Wednesday, November 26, 2008

India Post centres to market small size gold coins

Hyderabad, Nov. 26 The Department of Posts in partnership with Reliance Money Ltd., (an ADAG Group company) today announced their move to sell gold coins of 24-carat in tamper proof packs of 0.5, 1, 5 and 8 gms weight in select India Post outlets.

RML in tie-up with Swiss Gold will supply gold coins and the network of India Posts centres will provide an ideal platform to market them.

The Chief Postmaster General, Andhra Pradesh Circle, Ms. Yashodhara Menon, said “people in India do not need any excuse to buy gold, whose purchase is always seen as auspicious. This tie up will help people who come to India Post an option to buy gold in small coins.”

Addressing a press conference, she said India Posts has tied up with Reliance Money and rolled out sale of gold coins in several States in the country and has announced similar tie up today in three more States.

India Posts had earlier facilitated marketing of mutual fund products of Reliance Energy Resources and sees this relationship blossoming into other businesses, which will be mutually beneficial, while adding to revenues, she said.

Sunday, November 23, 2008

ADAG enters online retail business

Seeking to grab the top market position within a year in the Rs 20,000-crore market, Anil Ambani group announced its foray into the online retail business where it would sell everything that could be sold over the Internet.Under the banner of the group's financial products distribution unit Reliance Money, the new venture would make available a wide variety of products for e-shopping, ranging from financial products like IPOs, mutual funds, insurance policies and gold coins to items like apparel, accessories, books, magazines, CDs, DVDs, home appliances and even flowers.

Announcing the launch, Reliance Money CEO Sudip Bandyopadhyay told PTI over the phone from Mumbai that the e-commerce web portal-- RelianceMoneyMall.Com-- would be like a big shopping mall in electronic format where consumers would be able to buy whatever that can be sold online.

Asserting that the company was targetting at least 20 per cent market share for the new venture, Bandyopadhyay said that the aim is to grab the top position in less than a year."There are over 60 million Internet users in the country and this number would double in about two and a half years, all of whom we are looking to tap as our target market.Besides, there are already an estimated 10.8 million people shopping online," Bandyopadhyay said.

"We are looking at a market share of at least 20 per cent in this market with business worth over Rs 20,000 crore a year," he added.The portal will also be a host of subscription-based financial products such as technical charts, stock and commodity alert SMS packs, newsletters and research reports.

Friday, November 7, 2008

Rel Money eyes new Nigerian exchange

NEW DELHI: Reliance Money, the brokerage company of Reliance Capital, is in advanced stages of negotiations to pick up a majority stake in an upcoming commodity and currency trading exchange in Nigeria. This comes close on the heels of the R-ADAG firm picking up a 15% equity stake in Hong Kong Mercantile Exchange(HKMEx).

The proposed Nigerian exchange is expected to start trading by the second quarter of 2009. It would begin with commodity and currency contracts and may eventually evolve as a full-fledged trading exchange offering equity trading as well.

While Reliance Money would hold the majority stake, local business groups would be brought in as minority partners in the venture. Unlike HKMEx, where the local government has a stake, the Nigerian exchange would be a private enterprise.

When contacted by ET, Reliance Money CEO Sudip Bandyopadhyay said: “We are looking at various growth opportunities abroad. We will announce them as and when we finalise something.” There is already a stock exchange in Lagos.

The deal would mean an expansion of operations in Nigeria for Reliance Money. Earlier this year, the company had entered into a tie-up with Lagos-based industrial group — the Chellarams, for distribution of financial products and services.

The transaction is part of the global expansion strategy of Reliance Money, which is also in the process of starting full-fledged financial services operations through a JV in Saudi Arabia and has plans to expand its business in over 15 countries spread across Europe, North Africa, the Middle East and South East Asia by March 2009.

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Rajnikant Patel joins Reliance Money

MUMBAI: Rajnikant Patel has joined Reliance Money as president (exchange business). The announcement was made by Sudip Bandyopadhyay, director and CEO, Reliance Money, today.

Bandyopadhyay said: "We are very pleased with the induction of Mr. Patel in Reliance Money. We are sure that with his extensive experience of over 28 years in the financial market arena, Mr. Patel will play a critical role in our foray into the exchange space covering commodities and currencies. We are looking at both domestic and international opportunities."

Prior to joining Reliance Money, Patel was the managing director & CEO, Bombay Stock Exchange, where he was responsible for the corporatisation and demutualisation of BSE making it a billion dollar institution.

Patel said: "I am very happy to be associated with Reliance Money, particularly for the vision, the scale and the speed of implementation. I believe there is a huge scope for an innovative, professional and committed approach in commodities, currency futures and related exchange space. I am very excited at the future possibility of value creation for all stakeholders in the financial system."

Reliance Money, a part of the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, is a comprehensive financial services firm providing customers with access to equity, equity and commodity derivatives, portfolio management services, wealth management Services, mutual funds, IPOs and life and general insurance.