The deal is a win-win one for all parties concerned - HDFC Bank, Icra and growasia.com.

HDFC Bank's part in the deal is to provide marketing support by promoting growasia.com services to its customer base so as to boost the quality and quantity of buyer and seller listings. Icra will offer its advisory services and also its extensive research and information facility to growasia.com's users. The latter, on its part, will provide assistance to local small and medium-sized companies in finding and concluding transactions. It will also facilitate the buying and selling of corporate assets and businesses - both on-line and off-line - this what growasia.com calls a `click and mortar approach'.

Says HDFC Bank's country-head for corporate banking, Samir Bhatia: "The alliance will help HDFC Bank's small and medium-sized customers locate new business opportunities as well as divest from existing businesses that do not fit into their overall strategy".

Growasia.com's chief executive officer, Ian Gibbs said: "The partnership with HDFC Bank and Icra fits in well with our regional strategy. The decision by two leading Indian financial institutions (FIs) to work with growasia.com will give us a significant boost in the Indian market and will be an endorsement of our focus and business model". Said Icra's executive director R Raghuttama: "Economic liberalisation has put pressure on most companies in India to re-formulate their business strategies. This has given rise to an increasing interest in acquiring new businesses from others, and in moving out of business activities which do not fit in with the management's core strategy". Growasia.com is owned by the Crosby Group, a leading pan-Asian investment bank founded in 1984, and is a platform specifically designed to assist in the restructuring and growth of Asian small and medium-sized companies, especially in the healthcare, information technology and media sectors.