Faced with increasing competition and falling volumes in the equity markets brokerages are looking at innovative ways to acquire and retain customers.

Take the example of New Silk Route promoted Destimoney Securities. It has launched a “No Brokerage Day” aimed at diamond traders in Mumbai. The brokerage will offer customers one day's brokerage waiver if they trade for five days of the week.

This is part of the brokerage's strategy to acquire more customers, said Mr Sudip Bandopadhyay, President at Destimoney. The broking firm will be looking at large investors like diamond traders, who trade on a daily basis.

“Our aim is to get at least 10 per cent of the 5,500 diamond traders in Mumbai by the end of March.”

Destimoney has opened more than 100 new accounts in the last 15 days, said Mr Bandopadhyay.

Broking firms which are solely focusing on retail broking are finding it tough to hold ground in such hard times.

Competition in the broking space is increasing while technology improvements have shrunk the role of intermediaries, said Mr G. Chokkalingam, ED and CIO, Centrum Wealth Management.

“Broking firms are moving from pure commodities-based or broking-based business to other activities that provide better margins. Centrum is looking at strengthening its wealth advisory, as this is a space with good margins. We have formed a new team and will be looking at targeting Ultra-High Networth individuals and SME owners. We will work with them and help them create more wealth,” said Mr Chokkalingam.

Mr Vinesh Menon Deputy CEO - Online Investments & Stock Broking, Bajaj Capital, said his company offers customised pricing plans to customers.

“We leverage the investment allocation needs of our retail clients by offering research based advice to invest in value stocks in the secondary markets as an additional investment choice and also have the product solutions and services that cater to high volume trading clients.”

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