Qatar-based Doha Bank, which last year bought a 49% stake in
Kochi-based brokerage firm Select Securities Ltd, is planning another
round of investments in India, focussing this time on retail lending,
sustainable energy projects, technology and financial institutions
including stakes in Indian banks.
Doha Bank has an $800 million (Rs3,400 crore) fund for investments
in global markets, a good part of which will come into India, R.
Seetharaman, its chief executive, said.
The bank is also
awaiting regulatory approval to start commercial banking operations in
the country, for which an application has been pending with the Reserve
Bank of India, or RBI, for the past three years, he said.
“We
will (also) start stake aquisitions in banks and financial
institutions,” he said during a recent visit to India, but did not
elaborate on which banks his organization is targeting.
Doha Bank’s proposed non-banking finance company (NBFC) in India—through Select Securities which has been renamed Doha Brokerage and Financial Services—has
already received a licence from RBI. NBFCs, or consumer finance
companies, are less strictly regulated than deposit-taking banks in
India.
The NBFC is expected to become operational in the next
three-four months, after which the bank will initially pump funds into
commercial vehicle loan and mortgage operations, followed by expansion
into retail lending, Seetharaman said.
The acquisition of
Select Securities with a client base of around 42,000 and more than 100
branches in India will be leveraged through the proposed NBFC with a
fund base of about $200 million, he added. Doha bank also has an option
to raise its stake in the brokerage firm to 80%.
The Qatar
bank has already tied up with several banks and financial institutions
to distribute its financial products to non-resident Indians.
The
bank also plans to launch an asset management company and non-life
insurance business through Doha Bank Assurance, its insurance company
in Qatar.
Other than bank and financial operations, Doha Bank
is keen on investments in wind power and biodiesel projects in India
that can use carbon exchange as a platform for trade in carbon credits.
The
bank is set to launch a carbon exchange in Qatar once the Energy City,
a business centre catering to the oil and gas industry, in that country
is commissioned. Seetharaman expects the carbon exchange to be ready by
April.
Carbon credits are generated by using cleaner
technologies. With each reduced tonne of carbon dioxide emission, an
organization receives a carbon emission certificate, which it can sell
to those who exceed the emissions target.
On the information
technology front, the bank proposes to make Kochi a centre for
outsourcing and has already completed a study in this regard.
