SBI Capital Markets

SBI Capital Markets (SBICAPS) has been in operation since 1986 and is amongst the oldest players in the Indian capital market, offering an entire range of investment banking services.

The company

SBI Capital Markets (SBICAPS) has been in operation since 1986 and is amongst the oldest players in the Indian capital market, offering an entire range of investment banking services. Working as the investment arm of the State Bank of India, SBICAPS has the backing of the largest commercial bank in India.

SBICAPS has a workforce of more than 220 personnel at its offices in Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Kolkata, Chennai, New Delhi and Hyderabad, in India. With long term plans for expansion and a desire to target markets outside India, SBICAPS started the process for overseas growth.

The decision process

“The thought process for expanding SBI Capital Markets out of India started in 1995 / 1996,” said Mrs Bhanu Raman, Group Executive SBI Capital Markets. “But it wasn’t until 2004 that SBICAPS started seriously looking at locations overseas.

“With the Indian Economy recording an exponential growth, we as an institution felt the time was right to establish an SBICAPS representative office outside of India, to cater to overseas investors.

“Initially, we were interested in Singapore, New York, Hong Kong and London. We believed that each of these destinations would be suitable for SBI Capital Markets and would help us grow our business and reach new clients.

“When we started analysing our requirements more carefully and thinking about what we wanted to achieve we were able to narrow our locations down considerably,” added Mrs Raman.

Why London

London is one of the world’s three largest financial centres, and the single most internationally-focused financial marketplace bar none. For 16 years running, London has been voted the best business city in Europe, in terms of access to qualified staff, by Cushman and Wakefield, Healey and Baker European Cities monitor.

“We came to realise that a prime market for us was the UK and Europe. Every major bank and financial institution in the world has a significant presence in London, we knew that to effectively target our prime market and succeed we should join these operators in the city. We are proud to become the first among Indian banks operating in the UK to commence investment banking operations with local representation,” Mrs Raman added.

“We set up our London operation in the City, within the offices of the State Bank of India. This close relationship we hold with the Bank allowed us to establish this presence and is ideal as a starting point for us,” continued Mrs Raman.

Working with Think London

“When investigating the options to expand into London I was introduced to Think London, the inward investment agency for London.

“This introduction was extremely useful for me, Think London worked with the Embassy in India to assist me with my VISA requirements, which can often be a long and drawn out process, delaying not only yourself, but your plans for the company expansion – it was good to have people working on your behalf that know the system and help get things through quickly.

“Through the State Bank of India I had a support network based in London to help set up the business, but it was on issues such as VISA and information about London and living in London that Think London helped me. Their team not only work with companies on setting up the business, but they helped me on a personal level and we worked together to combat the issues individuals face when moving to a new country. Being in touch with Think London was like having a friend in London, before I even arrived,” commented Mrs Raman.

London breeds success

“We successfully launched our new London office on 8th March 2005 at a reception held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in St James, central London. It was a complete success; we were host to many people from the UK Indian financial circles and institutions. The reception helped to raise our profile among the London business community and firmly planted SBI Capital Markets seed in London.

“We have been much more successful within such a short time period than we expected. London offers so many opportunities to new business and I believe enables business to find new clients and succeed with more speed than would be possible elsewhere,” concluded Mrs Raman.

Mrs Bhanu Raman, Group Executive
SBI Capital Markets

For more information about SBI Capital Markets, please visit www.sbicaps.com