"We have acquired a trading card for the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and the National Stock Exchange (NSE)... We did our first trade on the NSE today," Salomon Smith Barney's managing director and head of Indian Equities, Brian Brown, said.

In 1997, Salomon Brothers became Salomon Smith Barney following a merger with Smith Barney Inc., a premier equity brokerage, and a subsidiary of Travelers group. Salomon Smith Barney became part of Citigroup following a merger with the Travelers group in October 1998.

Salomon Smith Barney's nine-member research team will cover about 85 to 90 per cent of the total market capitalisation of the top 100 companies listed on the bourses. It will focus mainly on software, media, telecom, consumer goods and pharmaceuticals sectors.

Said Salomon Smith Barney's managing director and deputy-head of Asian Equity Research, Melissa Brown: "We are pleased to introduce our India research team. Mr Kumar has seven year's of quality research experience in India. India is an important part of the Asian TMT (telecom-media-technology) story unfolding now. We believe this addition to our regional product is a major enhancement for our global clientele base - both investors and corporates."

"The Indian market has a unique blend of the new economy, other growth sectors, and industrial companies... the market systems have also been rapidly improving in recent years with the progress of the depository, a 10-fold increase in daily trading volumes in three years and better corporate governance," Mr Kumar said.