The Hindu Business Line : IL&FS Investsmart eyes Far East for expansion

Stock broking and financial services firm IL&FS Investsmart Ltd has lined up Rs 40-50 crore expansion programme during this fiscal to expand its branch network, setting up operations in Far East and getting a membership with the Dubai Gold Exchange.

The company also hopes to complete its restructuring programme that involves setting up five separate wholly-owned subsidiaries for securities broking, commodities trading, insurance broking, insurance trading and NBFC businesses by this month-end, Mr Hemang Raja, Managing Director and CEO of IL&FS Investsmart Ltd, said in an interview.

He said IL&FS Investsmart, which received the shareholders approval for the proposed restructuring, would become the holding company of the five subsidiaries.

On expansion into the Far East, Mr Raja said a company "IL&FS Investsmart Asia Pacific' was formed in Singapore to tap the opportunities in that region. The company is awaiting regulatory approvals from the Monetary Authority of Singapore and the Securities and Exchange Board of India. "We hope to get all the clearances by the end of May," he said.

IL&FS Investsmart, which has also applied for DGX membership, also has ambitious plans to open offices in London and the US at a later stage.

Mr Raja said the IL&FS Investsmart is also planning to expand its domestic branch network from the existing 217 to about 400 by this fiscal-end. The staff strength would more than double from 400 to 1,052 this year, he said.

The Mumbai-headquartered stock broking major would be open to acquisitions, if a good opportunity arises. "We have strong presence in the South and in West," he said, adding that comparatively, it has smaller presence in the Northern and Eastern parts of the country. "I am not looking at acquisitions desperately. We are growing organically very well," he added.

Stating that his plans for the company was to make it a financial conglomerate, Mr Raja pointed out that all the global players such as Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley and others began as a retail broking outfit.

During the just-concluded fiscal, over 67 per cent (Rs 147 crore) of the total revenues of Rs 217 crore came from the broking business.

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