Thursday, June 5, 2008

SBI To Focus On Non-Banking Businesses - June 5, 2008

As the banking business slows India''s largest public sector lender State Bank of India is trying to push growth in its non banking businesses to ensure that the group remains on a strong growth path. One business chosen for a major expansion drive this year is SBI''s broking business, which is under SBI Capital Markets (SBICAPS). After missing out on the strong bull run in equities, SBICAPS is now trying to catch up by expanding its broking presence in tier 2 and tier 3 cities. We are trying to leverage the huge network that our parent has and use that as an advantage of existing players, said A P Verma, MD & CEO, SBICAPS. SBICAPS'' broking subsidiary has already opened 5000 new broking accounts this year and plans to add another 50,000 accounts in the coming year.

While SBI is increasing its retail presence in the broking business, the revenue from the division is expected to contribute just Rs 100 crore to the kitty due to the low margin nature of the business. Thus, SBICAPS is also trying to increase its presence in higher margin areas like loan syndication and project financing. Over the next year, SBICAPS hopes to garner significant revenue especially from large power projects that are in the pipeline.

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