Reliance Money launches mobile trading portal

MUMBAI: Aimed at increasing number of mobile savvy investors, Reliance Money, part of the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani group, on Tuesday introduced a mobile trading portal in both equities and commodities across all mobile platforms supported by any technology. With this service, investors can trade in both equity exchanges NSE and BSE and in three commodity exchanges NCDEX, MCX and NMCEIL.

The service is launched in association with three technology partners Volantis Systems, Wipro Infotech and Religare Technova. While Volantis is the mobile platform provider for the service, Wipro develops and customizes the system on Volantis application. Religare Technova provides the support for integration of the Volantis application to the trading engine.

"Today, even a farmer in a village in Madhya Pradesh uses mobile to check commodity prices. Investors who are increasingly getting conversant with mobile usage, need a one window – 'on-go' service so that they can trade anywhere, even if they are traveling," said Sudip Bandyopadhyay, director and CEO of Reliance Money.

"Mobile trading is an additional facility provided to our existing customers. We do not expect any business volume for this."

The existing demat account holders of Reliance Money need to download the device from their respective telecom provider, for which they will be charged a nominal amount. There is no service charge levied by the Reliance Money for the said service, which includes features like market watch, buy/sell, full stock quotes, contract information, add script, delete script and reports.

However, with this initiative, the company will be tapping the approximately 347 million telecom user base in India, with its service.

Added Bandyopadhyay, "through this service, we want to create a whole new segment of investors who do not have access to the Internet."

India Post to enter gold retail trade

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Kerala circle of India Post is preparing to enter the gold retail trade as part of a business diversification initiative of the Department of Posts. Customers can now walk into a post office and buy pure 24 carat gold coins certified by the Swiss precious metal company Valcambi.

The scheme will be launched in selected post offices in the State by the end of the month. The initiative, being launched in association with Reliance Money Ltd (RML) and World Gold Council, will enable customers to buy gold coins of various denominations from post offices. Initially, the department plans to sell 0.5 gm, 1 gm, 5 gm and 8 gm gold coins packed in tamper-proof sealed covers.

“India Post has already launched this scheme in a few other circles, including Delhi, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu, where it has been received well. We are planning to launch the scheme in Kerala circle before the end of February,” said Southern Region Headquarters director Govinda Rajan.

Mr. Rajan said in the first phase, gold coins would be sold through 18 post offices in the Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi and Kozhikode regions and selected post offices in Kottayam and Alappuzha districts.

Senior officials of the Department of Posts had already been given training in handling the RML software for transactions. Every customer will be given an invoice or bill detailing the transaction. While the department will be earning an amount as commission, RML will also bear the service tax on the commission paid to India Post.

The stocking and sale of gold coins in the post offices will be under the direct supervision of the respective postmasters. The postmaster will be required to check the RML web site on a regular basis for the latest updates of gold rates and discounts. “We already have ample security features in our post offices for stocking valuables. However, under this scheme we will not be maintaining a huge stock of gold coins. The supply of gold coins in the various post offices will be replenished by RML according to the movement of the coins,” Mr. Rajan said.

The sale of gold coins through post offices is a continuation of India Post’s attempts to capitalise on its vast network for diverse business initiatives. The Kerala circle is already offering various Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) applications and Sabarimala temple prasadam as retail products to its customers. Apart from the reach of its network and the credibility of the department, customers buying gold coins from post offices can also bank on the special discounts offered during festival seasons.

RIL Money to ink JV with S’pore warehousing firm

NEW DELHI: Reliance Money, part of the Reliance ADA Group and large shareholder in National Multi Commodity Exchange, will soon widen its bouquet of services to manage goods stored in warehouses through a joint venture with Singapore-based warehousing company CWT Commodities, said a person involved in the venture.

The 50:50 joint venture will issue warehouse receipts that guarantee the quality and quantity of goods stored in its godowns, besides providing grading and sorting services. Reliance Money CEO Sudip Bandyopadhyay could not be contacted for an official comment on the development.

A subsidiary of Singapore Stock Exchange-listed CWT Ltd, CWT Commodities is a large global player that offers a host of warehousing, collateral management, and logistics services. The new Indian JV firm, Reliance CWT Commodities, will have equal representation on the board from both Reliance ADAG and CWT Commodities. The head of the new company is yet to be appointed, said a person who has knowledge of the partnership.

CWT Commodities already has a small presence in India through its South East Asia operations. Its sister company CWT Globelink India has offices in Delhi and Mumbai. CWT’s current business in India will now be channeled through the new company.

ValueNotes.com inks pact with Reliance Money

Financial portal ValueNotes.com has announced that it has clinched a pact with financial services firm Reliance Money.

Under the proposed agreement, ValueNotes.com will distribute Reliance Money’s subscription-based product - Live Market Analysis.

According to sources, the product is a chat messaging solution that will allow users to receive instant stock market calls/tips on a real time basis.

While commenting on the pact, Mr. Sudip Bandyopadhyay, Reliance Money CEO stated, “The tie-up will enable wider dissemination of our superior research content for beneficial financial market investment and spread of investment culture.”

The sources further disclosed that the said product is available for a monthly charge starting from as low as Rs 500. Reliance Money has nearly 10,000 outlets and 30 lakh customers nationwide.

Rel Money ties up with DBS Vickers

Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group firm Reliance Money on Wednesday said it has entered into an agreement with Singapore-based DBS Vickers Securities to facilitate trading in global commodity exchanges for Indian companies.

Under the agreement, the firm would provide trading facilities for different derivatives including agricultural products, metal and energy products, which are traded on various major exchanges worldwide, Reliance Money said in a statement.

It would also provide trading facility on OTC (over-the-counter) products in segments such as energy and freight, the company added.

"Our agreement with DBS Vickers will now open a safe, secure and cost effective transaction platform for our customers to trade in Global Commodities Exchanges," Reliance Money Director and CEO Sudip Bandyopadhyay said.

"The size of the global commodities derivatives markets is estimated to be around USD 800 billion. We believe that Indian investors are looking at diversifying their portfolio and overseas trading service enables them to do so, Bandyopadhyay added.

DBS Vickers Securities is a member of the Singapore Exchange. It is the securities and derivatives arm of the DBS Group, a leading banking group of Southeast Asia.

Globally, exchange traded commodity futures is one of the largest market segments in the financial markets witnessing participation from the producers, users, traders alike.

India's NDTV, Rel Money Tie-up for a Television Programme

NEW DELHI - Indian business news channel, NDTV Profit, on Thursday launched a series on discussions 'Our Money Forum', in association with financial services and products distribution company Reliance Money.

The television program named as 'Our Money Forum' aims to help the retail investors to take investment decisions, the channel said in a statement here.

The 10-episode series, which would have eminent financial experts on the panel would focus on educating the retail investors on the growing need and importance of financial planning.

The program would be conducted at various corporate houses across the country such as Patni Computers and Subex.

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.

Postal Department receives great response

NEW DELHI: Within a fortnight of the launch of the unique service to sell internationally certified gold coins through its vast network of post offices, the Department of Posts (DoP) has received overwhelming response from people.

“Thanks to the ongoing festive season, we have been able to do brisk business. So far, over 20 kgs of gold worth over Rs.2.6 crore has been sold through 100-odd post offices spread in five states. The sale of gold coins was particularly good on the Dhanteras day when people buy gold. We have also offered a five per cent discount this festive season,” informed a senior DoP official.

Initially, the DoP has started this service in five states -- Gujarat, Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Punjab -- on pilot basis, and soon the service would be made available across India.

India Post has launched this venture in association with World Gold Council and Reliance Money. World Gold Council is helping in marketing the Swiss Medallions supplied by Reliance Money.

The 24-karat gold coins, packed in a sealed cover with the certification from renowned Valcambi in Switzerland, are available in weights of 0.5 gram, 1 gram, 5 grams and 8 grams.

“The sale of 5 gms coins has been the maximum, with Gujarat, Delhi, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra leading the list. In Punjab, where the service was launched a few days before Diwali, the response has also been good. After reviewing the sales figure of the festive season, the sale of gold coins will be extended to other states as well, starting from mini-metros and towns,” the official added.

Competitively priced

Stating that the prices of these gold coins are competitively priced based on the prevailing market prices, the official said: “Gold coins available through our post offices carry internationally recognised certification and has low risk of duplication. Our post offices that are known for its trust and reliability will serve as an ideal location for the people to buy quality gold coins.”

India Post ties up with Reliance Money to sell gold coins at post office

India Post has tied up with Reliance Money and World Gold Council to sell gold coins through its post office network across the country.

The pilot project has been launched on Wednesday and it will make gold coins available across 100 post offices in four states — Delhi, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat. However going forward it would be available for sale at all the 155,000 post offices across the country.

“We have initiated the process to commercialise the post offices and increase their visibility,” said A Raja, Union Minister of IT and Telecom. Reliance Money will act as the vendor to provide certified coins that are 99.99 per cent pure in four denominations of 0.5 gm, 1 gm, 5 gm and 8 gm.

“This should go up as we have tied with India Post which is the most trusted organisation and is biggest retail network with 1,55,000 post offices,” said Sudip Bandyopadhyay, chief executive officer, Reliance Money. “We will train the post office employees and we are confident of the delivery channel.”

“In the long term, considering the demand supply economics, gold is only expected to go up, as there are no new gold mines coming up and so the supply remains constrained,” said a gold expert who did not wish to be named.

Reliance Money enters into forex remittance business with controlling stake in Wall Street Finance

Reliance Money Express (RME), an Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group company, has gained control of Wall Street Finance, a Bombay Stock Exchange-listed company in the forex remittance business by becoming its largest shareholder.

Reliance Money is all set to become a co-promoter of Wall Street Finance through a merger amalgamation scheme with Wall Street Constructions, a promoter group company, which owns 33.54% stake in Wall Street Finance.

By becoming the largest shareholder of Wall Street Finance, which has a market capitalisation of Rs 45 crore and a 3-year dividend track record, Reliance Money Express has given parent Reliance Capital two crucial cogs that were missing from its financial conglomerate superstructure —- an RBI licence to function as a deposit-taking NBFC (D) and an Authorised Dealer-II licence, which is an outward remittance licence, granted to a handful of limited entities.

As global giants go bust, Reliance Money enters investment banking

R-Cap arm to target smaller, medium-sized companies; eyes 50 fund-raising deals within first six months

Mumbai: Reliance Money, or R-Money, the equity brokerage arm of Reliance Capital Ltd, part of the Reliance-Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (R-Adag) of companies, is entering the investment banking business at a time when several global investment banks have collapsed, merged with other companies, or turned into banks.

R-Money is eyeing at least 50 fund-raising deals within the first six months of operation. The company received required regulatory clearances to enter the business four days back and plans to focus on smaller and mid-size companies, a segment it says is hugely under-serviced.

“There are a lot of smaller and medium-size companies, emerging companies, which do not get adequate attention from the bigger merchant banks. We will focus on this segment,” said Sudip Bandyopadhyay, director and chief executive, R-Money. He added that his company aims to “spot companies with the IPO (initial public offering) potential” and work with them until they are ready to float an issue in the market.

Bandyopadhyay said R-Money would help companies raise money by tapping private equity firms if they were not ready to sell shares to the public. He admitted that companies were nervous about raising money from the public in the wake of the global credit crunch that has roiled markets, but said R-Money had the answer to that.
“If we are confident about the prospects of a company, we will underwrite 100% of its IPO. That’s the way to go about issues in such markets.”

R-Money’s entry into investment banking comes at a time when global markets are going through a credit crunch that started a little more than a year ago with problems in the mortgages business in the US and which has, in a climax that has continued over the past few weeks, resulted in the collapse of several US and European finance firms.

It also comes in a bad year for investment banking. According to a 14 September Mint report, an analysis of data by Nexgen Capitals Ltd, the investment banking arm of New Delhi-based outfit SMC Global Securities Ltd, shows merchant banking fees charged for public issue transactions have dipped 56.35% on an annualized basis: from Rs811 crore in 2007 to Rs236 crore year to date. The data is based on the Rs59,807 crore raised in 2007 compared with Rs37,743 crore, year to date, a 16% drop on an annualized basis.

An analyst who tracks the company for a Mumbai brokerage and who did not want to be identified said the move was a “logical step” for R-Money because it completes its “bouquet” of financial services. The analyst added that while a Tata group company or a Aditya Birla group company might not “come to them”, because they compete at some level with R-Money’s affiliates in R-Adag, there were “hundreds” who would.

R-Adag has interests in businesses such as power, finance, telecommunications and entertainment. “In cases of mergers and acquisitions, there may be some hesitation from competing companies, but for IPOs and other fund-raising cases, there will be no such issue,” said Bandyopadhyay. He added that the company would be involved with the fund-raising activities of its affiliates but wouldn’t be the sole investment banker for them.

Bandyopadhyay said he had already hired 25 people for the business and intends to hire 75 more.
He added that R-Money had been looking to work with companies in the infrastructure, telecommunications, media, power and energy sector and will likely manage an “IPO for a large construction conglomerate” and a global depository receipts issue for a mid-sized information technology company.

R-Money has a so-called category 1 investment banking licence from India’s capital markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India, or Sebi. There are around 100 companies that have this licence which allows an investment bank to help domestic companies through all forms of fund-raising in the Indian as well as international markets, manage buybacks of equity and underwrite issues.

Only 10-15 of these firms, however, are active, said Bandyopadhyay.

R-Money plans to leverage its customer base of more than three million and more than 20,000 distribution centres to effectively distribute the IPOs it handles.

“We are the biggest brokerage house in the country and that will be a strength when we are handling an IPO,” said Bandyopadhyay.

Analysts, however, continue to be concerned about the prospects for some of Reliance Capital’s businesses. In a 22 September note, Motilal Oswal Securities Ltd’s analysts Manish Karwa, Ajinkya Dhavale and Alpesh Mehta wrote that they expect R-Money to make profit of Rs90 crore in the current fiscal and Rs130 crore in the next fiscal.
“While the execution capabilities of the management are commendable, growth uncertainty has increased in current environment across businesses. We have reduced our fair valuation for general insurance, broking and consumer finance businesses due to bleak outlook on either business growth and/or profit growth,” they added, downgrading Reliance Capital to “neutral” with a revised target price of Rs1,340 a share.

On Monday, shares of Reliance Capital closed down 6.99% at Rs1090.80 each on the Bombay Stock Exchange on a day the exchange’s benchmark Sensex index fell 3.9% to 12,595.75 points.