Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Wednesday, Feb 11, 2004
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Wednesday, Feb 11, 2004 |
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Money & Banking
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Private Banks Kotak Mahindra to add realty, gold to advisory portfolio Vinod Mathew
Ahmedabad , Feb. 10 THE Kota Mahindra group would soon be adding real estate and gold to its advisory portfolio, that is currently limited to equities and non-equity fixed income options such as deposits, mutual funds and pension instruments. With this, the group's customers would get a structured access to alternative investment options such as realty and commodities, which are popular investment options, the world over. "We would be making an entry into the field of real estate advisory services within the next two-three months. Real estate is bound to do well in the coming days in the country and it has always been a popular investment option. Similarly, gold would be another hedge instrument and will form a defensive part of our investors' portfolio within the next six months. Also, we are planning to get into overseas investment advisory as the day is not far when Indian investor would be able to choose between putting his money on Infosys and Microsoft", Mr Uday Kotak, Executive Vice-Chairman and Managing Director, Kotak Mahindra Bank (KMB), told Business Line. Towards this, KMB would be tying up with select real estate developers, initially in the big cities. This would be required as the bank would need to give location specific advice to its customers. However, no tie-ups have yet been put into place, said Mr Deepak Gupta, Executive Director, KMB. ``This would be structured advice on investment options in real estate and gold which would be based on the data given by our product development team. Initially, the response may not be that great on account of issues such as liquidity and transaction cost. But, we will take it forward according to demand," Mr Gupta said. The group is going in for a sustained development of its brand, revolving around the bank that will play the role of a platform for other services. The bank is adding another layer to its customer profile by setting a target to reach a number of smaller cities in the next one year. The bank, which currently has 14 branches, including the one that was opened in Ahmedabad on Tuesday, is poised to take the number to 35 by March 2005. Mr Kotak said the effort of the bank would be to get the savers to turn investors, by tapping the various services on offer from the group. The flip side would be leveraging the bludgeoning base of spenders in these cities to become borrowers of the bank, he added. "The investment sentiment about India is at the highest I have seen in the US. The recent BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) investment outlook report by our JV partner Goldman Sachs has been a revelation to many in the US. With the study betting on India to become the third largest economy in the world by 2032, behind China and the US, many are looking at India with renewed interest as Europe is headed to become the sick man of the world in the next three decades," Mr Kotak said.
More Stories on : Private Banks | Real Estate & Construction | Gold & Silver
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