It is not just international banks that are striving to ramp up their onshore reach in India. Even local wealth management providers are lining up ambitious plans to tap the growing market in private banking services in India. AnandRathi, a leading financial services firm, which provides private banking services in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Hyderabad, has emerged as the Best Domestic Private Bank in India in Asiamoney?s Annual Private Banking Poll 2009.
Says Rakesh Rawal, national head, private banking, AnandRathi, ?It is indeed a great honour in the face of a challenging global environment and is truly reflective of our clients? confidence in our abilities. We are aiming to increase our assets under management ten times over the next five years, from around $500 million to $5 billion.? The company provides a wide range of financial services to institutions, corporations, wealthy families and individuals from over 300 locations.
The surveycovered quality of advice, quality and diversity of products, holistic approach addressing advice, structured products and derivatives.
Rawal has spent seven years working on wealth management at Deutsche Bank before joining AnandRathi two years ago. ?The number of new millionaires being created in this country is large, even in this environment and private banking coverage in the country is still very small.? And that?s the market he wants to tap now.
in Globsyn b-school council
Globsyn Business School has appointed Pratip Kar as member of its governing council. Kar will chair Globsyn Centre for Corporate Governance and Ethics. He will be also an advisor at the Asian Institute of Family Business, a Globsyn initiative.
Kar left the Securities and Exchange Board of India in 2006 as executive director after about 14 years. He has since been associated with the IFC Global Corporate Governance Forum and the World Bank as a consultant. He has also served as dean of finance and corporate governance at the Tata Management Training Centre, Pune.
During his long association with leading organisations, Kar has got exposure to corporate functioning at the highest level. Talking about his new role, he says, ?To be apart of anything new is always exciting. Also, I have a special interest in the field of academics as I get to work with young and bright minds of the country. It gives me a kick. It?s intellectually as well as spiritually stimulating. ?
Taking about the family business initiative, Kar says it?s an interesting proposition, which promises to be one of a kind in India. ?Family run businesses will keep growing here and we hope to cater to people who want to study this aspect.?
Sethi to steer auction portal
Ibibo Web(p) Ltd has recently launched an auction platform under the brand name of Tradus.in and appointed Rahul Sethi as president of e-commerce. Sethi will be responsible for building up and driving all e-commerce properties for the company.
Talking about his role, Sethi says, ?It?s a challenge. At the same time I feel it will give me a lot of leverage to perform. We understand we don?t have the first mover advantage and there are established players in the market. It?s a role that gives me scope to demonstrate my capabilities.? Sethi says he brings in ?in-depth knowledge of the e commerce market to his new role.?
The internet per se, says Sethi, is nascent in India and e-commerce is all the more nascent. Another area of concern is infrastructure in terms of penetration as well as facilitation. The other crucial element is trust of customers.
Prior to joining, ibibo web (p) Ltd, he founded MobileNXT and was the head, e- commerce at Web 18, a part of Network 18 group. He was a core part of Baazee.com team and worked in various roles of category management and later in marketing at eBay India. He was also head, marketing & general manager at Futurebazaar.com.