.

Reliance Money plans to market these schemes extensively in India and West Asian Countries.Terming it as first-of-its-kind tie up, Reliance Money said the schemes would be launched in partnership with Parsoli Corp, which has been recently awarded as the 'Best Islamic Brokerage Firm' in the world for 2007.

The tie-up was announced by Reliance Money CEO Sudip Bandyopadhyay and Parsoli Managing Director and CEO Zafar Sareshwala, it added. "A significant part of India's population has not been offered appropriate financial products in compliance with the relevant religious sentiments. Shariah-compliant PMS, proposed by Reliance Money with Parsoli Corp, would enable us to tap this sector and reach out to a large section of such investors," Bandyopadhyay said.

As per the understanding, Parsoli would work with Reliance Money to ensure compliance with Shariah Laws for the relevant schemes being launched by Reliance firm. Parsoli would also market other financial products and services being introduced by Reliance Money from time-to-time.

"Currently we offer PMS for as low as Rs 5 lakh with an aggressive and competitive fee structure. We do not charge any fee for returns up to 8 per cent, charge 10 per cent fee for returns up to 20 per cent and charge 20 per cent fee for over 20 per cent returns. We would replicate the same model for the Shariah Compliant Schemes as well," Bandyopadhyay added.

Ambani bullish on commodity trading

2008-04-22T00:24:00.000-07:00

There is a robust growth potential for commodity trading business in India as high growth segments like bullion, power, realty and diamond are yet to be tapped to their full potential, a top ADAG official said.

"Commodity trading in the country is by far an unexplored territory as it is limited to large traders and insignificant retail participation. India can gain large economic traction if it capitalises on the commodity trading business," Reliance Capital's brokerage and financial products distribution arm Reliance Money's CEO Sudeep Bandyopadhyay said.

So far commodity trading is mostly limited to segments like metal and agri commodities and there also the business is limited to select group of traders. While retail investors participation is very less, institutional investors presence is not there at all, he added.

Anil Ambani group is believed to be planning to enter the commodity business for which it is talking to various potential partners for strategic technological and infrastructural support.

Sources said, the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) may announce the launch of a bullion exchange in a day or two in partnership with Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and Bombay Bullion Association (BBA) and a national commodity exchange as part of its plans to capitalise on the vast opportunities in this market.

When asked about commodity exchange business plans Bandyopadhyay said, "We are open to any opportunity." However, he did not give further details.

ADAG is present across diversified businesses such as telecom, power, financial services, energy, infrastructure and media. Besides, the group is already present in the commodity brokerage business through Reliance Money. According to experts, this market could be in for a major overhaul with some large corporate houses waiting to start their own bourses.

Another emerging conglomerate Indiabulls group, which is present in businesses like brokerage, financial services, real estate, retail and power has already tied up with state-run trading firm MMTC to start a commodity exchange, for which it is awaiting necessary approvals.

Bandyopadhyay believes, there is a huge growth potential in the Indian commodity market, which is already of the size of close to one trillion dollars and could gain further scale given a continuing bull run across the world in this segment for over five years now.

ADAG embarks on global expansion for Reliance Money

2008-04-07T10:00:00.000-07:00

Seeking to complement its domestic target of doubling its presence to 20,000 outlets this year, Anil Ambani group's Reliance Money has drawn out an aggressive expansion plan for the overseas market to set shop in about half a dozen locations by the end the current fiscal.

"We will be setting up offices in six-seven strategic locations around the world in 2008-09," Reliance Money CEO Sudip Bandyopadhyay said.

The brokerage and financial products distribution firm, which is part of ADAG's Reliance Capital, has identified locations like Kuwait, Bahrain and Doha in the Middle East, while it is looking at Singapore and Hong Kong in South Asia, according to Bandyopadhyay.

The London office would come up in the next six months while the Middle East branches are expected to be functional during the first quarter.

The company is in the process of seeking regulatory approval for its Singapore office, while Hong Kong might come up in the later part of the year.

Currently, the company has a branch in the Dubai and is in the process of opening an outlet in Muscat.

The office in Oman's capital would come up during this month or early next month, Reliance Money CEO said.

"We have shortlisted three-four places for setting up the branch in Muscat," he said.

The company is eyeing a strong customer base of over one lakh in the Gulf region, which is home to about 20 million NRIs and resident Indians.

Last week, Reliance Money joined hands with Canada's Recognia, a leading provider of technical charts for stocks, that would allow its customers to know if previous patterns indicate a future rise or fall in share prices.

"Technical analysis, till date, is a privilege available to institutions and HNIs and the Indian retail investors have been deprived of these tools so far," Bandyopadhyay said.

The addition of Recognia's sophisticated automated technical analysis as an add-on feature on the platform will provide automated simplified analysis that will inform the customer about shift in trends of different stocks in the markets at one rupee per day, he said.

The value-added feature would provide additional revenue stream for the company and it expects about 10-20 per cent of its two million customers to use this facility.

Reliance Money recently crossed two million-customer mark within a year of launching its commercial operations on April 11 last year. The company says that it is the fastest two million customer acquisition in the industry.

"We have seen steady growth in the customer base despite the volatility in the market. In the last two months alone, we have added over 5,000-7,000 customers daily in our portfolio," Bandyopadhyay said.

Reliance Capital, the parent company of Reliance Money, has crossed a total customer base of 14 million as of March 31, which marks a three-fold jump in one year.

Reliance Money has an average daily turnover of Rs 2,000 crore, which represents over 4 per cent of total turnover at NSE and BSE, the two premier stock exchanges.

The company has a presence of over 10,000 retail outlets across 4500 talukas in the country, which it plans to double to 20,000 this year.

Reliance Money brings Canadian partner in broking biz

2008-04-01T23:55:00.000-07:00

With plans to double presence to 20,000 outlets this year, Reliance Money on Tuesday joined hands with Canada's Recognia, a leading provider of technical charts for stocks, that would allow its customers to know if previous patterns indicate a future rise or fall in share prices.

"Technical analysis, till date, is a privilege available to institutions and HNIs and the Indian retail investors have been deprived of these tools so far," Reliance Money CEO Sudip Bandyopadhyay told reporters here.

The addition of Recognia's sophisticated automated technical analysis as an add-on feature on the platform will provide automated simplified analysis that will inform the customer about shift in trends of different stocks in the markets at one rupee per day, he said.

The value-added feature would provide additional revenue stream for the company and it expects about 10-20 per cent of its two million customers to use this facility.

Talking about the expansion plan, Bandyopadhyay said by the end of March 2009, the company would add another 10,000 outlets, taking the total number of outlets to 20,000. By doubling the outlets, the company would expand its reach to 5,161 tehsils of the country, he added.

Elaborating on the tool, he said Recoqnia's technical analysis will allow Reliance Money users to identify customers about shift in price movements and emerging trends that will help them look up bullish and bearish notifications for any company, thereby providing them an insight into the possible direction for the scrip price.

The research is updated throughout every trading day - providing independent and objective notification of shifts in trends and changes in supply and demand that are, otherwise, not easily visible, Bandyopadhyay said.

When certain movements of the stock prices occur, Recognia distributes notices that help recipients identify profitable trades and make timely transactions, he added.

The technical services are available for a free introductory 7-day trail period to the existing users. Thereafter, this service is available to users at a nominal subscription of Rs 99 for 3 months and for one year subscription, the fee would be Rs 299.

Reliance Money to open branch in Oman

2008-03-28T09:54:00.000-07:00

Reliance Money, the financial distribution company of the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Group plans to open a branch in the Sultanate of Oman.

The company has received approval for the same from the Capital Market Authority (CMA) Board, the regulator in Oman.

“The new branch will start operations in April and this is a part of our endeavour to reach out to the 20 million NRI and PIOs ( Persons of Indian Origin) residing in West Asia”, said Mr Sudip Bandhopadhyay, Director and CEO, Reliance Money.

The company will initially launch its broking and mutual fund distribution services and also offer portfolio management services (PMS). The portfolio management services will be offered at an entry level of a minimum of $50,000.

The company will also be offering a mobile portal that will allow users to get free real time access to market information on their phones, in addition to real-time chat facility with the company’s 35 member research team.

Reliance Money made its debut in the UAE in February.

Sam Ghosh to be new CEO of Reliance Capital

2008-03-20T09:35:00.000-07:00

Anil Ambani group's financial services arm Reliance Capital is set for a change of guard at the top with Sam Ghosh, who has led ramping up of German insurer Allianz's Indian insurance ventures, about to replace Amitabh Chaturvedi as the new CEO.

The appointment, to be effective from next month, would also see a significant focus of Reliance Capital on its insurance business as well as retail customers.

While a company spokesperson declined to comment on the development, industry sources said that Ghosh would assume the role from April 1. Ghosh would report to Reliance Capital Vice Chairman Amitabh Jhunjhunwala.

Sources said that Ghosh has already put in his papers at Allianz. Allianz has appointed Abdul Rahman Tolefat as the new CEO for Allianz Takaful Bahrain and Kamesh Goyal as the new regional CEO for the Middle East and North Africa, with effect on April 1, 2008.

Allianz said in a statement that Ghosh, the current regional CEO for Middle East and North Africa, will give up his position with effect from April 1 in order to assume an assignment outside of the Allianz Group.

At Allianz, Ghosh has been responsible for ramping up business of its joint venture in India -- Bajaj Allianz General Insurance and Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance. Both these insurance ventures are today amongst the top three businesses in the country in their respective sectors.

The Middle East regional unit of Allianz, with headquarters in Bahrain, also consists of Allianz entities in Egypt, India, Jordan, Lebanon, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Sri Lanka.

Reliance Capital enters microfinance market new

2008-03-03T09:01:00.000-08:00

Reliance Capital, the financial services arm of Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, today announced the launch of its joint venture microfinance initiative in two states. The company plans to follow this up with a national rollout.

Reliance Capital has teamed up with MAS Financial Services Ltd and Vardan Trust, two Gujarat-based microfinance institutions, to offer microfinance services.

Reliance Capital plans to fund microfinance institutions initially in Gujarat and Maharashtra, before spreading out on a national scale.

"Our vision is to provide access to finance at the grassroots level by partnering with MFIs serving the rural and semi-urban areas. This initiative is in line with the group's commitment to play a serious role in bringing value to the lives of the underprivileged and the aged in India," Tina Ambani, wife of group chairman Anil Ambani, said while handing over the first lot of cheques.

"The initiative envisages lending to MFIs, which would then be on-lending finances to self-help groups, Individuals and joint liability groups as per their norms," Reliance Consumer Finance' deputy CEO K V Srinivasan said.

"This unique partnership will help us in optimally utilising our expertise in distribution of credit to small enterprises for income generation activities, consumption and emergency needs," said Mukesh Gandhi, director of MAS Financial Services.

''This tie-up would help us in spreading our network and meeting the growing need for finance by micro-entrepreneurs,'' added Mahesh Vara, CEO of Vardan Trust.

MAS Financial Services, with 61 branches across Gujarat, caters to over 2,50,000 customers in the urban, semi-urban and rural markets.

Vardan Trust offers microfinance to farmers, small shopkeepers, artisans, small enterprise workers and individuals engaged in animal husbandry.

Reliance Cap's consumer fin div disburses loans of Rs 5,000-cr

2008-03-03T09:00:00.000-08:00

Reliance Capital's Consumer Finance Division's disbursements have crossed the Rs 5,000-crore mark, a top company official said.

"We have already disbursed Rs 5,000 crore. Market share is not our major consideration. We are emphasising on quality portfolio," Reliance Consumer Finance Deputy Chief Executive Officer K V Srinivasan said on the sidelines of a press conference here today.

Reliance Consumer, which commenced commercial operations in May 2007, had disbursed loans of over Rs 3,000 crore within the six months of operations.

"Our personal loan portfolio is limited to one-fifth of total portfolio," Srinivasan said.

Asked on market share following its late entry in home loan segment, Srinivasan said, "We are in the home loan business for 8-9 months only and market share is not our major consideration."

Reliance Consumer ranks among the top 3 private sector financial services groups in terms of net worth.

Reliance Capital can trade in bad loans

2008-03-03T08:54:00.000-08:00

Anil Ambani’s Reliance Capital, one of the country’s biggest finance companies, has been allowed to trade in bad loans. On Tuesday, the company received the RBI approval that will enable its asset reconstruction firm to buy stressed assets from the Indian financial system. The system is estimated to have Rs 1,65,000 crore worth of stressed assets with an annual accumulation of nearly Rs 20,000 crore.

Reliance Capital-promoted Reliance Asset Reconstruction Company (RARC) will put in Rs 100 crore as initial investment. A Reliance Capital spokesperson confirmed the development. Reliance Capital holds 49% stake while two international investors, George Soros and Blue Ridge, hold 9.5% stake each in RARC. Also, GIC holds 9% equity in the venture while Indian Bank and Corporation Bank have 11.5% stake each.

Rajendra Kakkar, former MD and CEO of Arcil, is heading RARC which had applied for an ARC licence from RBI nearly one-and-a-half years ago. Reliance Capital, which is the first non-banking finance company to get the ARC licence, may intensify the competition in the ARC space as it did in sectors like mutual fund and stock broking.

However, after a smart pick-up in initial years, the numbers of stress assets deals have fallen due to new rules. For instance, the regulator has now set a floor price for any such deal. This price is the net present value of the cash flow from the asset. As this can be significantly higher than the heavy discounts offered in earlier deals, ARCs find it less lucrative.

Moreover, the government’s decision to treat optionally convertible debentures (OCDs) and preference shares as external commercial borrowings (ECBs) has put off many vulture funds, which were using these instruments to buy bad loans from banks. “But buoyant property prices have helped the market and pushed up the recovery of bad assets. In some of the recent cases, the recovery is more than 50% of the price at which the firms bought the stressed assets,” said a banker. Nearly Rs 10,000 crore worth of assets are likely to be available for grabs this year.

Out of the huge NPAs, roughly Rs 80,000 crore was refereed for resolution through the Corporate Debt Restructuring (CDR) scheme. The banks have restructured Rs 27,000 crore standard assets (that do not figure as NPAs) and Rs 65,000 crore debt through the CDR route. The assets that have been restructured continue to require significant amount of lender supervision. There is always a likelihood that some of these assets may turn into NPAs again.

The market leader in the asset reconstruction space is Arcil, which was floated by the State Bank of India, IDBI, ICICI Bank and the Punjab National Bank. It is the oldest one, set up in 2003. It has bought more than Rs 32,000 worth of assets for nearly Rs 8,000 crore.

The other licence holders are ASREC (the specified undertaking of UTI), International Asset Reconstruction Company (Citi, Union Bank and Centurion Bank), Pegasus (a group of private investors including big bull Rakesh Jhunjhunwalla), Asset Care Enterprise (IFCI, Punjab National Bank, Life Insurance Corporation of India) and Dhir & Dhir Asset Reconstruction and Securities. Another half a dozen applications have been lying with the central bank seeking licences to float ARCs.

Reliance Capital net rises 86% to Rs 135 cr

2008-02-06T10:24:00.000-08:00

Anil Ambani-promoted Reliance Capital has reported an 86% rise in net profit at Rs 135 crore for the quarter ended December 2007. The financial services major has also logged a 3-fold rise in revenues at Rs 376 crore.

As of December 31, 2007, the net worth of the company stood at Rs 5,797 crore while total assets of the company stood at Rs 12,364 crore. The investment portfolio of Reliance Capital amounted to Rs 3,609 crore during the considered period. During the quarter, Reliance Mutual Fund, the mutual fund arm of Reliance Capital, saw an increase in assets under management at Rs 80,779 crore. The number of investors increased to nearly 44 lakhs during the quarter.

The life insurance business of Reliance Capital — Reliance Life Insurance — recorded new ‘business premium income’ worth Rs 1,387 crore for first nine months of the current fiscal. Reliance Life offers 23 products, of which 18 are targeted at individuals and five at group business.

Gross direct premium of Reliance General Insurance for the nine months ended December 31 was Rs 1,524 crore against Rs 611 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year. RGI offers auto insurance, health insurance, home insurance, property insurance, travel insurance, marine insurance, commercial insurance and other insurance products.

Reliance Money has 385,000 customers and distribution network of 4,400 outlets in over 3,500 locations. Reliance Consumer Finance has disbursed loans worth Rs 3,730 crore till December 31. The consumer finance segment, among other financial products, offers personal loans, vehicle loans, home loans, loan against property and SME loans.

Reliance MF to use stake sale proceeds in global, domestic business

2008-01-18T09:12:00.000-08:00

Anil Ambani group's mutual fund arm Reliance Capital Asset Management Ltd on Wednesday said proceeds from its sale of a 4.76 per cent stake to international fund house Eton Park would be used for its domestic and global expansion.

While announcing the completion of the deal, Reliance Capital said that the Rs 501-crore transaction translates into a valuation of Rs 10,521 crore for its mutual fund business.

"Equity proceeds will be utilised for Reliance Capital Asset Management Ltd's domestic and international expansion," the company said in a statement here.

Reliance MF is the country's largest fund house managing an Asset Under Management (AUM) corpus of more than Rs 80,779 crore for over 4.3 million investors.

Reliance Capital Asset Management Ltd CEO Vikrant Gugnani said, "Eton Park's investment demonstrates our mutual determination to reinforce Reliance Mutual Fund's leadership position as we continue to build a world-class, customer-focussed enterprises, in one of the most exciting markets in the world."

Eton Park is a global fund house managing over 10 billion dollars worth assets through its offices in New York, London and Hong Kong.

Reliance Capital's subsidiary invests in US firm Stoke Inc

2007-12-30T04:31:00.000-08:00

Anil Ambani group firm Reliance Capital on Saturday said its subsidiary has invested in US-based telecom solution provider Stoke Inc.

However, financial details of the investment made by ADAG's corporate venture arm Reliance Technology Ventures (RTVL) was not disclosed. The US-based firm enables telecom operators to solve security services problems across different broadband access.

The co-investors along with RTVL in the deal include existing investors such as US-based venture capital funds Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Sequoia Capital, Integral Capital Partners and DAG Ventures, a company release said.

"Stokes Technology provides highly versatile and innovative solutions specifically engineered to help operators realise the economic benefits and competitive advantages of network convergence," RTVL CEO Harshal J Shah said.

RTVL has advised and invested in deals aggregating to over one billion dollars. This is the second investment of RTVL in the US telecom space.

Early this month it had invested 10 million dollars in E-Band Communications that makes ultra-high capacity wireless communications systems.

RTVL, led the financing round which included investment from ADC Telecommunications, Express Ventures, Hercules Technology Growth Capital, Inc, Investec and a major wireless carrier.

Besides, earlier this year the deal through which Reliance Communications acquired US-based Yipes Holdings for Rs 1,200 crore was advised by its unit -- RTVL. It had also adviced RCom in deal with online travel portal, Yatra.com.

Reliance Capital MF sheds 5% stake to Eton Park for Rs 501 cr

2007-12-13T20:31:00.000-08:00

Reliance Capital Ltd announced that Eton Park, a global investment fund, has agreed to pick up five per cent equity stake in its 100-per cent subsidiary, Reliance Capital Asset Management Ltd, for Rs 501 crore.

The subsidiary would be issuing fresh capital which would be picked up by the global investment institution. The money would be used for financing the expansion of its domestic and international operations, the company said in a press release.

Speaking to Business Line, a spokesperson of Reliance Capital said that the asset management subsidiary has a network of roughly 300 outlets and plans to expand the network so as to be present across 800 outlets, particularly to smaller towns and rural areas which have demonstrated considerable potential for retail savings.

In addition, the company also plans to expand into West Asia, the UK, the US and the Far East, wherethere is a strong non-resident Indian community present, the spokesperson said. The company also plans to target funds from institutional investors in these countries whose exposure into the Indian market is serviced by foreign institutional investors registered here , he said. The company has already received permission from the Securities and Exchange Board of India to float an offshore fund, he pointed out. RCAM has Rs 77,764 crore assets under management as on November 30.

According to the company, the proposed investment values Reliance mutual fund at Rs 10,000 crore, which is 13 per cent of the assets under management. The company spokesperson also claimed that this is the highest valuation secured for an asset management company in India.

The transaction will close in January 2008 once the definitive documentation and necessary approvals are completed.

Eton Park currently manages over $ 10 billion through its offices in New York, London and Hong Kong.

Reliance Money eyes half mn customers in FY`08

2007-11-13T20:00:00.000-08:00

Eyeing a geographical spread of 91 per cent in the country, Reliance Money is looking forward to creating a customer base of half a million for its broking services by the end of the financial year 2007-08.

A financial services and products distribution arm of Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group’s Reliance Capital, the company already has a customer base of around 0.5-0.6 Million for its mutual funds’ advisory services and a couple of lakh customers for its life insurance and general insurance product distribution services.

Moreover, moving ahead with its rural plans in the country, Reliance Money has tied up with ANaRDe Foundation, a non-profitable charitable organisation, to offer its services in several villages and towns of Gujarat.

“We are committed to registering Reliance Money’s presence in 5,165 taluks across the country to achieve a 91 per cent coverage. For this, we are tying up with NGOs like ANaRDe Foundation, Sparsh, SEWA and others to reach the target and build our customer base,” said Sudip Bandyopadhyay, Director & CEO, Reliance Securities Ltd (Reliance Money).

Through the tie-up, Reliance Money will set up Personal Financial Services (PFS) desks alongside drinking water booths run by ANaRDe in rural and semi-urban areas.

According to Bandyopadhyay, the PFS desks will be manned by the members of self help groups trained to sell financial products by Reliance Money.

Apart from financial products like mutual funds of around 17 asset management companies (AMCs), seven life insurance companies and five general insurance companies, Reliance Money also offers financial guidance in equity and commodity trading, IPOs, life insurance, general insurance, money transfer, money changing, gold coin retailing and other offshore investments.

Bandyopadhyay added that the company is one of the first to charge fees on a slab basis instead of brokerage.

Reliance Money charges a flat fee of Rs 500 for trading up to Rs 5 lakh, Rs 1,250 for trading up to Rs 3 crore and Rs 2,500 for trading up to Rs 6 crore. For the festive season, the company has waived Rs 500 fees charged for trading up to Rs 5 lakh for the first year, in case the customers who open accounts with Reliance Money during the next few weeks.

Presently, the company also runs around 4,000 of its own Reliance Money outlets which it intends to increase to 10,000 by end of the fiscal.

RMoney ties up with McDonald's

2007-11-05T20:27:00.000-08:00

Anil Ambani-promoted Reliance Money Limited on Monday announced a tie-up with McDonald's for distributing its financial products at retail outlets of the fast food chain in the northern region.

Besides, the company also announced the launch of limited free trading account offer for their customers in Haryana, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh.

"Under the tie-up with McDonald's, Reliance Money would install its financial desk at various outlets, which would explain its offerings, including Free Trading account, gold chain retailing and mobile financial portal to customers," Reliance Money Limited Director and CEO Sudip Bandyopadhay told reporters here.

"Initially, about 18 outlets will be covered, mainly in New Delhi and Punjab under this partnership and after getting feedback, we will evaluate for further extending this service to other outlets," McDonald's India Head Marketing, Jyoti Rakheja said.

On free limited free trading account service, which is aimed at increasing penetration of Demat accounts, Bandyopadhyay said Reliance Money would waive Rs 500 charged for trading up to Rs 5 lakh for first year in case customers open account with the company during next few weeks.

However, for trade beyond Rs 5 lakh, they would have to pay Rs 500 for trading up to Rs 1 crore, he said.

Reliance Money is also expanding its retail network across the country.

The company plans to increase its retail outlets to 10,000 by the end of this fiscal. "We want to increase the number of retail outlets from 4,137 to 10,000. Set up on the basis of hub-and-spoke model, about 10-15 per cent of these would be company-owned," he said.

Reliance Capital Q2 net jumps 20%

2007-10-25T07:32:00.000-07:00

Anil Ambani group firm Reliance Capital on Wednesday reported a 20 per cent jump in net profit during the second quarter this fiscal on strong growth in mutual fund, insurance and brokerage businesses.

The standalone net profit stood at Rs 201 crore during the quarter ended September 30 from Rs 167 crore in the same period last financial year. Total income grew 76 per cent at Rs 391 crore in the quarter compared to Rs 223 crore in the year-ago period, the company said in a statement.

On consolidated basis, the group's net profit witnessed a jump of four per cent to Rs 200 crore compared to Rs 192 crore in the same period last fiscal. Total income increased 77 per cent to Rs 953 crore in the quarter under review, as against Rs 537 crore in the corresponding period last fiscal.

During the first half this fiscal, the group posted a 72 per cent jump in net profit at Rs 525 crore compared to Rs 305 crore in the same period of 2006-07.

Total income of the financial services group more than doubled to Rs 2,129 crore in the first six months this fiscal from Rs 893 crore in the corresponding period last fiscal.

The group's life insurance business posted a more than two-fold growth in new business premium at Rs 650 crore for the first half year this year as against Rs 246 crore in the corresponding period. The general insurance business also saw gross premium more than double to Rs 946 crore as compared to Rs 348 crore in the previous period, the statement said.

Assets under management of Reliance Mutual Fund, a part of Reliance Capital, increased to Rs 70,441 crore as on September 30, while it was at Rs 28,648 crore in the same period last year.

Reliance Life forms tie-up with Muthoot Group

2007-10-24T21:25:00.000-07:00

Anil Ambani group's Reliance Life Insurance on Wednesday signed a distribution partnership with domestic non-banking finance firm Muthoot Group.

Under the pact, Muthoot Group would offer Reliance Life's insurance solutions to customers spanning 23 cities and 40 branches across Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra.

The agreement to this effect was signed between Reliance Life Insurance Company chief executive officer P Nandagopal and Muthoot Group managing director George Alexander in Bangalore.

Post-alliance, Muthoot Group is expected to contribute over 12 per cent of overall business generated by Reliance Life through this channel, the ADAG firm said in a statement.

"Reliance Life is keen on optimising the immense potential of south India, which is a key market for us. With over 35 per cent of life insurance business coming from the area, it was inevitable that we strengthen our position here and tap alternate channels of distribution," Nandagopal said.

The Muthoot Group MD said: "This alliance will help Reliance Life leverage our distribution network optimally, while offering us an opportunity to enhance our product portfolio."

Reliance Life, a part of ADAG's financial services arm Reliance Capital, ranks among India's top five private sector life insurance companies.

The company's business premium including renewal premium had grossed over Rs 1,000 crore. It has a distribution network of over 340 branch offices across the country along with a workforce of 9,000 employees and over 1,10,000 agents.

Muthoot Group, founded in 1887, is a leading business groups in south India with interests in finance, healthcare, education, hospitality, real estate, agriculture, automobile and manufacturing among other sectors.

R-Money stokes price war with free trading a/c

2007-10-24T21:19:00.000-07:00

Anil Ambani group’s Reliance Money today sparked a price war in the highly competitive brokerage space by offering a free trading account to its demat account holders, with the aim to tap up to 30 crore potential clients.

The brokerage and financial products distribution arm of Reliance Capital said that it was offering a free trading account for a year, with which one could trade in shares worth Rs 5 lakh. Earlier, it was charging a flat fee of Rs 500 for trading up to Rs five lakh in a year.

Reliance Money was the first company in the country to offer a flat fee structure for trading in stocks, commodities and other instruments, as against the industry practice of charging a certain percentage of the transaction as brokerage fees.

The industrywise brokerage fees average around 0.5 per cent for delivery-based equity trades, which would amount to Rs 2,500 for a transaction worth Rs five lakh. Leading brokerages such as ICICI Direct and HDFC Securities charge 0.25-0.75 per cent on delivery-based equity trades.

The offer would be available to those opening a demat account with Reliance Money in the next few weeks, the company said.

Those seeking to trade beyond Rs 5 lakh would have to pay Rs 500 for trading up to Rs 1 crore (for 2 months) or Rs 2,500 for Rs 6 crore (for a year), it added.

“We expect to add more than two lakh demat accounts with this offer. Our entire effort is focused on getting the not-so-savvy semi-urban and rural investor to participate in the stock market, in addition to the savvy investors who are already trading on one or the other platform,” Reliance Money CEO Sudip Bandyopadhyay said.

Reliance Money has an account opening fee of Rs 750 and a demat account annual fee of Rs 50.

Reliance MF launches Gold ETF

2007-10-15T07:36:00.000-07:00

Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani (R-ADAG) group firm Reliance Mutual Fund today launched Gold ETF (exchange traded fund), designed to provide returns that closely correspond to returns provided by domestic prices of gold.

Gold ETF is a security listed on the stock exchange, through which investors can participate in the gold bullion market without the compulsion to take the physical delivery of gold.

The new fund offer (NFO) opened for subscription today and will close on November 1. During the NFO period, an investor can invest with a minimum application amount of Rs 5000 and in multiples of Re 1 thereafter. All gold bullion held in the scheme's allocated account with the custodian shall be of purity 995 parts per 1000 (99.5%) or higher, the company said in a release.

Gold ETFs as a category has given returns of 7% during last one month owing to spiralling gold prices. As of today, Benchmark, UTI and Kotal Mutual Fund have gold ETFs.

Kinetic Engineering to issue Preference Shares to Reliance Capital

2007-10-14T21:58:00.000-07:00

Kinetic Engineering Ltd has announced that the Committee of the Board of Directors of the Company at its meeting held on October 08, 2007, has passed for issue of 1,50,00,000 Redeemable Non-Convertible Non-Cumulative Preference Shares of Rs 10/- each to Reliance Capital Ltd & 865384 Optionally Convertible Cumulative Preference Shares (OCCPs) of Rs 156/- each to Micro Age Instruments Pvt Ltd, Subject to obtaining approval of shareholders of the Company.

Each OCCPs is convertible into one fully paid up equity shares of the face value of Rs 10/- each at a premium of Rs 146/- per equity shares at the option of Micro Age Instruments Pvt Ltd which option is to be exercised within 18 months from the date of allotment of OCCPs. It is proposed to convene Extra Ordinary General Meeting of the members on November 06, 2007 seeking its approval of this and other items.

Reliance to use MSCI Barra's risk management tools

2007-09-29T21:21:00.000-07:00

Largest fund house Reliance Capital Asset Management Ltd said on Wednesday it will use MSCI Barra's risk management services for investments in equity, fixed income and derivatives across its funds.

The fund house managed assets worth about Rs 67600 crore at the end of August, data from the Association of Mutual Funds in India showed.

Reliance Money goes after investor honey!

2007-09-25T22:17:00.000-07:00

There were 25,000 mobile phone subscribers in India in the mid-nineties. And tariffs included a charge of about Rs 16 per minute for outgoing and Rs 8 per minute for incoming local calls.

A little over a decade later, the number of mobile subscribers in India has swelled to 200 million while tariffs are now the lowest in the world. About seven million subscribers are being added every month.

Mr Sudip Bandyopadhyay, Director & Chief Executive Officer, Reliance Money Ltd, recites these facts about the transformation in the telecom sector when asked about his company’s strategy. Reliance Money is a new player in broking, distribution and money transfer, and is part of the Anil Ambani group.

The tour-de-force on telecom comes handy in understanding what Reliance Money plans to do. Mr Bandyopadhyay says, “We will do in broking what we have done in telecom!”

Reliance Money, which started operations in April 2007, is adding about 2,000 to 2,500 customers every day. It currently has about 1.65 lakh customers. And the traded volumes have crossed about Rs 1,200 crore.

At the core of their entry strategy in this business is the Reliance group Leitmotif – Expand the market and cut transaction costs to the bone.

When asked about the market share for Reliance Money given the competition from the likes of ICICI Direct, Kotak, Motilal and Geojit, besides others, Mr Bandyopadhyay says, “We haven’t entered this business to take a share in this market. We are going to expand the market.”

Mr Bandyopadhyay explains, “The number of investors in mutual funds is about 30 million going by the folios. The number of individual bank accounts in the country is about 330 million. But the number of demat accounts has stagnated around 5.8 million for the past decade.”

He adds, “We are not looking at this 5.8 million. Just as someone might have looked at those 25,000 subscribers of mobile phones in the mid-nineties and concluded that the market was that small. We are looking at the opportunity for market expansion. We are going to be present in 5,165 tehsils by the end of the year and hope to have about 10,000 outlets by March 2008.”

That would give Reliance Money an all-India presence and a reach that is on a par with what State Bank of India enjoys with about 9,500 branches.

Combine the distribution network with a bold pricing strategy, and it is easy to see why Mr Bandyopadhyay’s claims may have to be taken seriously.

Reliance Money’s key business driver may be its pricing strategy. It has decided to levy a flat charge of Rs 500 per annum for trading volumes of up to Rs 1 crore and slightly higher charges for higher volumes. Currently competing brokerages charge something in the region of 0.5% to 1% on each transaction.

As Mr Bandyopadhyay puts it, “Brokers charge you 1% if you buy 10 shares. They charge someone else 1% of the cost of 100 shares, if they buy 100 shares and similarly 1% of 1,000 shares if you buy 1,000 shares. There is no extra effort involved except punching in an extra zero. Why pay just to punch an extra zero?”

Reliance Money launches financial mobile portal

2007-09-14T20:16:00.001-07:00

Reliance Money, the financial services and products distribution company, in association with a web based company ''Webaroo'' has launched mobile financial portal across mobile platforms.

The mobile financial portal will be available in CDMA and GSM network and no service charges will be levied to the subscribers.

Sudip Bandyopadhyay, director and CEO of Reliance Money, said, "This initiative will provide mobile users an opportunity of staying connected with financial markets while on the move."

Reliance Money also has plans to promote the mobile portal as a financial advertising tool targeted towards niche financial segments.

"The service would reach out to millions of telecom users, a sizeable number of whom are either active and potential investors and this platform offers a huge advertising opportunity," added Bandyopadhyay.

Reliance Money plans to expand its over-the-counter offerings

2007-09-14T20:14:00.000-07:00

Reliance Money Ltd, an arm of the listed Reliance Capital Ltd, the financial services subsidiary of the Reliance-Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, has aggressive plans to expand its over-the-counter business through both organic and inorganic expansions.
Currently, this business vertical, which comprises operations such as money change, money transfer and selling gold coins, accounts for about 10% of the company’s revenue.

“We are actively looking for an acquisition opportunity in the money-transfer business in India,” said Sudip Bandyopadhyay, chief executive of Reliance Money. It had earlier acquired TravelMate, the money changing business of Kuoni Travel Group. “We also plan to become one of the largest vendors of gold coins in the country,” he said. The company plans to sell low-cost variants of gold coins through its retail units and through the Reliance World outlets, owned by its parent group, across India.

About 10% of the total gold consumed in India is in the form of coins, Bandyopadhyay added. “However, only 5% of this market is under organized players,” he said.
Large private sector banks, such as ICICI Bank Ltd and HDFC Bank Ltd, and the Tata group’s jewellery chain, Tanishq, are among the biggest domestic vendors of gold coins. The firm has stuck an exclusive deal to source gold coins from Switzerland-based Valcambi SA—one of the world’s largest gold refiner, earlier owned by financial major Credit Suisse Group.

ICICI Bank sources gold from Pamp SA, another Swiss refiner.
Reliance Money will expand its retail network from the current 3,237 outlets to more than 10,000 by the end of this financial year to reach 5,645 tehsils in India, said Bandyopadhyay. It also plans to increase the number of its trading kiosks, manufactured by Germany’s Wincor Nixdorf, from 2,500 to 10,000 by March 2008.

In a move to lure investors beyond its retail units, the company has tied up with the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay-incubated start-up Webaroo Inc. to launch a financial market information portal on the mobile platform. The free service will give users access to market information, stock quotes and research reports. While sister concern, listed Reliance Communications Ltd is a large telecom service provider, Reliance Money has made the mobile application available across operators, in a bid to tap the expanding mobile subscriber base, which already is touching 200 million in the country. Making financial data freely available to a large user base will increase the number of financial transactions in the long run, Reliance Money said.

The company is also keen on enabling financial transactions on the mobile platform, but cannot do so at the moment because of regulatory issues. “We’d like our customers to be able to transact on the portal, but the Securities and Exchange Board of India is not favourable towards capital market transactions on mobile handsets due to security issues,” said Bandopadhyay. The firm has already incorporated features such as security tokens to ensure consumer security is not breached, he added.
It currently allows financial transactions through retail outlets and online platform. More than 50% of the company’s revenue comes from its financial markets vertical.

Anil's Reliance ups stake in Saregama to 12.47%

2007-09-05T21:00:00.000-07:00

Reliance ADAG has substantially raised its stake in Saregama India Ltd to 12.47 per cent, the largest it has ever held in the Kolkata-based entertainment company.

This is closer to trigerring the takeover code and if Reliance ups its stake to 15 per cent it will have to come out with an open offer to buy a further 20 per cent in Saregama.

Reliance Capital's subsidiary Sonata Investments has picked up 1063299 shares, or 7.24 per cent, of Saregama in an open market transaction at Rs 250 per share. Sonata already holds 5.23 per cent stake in Saregama.

The market is speculating whether Reliance is seriously looking at Saregama as a takeover opportunity. But the promoters of Saregama are adequately protected with an ownership of 50.77 per cent in the company.

"If we look at it historically, Reliance has bought and sold Saregama shares in the market. It looks more like a portfolio investment than an attempt as a business opportunity. The promoters of Saregama are bullish about the company's growth and will not dilute their equity control," says a senior company executive.

Early this year Reliance made an offer to buy 20 per cent in TV Today. This is the only occasion where Reliance has come out with an open offer in the media space, but the pricing was not aggressive and did not find any takers.

Saregama will be a perfect strategic fit for Reliance's rapidly expanding entertainment interests, analysts say. It has a huge music library which can provide exclusive content to Reliance's FM radio and telecom businesses. Besides, Saregama has exclusive partnership with some major Hollywood studios like Paramount, Warner Bros, Universal and Dreamworks for distribution of their home videos in India.

"Saregama has turned around and the promoters are keen to invest rather than part with their equity. The movie plans are in place and digitalisation is in full pace," a company executive says.

In a parallel development, TRowe Price International has sold 1057570 shares, or 7.21 per cent, of Saregama in the open market at Rs 260.

R-Money eyes inorganic growth in transfer biz

2007-09-04T08:36:00.000-07:00

Anil Ambani Group's financial services distribution arm Reliance Money on Saturday said it is looking for potential acquisition opportunities in the fast growing money changing and money transfer businesses.

The combined market size of money changing and money transfer is estimated at about $34 billion.

Unveiling a new identity here for its money changing and money transfer businesses, the company said it was aiming to double its market share in this segment over next few years.

"We are also looking at inorganic growth opportunities in these businesses for further expansion of these businesses," Reliance Money CEO Sudip Bandyopadhyay told here.

Anil Ambani Group had acquired Travelmate Services, a part of Kuoni Group, in November 2006, which has now become a wholly owned subsidiary of Reliance Capital. Travelmate has been in the Money Transfer Services (MTS) and Full-Fledged Money Changing (FFMC) business in the country since 1993.

The new brand identity for Travelmate Services, which would be now known as Reliance Money Express, was unveiled here by the Reliance Money CEO in the presence of the global MTS giant Western Union worldwide CEO Christina Gold.

Travelmate is already one of the largest Western Union partner in India and now it plans to aggressively expand its reach in non-metro and smaller cities, the company said.

Elaborating on the potential of the MTS business in India, Bandyopadhyay said "India is the largest recipient of global remittance of around $27 billion which is more than 10 per cent of the total global remittance inflow of $240 billion. This is continuously rising due to labour migration and increasing wages."

In addition, money changing market in India is worth $7 billion and is growing at an annual rate of 20 per cent.

Reliance Money Express is operating through a network of 3,400 outlets spread over 800 cities and towns across India and handling close to 100,000 transactions per month with a daily average inward remittance of 1.4 million dollars.

"We see immense potential in these businesses (FFMC) considering that availability of these services is very limited in the country," Bandyopadhyay added.

"Our business plan would be to compete aggressively with the existing established players in these two businesses and provide cost effective, convenient and secure transactions to our customers. We plan to double our existing market share and volumes by next few years, Reliance Money CEO said.

Reliance Money Express would also be forging alliances with various corporate houses and travel firms to take on the established players in this field, he added.

Earlier this week, Reliance Money tied up with New Delhi-based Stic Travel Group, one of the country's leading players in the travel and tourism business.

Under the tie-up, Reliance Money will sell its financial products, ranging from money transfer, foreign exchange, insurance and gold coins through Stic Travel outlets.

While announcing the partnership Stic Travel Chairman Subhash Goyal said, "We have been dealing with foreign players like Thomas Cook and American Express for services like money changing. But Reliance-ADAG came as a natural partner being an Indian MNC."

Reliance Money is planning to set up 10,000 web-enabled retail kiosks across the country, where the consumers would be able to execute their financial transactions.

Reliance Capital picked up 10.2% Stake in Assam Co

2007-09-04T08:02:00.000-07:00

Five new foreign institutional investors (FIIs), including Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse and Merill Lynch Capital Market have picked up stakes, aggregating 3.8 per cent in Assam Company taking the total FII holding in the company to 11.7 per cent. Reliance Capital too has picked up a 10.1 per cent stake in the company. ACL has a paid-up capital of Rs. 22.40 crore in which the promoters have a 57 per cent holding.

Abhay Chawdhry, Chief Financial Officer and Director, told The Hindu that this was the first time that these five Funds have picked up shares in the company. While this investment took place between August 10 and 24, Reliance Capita l picked up its shares earlier this year.ACL reaps a tea harvest of 16 million kg annually from its 15 estates in Assam. It diversified into oil and natural gas and is set to commercialise some of the fields within this fiscal. The company expects an increase in the Rs. 153 crore total income that it had recorded in 2006, Mr. Chawdhry said. For its oil exploration activities in Assam, it has tie ups with Canadian company Canoro Resources and with ONGC.

As part of its efforts to get into the infrastructure sector, Assam Company is set to enter into a majority joint venture with Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GSPC) for setting up an SEZ for hydrocarbons. The Rs. 2,000 crore project is targeted for completion by 2010.

Reliance Money to launch lower variants of gold coins

2007-09-02T21:15:00.000-07:00

To cash in on festive fervour, Reliance Money, part of ADAG's financial services unit Reliance Capital, will launch low-end variants of gold coins weighing as low as half a gram.

"We are planning to launch gold coins of 0.5 gm, 1 gm and 2 gm before Diwali to meet the demand from lower-income segments," said Reliance Money CEO Sudip Bandyopadhyay.

A coin weighing half gram would cost Rs 500 per unit while those weighing one gram would cost 1,000, he said.

Currently, Reliance Money offers coins of 5 gm and 8 gm priced at Rs 5,200 and Rs 8,000 respectively excluding taxes.

India is the world's largest gold importer with total demand of about 800 tonne a year, of which 10 per cent or 80 tonne are the in the form of gold coins.

The country's Rs 8,000 crore gold coin market is dominated by unorganised neighbourhood jewellery stores.

Out of the organised market of four tonne, ICICI Bank is the market leader with a share of about 2.5 tonne, while Tata Group's jewellery retail unit Tanishq makes up for 0.75 tonne.

"All the organised players put together account for just four tons worth gold coins, which is five per cent of total imports in a year," Bandyopadhyay said, adding that while it is too early to set an exact target, the company was confident to become the largest organised retailer in this segment.

Reliance Money, will sell its own branded gold coins it is importing from Switzerland through its outlets across India.

Promising to slash margins considerably from the existing market rates, Bandyopadhyay asserted that Reliance Money was here to "make profit and not for profiteering."

Bandyopadhyay said there was huge scope for organised players but the access to branded coins was lacking. This prompted the company to enter this business, he added.

Reliance Pure Gold coins are sold through its over 3,000 outlets across the country. Reliance Money plans to ramp up its outlets to 10,000 by the end of this fiscal.

Reliance Capital buys 26% in VTSL

2007-08-30T00:51:00.000-07:00

Reliance Capital (RCL) has picked up 26% stake in Victory Transformer & Switchgear (VTSL), a fully-integrated transformer manufacturing company, for Rs 75 crore.

VTSL is a Hyderabad-based company, promoted by Vaddineni Venkatappaiah Naidu in 1996. It is currently managed by his son - Mahindra Vaddineni. A Reliance Capital spokesperson declined to comment.

The company primarily manufactures power transformers, but it is vertically integrated and manufactures related products such as unitised substation, transformer core, vacuum circuit breaker, insulators and transformer oil. The company supplies to state electricity boards across India and to major EPC contractors.

The company’s revenue has grown at a CAGR of 89% over the last two years, and it has an order book of over Rs 200 crore. VTSL is raising funds for expanding the existing transformer capacity and is considering acquisitions in the near future.

Reliance Money inks deal with Rural Relations

2007-08-14T20:34:00.000-07:00

Reliance Money, the financial products distribution company of Reliance Capital, has signd an agreement with non-government organisation Rural Relations to create a network of entrepreneurs for marketing products like insurance and mutual fund schemes to villagers.

Sudip Bandyopadhyay, chief executive officer, Reliance Money said the arrangement is intended to serve the dual purpose of participating in the financial inclusion of the rural masses and create a new creed of entrepreneurs who bring financial services products closer to the villagers.

Rural Relations will lead the process of identifying suitable youngsters to drive the initiative. Bandyopadhyay said the initiative will cover 5,000 tehsils in the country in the first year. "A lot of thrust will be on savings and insurance products as the rural masses do not have enough access to life cover and cover for their belongings or cattle," Bandyopadhyay added.

Rural Relations founder Pradeep Lokhande said the organisation has already covered about 1,000 tehsils in the country, and is ready to roll out the outlets at these locations. The first two outlets - at Bhor and Saswad tehsils in Pune district - were opened on Monday.

Rel Capital Q1 net profit up at Rs 302.43 cr

2007-07-25T23:46:00.000-07:00

Reliance Capital posted 219% rise in net profit of Rs 302.43 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2007 compared with Rs 94.53 crore in the same quarter previous year.

The company’s total income increased to Rs 513.77 crore in the June quarter from Rs 132.42 crore a year ago.

On consolidated basis, the company registered a net profit (after minority interest and share of profit of associates) of Rs 325.26 crore for the April-June quarter compared with Rs 113.03 crore in the corresponding quarter previous year.

Total income stood at Rs 1176.20 crore in the June quarter from Rs 356.19 crore last year.

Reliance Capital to infuse Rs 2,000 cr in life insurance biz

2007-07-03T08:25:00.000-07:00

Reliance Capital is planning to invest over Rs 2,000 crore in its life insurance business in the next few years.

"We will infuse over Rs 2000 crore in life insurance business in the next few years," Reliance Capital Chairman Anil Ambani said addressing shareholders at the company's AGM.

The company's life insurance business has a pan-India presence with total 16 products covering savings, protection and investment requirements.

Reliance Cap to launch consumer finance biz soon

2007-07-03T08:20:00.000-07:00

Reliance Capital, which is present in mutual fund, insurance, stock broking and private equity space, on Tuesday said it will start its consumer finance business shortly.

"We will start the consumer finance business shortly," Reliance Capital Chairman Anil Ambani said while addressing the shareholders at the company's AGM.

While denying any move to become a bank, he said the company may consider promoting or acquiring a bank if policy permits.

"The company would also ramp up it work force to 50,000 in the next two years," Ambani said.

Reliance Capital group company- Reliance Money has emerged as the largest money transfer company in private sector recently.

Reliance Money, an electronic transaction platform, offers wide range of asset classes. It provides a single window access to equities, commodity derivatives, mutual funds, IPOs, life and general insurance products, offshore investments, money transfer, money changing and credit cards.

BOB tie-up with Reliance Capital, to market Mutual Fund

2007-06-07T03:28:00.000-07:00

Public sector lender, Bank of Baroda and Reliance Capital Asset Management Co Ltd, today entered into a strategic marketing tie-up for distribution of Reliance Mutual Fund products across the bank's selected branches.

BOB's Executive Director V Sanathanaraman said the bank had emerged as a financial supermarket providing a vast array of financial products to different customer segments under one roof.

"Over the years, Bank of Baroda has seized new business opportunities, offered a suite of products and services and took major initiatives to provide convenience to the customers," he said.

Describing the tie-up as "a customer-centric strategy," he said the bank, in its drive towards providing greater customer convenience, would continue to enlarge its basket of products, both its own as also of third parties.

The bank will effectively leverage its vast branch channel, state of the art technology and customer base, he said.

Vikrant Gugnani CEO and President, Reliance Capital Asset Management Co, said the investors of Reliance Mutual Fund would now have one more delivery channel and hoped that the partnership between the two would enhance the value proposition to the customers.

Big names eye RCL MF stake

2007-05-08T00:13:00.000-07:00

Four global giants, including Schroders, Blackstone and US-based Capital, have offered to buy a small stake in Reliance Capital’s mutual fund business as rapid growth in the domestic market continues to lure foreign firms. The Reliance Capital board is believed to have met last week to discuss the offers.

A person familiar with the situation told ET that Schroders, the British fund with nearly $260 billion of assets, Blackstone, the big US private equity fund, and one of the units of US-based Capital have submitted firm offers to Reliance Capital, the parent of Reliance Capital Asset Management.

One more financial investor has also put in a bid, but the entity’s name could not be ascertained. Reliance Capital is expecting a valuation of $1.2 billion, or about 10% of assets under management of Rs 48,830 crore. A Reliance Capital spokesperson declined comment.

A successful transaction would help cement a partnership between Reliance Capital, a fast-growing financial services firm, and one of the world’s biggest money managers. It would intensify competition in the ultra-competitive market with 36 players.

Assets under management in India have more than doubled in the past two years due to a rising market, strong investor appetite and savvy marketing. At the end of April 2005, assets under management (AUM) stood at Rs 1,58,147 crore. By April 2007, the figure had risen to Rs 3,50,441 crore. Sensex rose 125% in this period.

But even this $80-billion industry is a dwarf compared with its peers in developed markets. India’s AUM amount to just 0.5% of the global AUM. Overseas firms, such as BNP Paribas, SocGen and Swiss giant UBS, which have bought large stakes in leading players in the past year, are hoping a continued rise in Indian investor appetite would sustain growth in the coming years.

Reliance is the only large mutual fund owned completely by Indians. Its AUM size three years ago was a mere Rs 9,000 crore. A determined drive to expand distribution and launch of several new schemes helped by a rising market has seen it become the country’s largest player.

A deal at the price Reliance Capital is expecting would make it the most expensive acquisition in the mutual fund industry. This is all the more so as Reliance Capital is only planning to offer a minority stake of 5-10%.

BNP bought 50% in Sundaram Finance’s mutual fund business at a multiple of 7% of its AUM, while SocGen paid a multiple of 8% for a 37% stake in a fund promoted by State Bank of India. UBS recently paid 4% for 100% of Standard Chartered’s business.

Reliance Cap picks up 2.65 pc stake in Network 18

2007-05-03T09:48:00.000-07:00

Close on the heels of its open offer for acquiring 20 per cent stake in television broadcaster TV Today, Reliance Capital has picked up 2.65 per cent stake in Network 18 Fincap for Rs 53.97 crore in open market transactions.
The Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group firm has acquired 13.52 lakh equity shares of Network 18 Fincap at a price of Rs 399.22 in a bulk deal on the Bombay Stock Exchange.
Network 18 Fincap is the Group holding company of broadcaster TV18, GBN, Web18, HomeShop 18 and Studio 18.
In a separate deal, Sonata Investments sold off 12.48 lakh equity shares of Network 18 Fincap for Rs 395 per share.
TV Today Network Ltd runs Hindi news channel Aaj Tak and English news service Headlines Today.
Earlier the company had announced that the open offer would be made for acquisition of the mandatory 20 per cent share capital of TV Today from the existing shareholders, at a price of Rs 130.50 per share, amounting to approximately Rs 150 crore.

Now, buy gold coins from Reliance Money

2007-05-03T04:26:00.000-07:00

Reliance Money, the investment product distribution arm of the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, is now foraying into retailing of its own brand of gold coins, which would be made exclusively by Swiss precious metal refining major Valcambi.

The company today announced a partnership with Valcambi as well as the launch of gold coins, while becoming the first non-banking private sector company to retail gold coins in India.

"Gold has always been an important element of Indian tradition. Even today, it is an important financial investment. India is the largest consumer of gold in the world, and we feel that it is important to add this to our portfolio of existing products and services," Sudip Bandyopadhyay, CEO, Reliance Money said.

The 24 carat 999.9 pure gold coins, with a purity certification from the Swiss company, would be sold in denominations of 5gm and 8gm at Reliance Money as well as Reliance World outlets of Reliance Communications.

Reliance Capital full year profit up 20%

2007-04-24T02:20:00.000-07:00

Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group's financial services arm reliance capital on Monday reported a 20 per cent rise in its full-year net profit to Rs 646 crore on the back of robust growth in its insurance and mutual fund businesses.

The company's total revenue rose 36 per cent to Rs 884 crore in the year ended March 31, from Rs 652 crore in the previous fiscal.

On consolidated basis, Reliance Capital's net profit rose 23 per cent to Rs 703 crore and total income more than doubled to Rs 2,158 crore in the fiscal with an increase of 128 per cent from Rs 947 crore in FY05-06.

At a meeting held today, the company's board of directors also approved the payment of a dividend of Rs 3.50 per share on equity shares with face value of Rs 10 each for the financial year ended March 31.

The company said in a statement that its total assets stood at Rs 6,769 crore (1.55 billion dollar), while its net worth rose to Rs 5,262 crore as on March 31, 2007, as against Rs 4,122 crore a year ago.

Reliance Capital ranks among the top 3 Indian private sector financial services groups in terms of net worth, it said.

Its investment portfolio as on march 31, amounted to Rs 2,434 crore (558.5 million dollars) and it had no non-performing assets, the company said.

Among the group companies, Reliance asset management recorded a net profit of Rs 49 crore with a 63 per cent increase in the year.

The number of investors in reliance mutual fund increased to 32.27 lakhs from 20.95 lakhs a year ago, Reliance Capital said.

The assets under management of RMF increased 88 per cent to Rs 46,307 crore (10.62 billion dollar) at the end of the fiscal from Rs 24,670 crore a year ago, while making it the country's largest fund house.

Besides, the premium income for Reliance Life Insurance unit in the year jumped 348 per cent in the fiscal to Rs 1,005 crore from Rs 224 crore in the previous year.

The company expanded its distribution network to 217 branches from 153 branches at the end of previous fiscal, while it also has approval from Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) to start additional 130 branches.

The number of agents at the end of the year stood at 106,337 as against 20,231 agents at the end of previous year, over four-fold jump during the year.

For Reliance General Insurance, the gross direct premium for the year rose to Rs 912 crore from Rs 163 crore in the previous year, representing an increase of 462 per cent.

The distribution network for the general insurance business increased to 85 branches from just 20 branches at the end of March 31, 2006.

Reliance Capital to buy 20% more TV Today

2007-04-18T02:24:00.000-07:00

Reliance Capital will offer to buy another 20 percent equity from minority shareholders of broadcaster TV Today Network Ltd., two sources familiar with the situation said late on Tuesday.

In March, TV Today said Reliance Capital, controlled by Anil Ambani, had bought 11.9 percent equity in TV Today, which runs English and Hindi language news and current affairs channels.

Sources said Reliance was raising its stake in the company to more than 15 percent. This triggers a regulatory requirement to offer to buy 20 percent more from minority shareholders.

The spokesman for Reliance Capital was not reachable for comment.

Earlier on Tuesday, TV Today's shares closed 1.1 percent lower, while Reliance Capital's shares fell 1.4 percent in a weak Mumbai market.

Reliance Cap sets up arm in Singapore

2007-04-07T00:01:00.000-07:00

In the first instance of an Indian asset management company going global, the Anil Ambani-owned Reliance Capital has set up a wholly owned subsidiary in Singapore as a part of its plans to invest in global assets.

The subsidiary is raising its initial corpus of $100 million from institutional investors.

While UTI, the only other prominent wholly Indian-owned mutual fund, has a subsidiary in Dubai, its investment focus is primarily India. Reliance Capital, on the other hand, has drawn up plans to manage global assets over the next two to three years.

Reliance Capital’s mutual fund business is the country’s largest with close to Rs 47,665 crore assets under management.

Reliance Capital has a presence in the life and general insurance, private equity and asset reconstruction businesses

A source close to the development said, “This is the first step towards establishing a global asset management business. Over the next 2 to 3 years, the company can be expected to invest in assets across the world.”

The first fund will, however, invest in Indian assets.

“The first fund will be an India focussed fund and will invest across sectors in India,” sources said. Reliance executives, however, declined to comment.

The company has received approvals from the Sebi and the Monetary Authority of Singapore to set up the fund.

Reliance Life Insurance gets ISO 9001-2000 certification

2007-03-29T00:28:00.001-07:00

Reliance Life Insurance has been accorded the ISO 9001-2000 certificate, making it the second life insurance company in the country to get this quality standard covering all functional areas.

Reliance Life Insurance Company (RLIC), an affiliate of the Anil Ambani Group company Reliance Capital, bagged the certification on account of superior management systems in key areas of quality, customer and process orientation.

RLIC, which was formed after Reliance Capital acquired AMP Sanmar in 2005, today has over 20 products -- 16 of which cater to individuals and the other four provide employees benefits.

send this article to a friendA company communiqué quotes, P Nandagopal, CEO, Reliance Life Insurance, "This certification is a significant milestone in our continuous quest to offer innovative products, outstanding services and improved customer satisfaction."

The certification, awarded by Bureau Veritas, is valid till 2010 subject to certain provisions like operation of RLIC's systems.