Merrill Lynch to grow business in India

New Delhi, Aug 10 (UNI) Wealth management company Merrill Lynch today said it has agressive plans to expand its business in India over the next five years.

''We have an aggressive strategy to grow our business in India over the next five years by hiring more financial advisors, targeting the affluent market and enhancing our offerings,'' Chief Administrative Officer for Merrill Lynch Global Private Client (GPC) EMEA Pacific and Head of Merrill Lynch GPC for west Asia and India Ausaf Abbas said here.

At the same time, the company will also expand its offshore business by targeting ultra-high net worth and high net worth Non-Resident Indians, he added.

Besides, the company also announced the appointment of its new Managing Director and Head of GPC Group India -- Rahul Malhotra.

India is becoming an increasingly important location both for Merrill Lynch and for private client business, Chairman of Merrill Lynch Asia Pacific Region and Head of Merrill Lynch GPC EMEA and Pacific Regions Raymundo Yu said, adding that Mr Rahul would be an valuable addition to the firm as they grew the business in India.

Mr Malhotra will start on September 1 and be based in Singapore, looking after Merrill Lynch GPC's onshore operations in India as well as Non-Resident Indian business.

He has more than 20 years of experience in Asia. Earlier, he led retail banking for Citibank in Asia Pacific and held a number of senior positions within Citibank, including Global Head of Non-Resident Indian business based in London and Area Director for the bank's West Asia and Non-Resident Indian business based in Dubai.

According to Merrill Lynch/Capgemini 2006 World Wealth Report, India is one of the fastert growing markets globally for high net worth individual population. At the end of 2005, there were more than 83,000 high net worth individuals in India, an increase of nearly 20 per cent from the year before.

High net worth individuals are people with net financial assets of at least 1 million dollar, excluding their primary residence and consumables.

In December 2005, Merrill Lynch announced that it would increase its stake in its India joint venture DSP Merrill Lynch to 90 per cent.

DSP Merrill Lynch is one of the leading wealth management, capital markets and advisory companies in India.

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