Mumbai, March 27: ICICI Securities, the broking and advisory unit of ICICI Bank has put its international expansion on hold due to the downturn in global markets, but has no plans for job cuts, a top official said.
The company deferred an initial public offer last year and is not in a hurry to list, chief executive Madhabi Puri Buch told Reuters in an interview. Instead, it will wait for a sustained market recovery before relaunching the offer.
"If the market had been buoyant and the cross-border capital flow had been greater, we would have perhaps grown in overseas centres. Today we believe they are OK the way they are," she said.
Buch said the firm will maintain its offices in U.S, Singapore, UK and Oman, which offer institutional broking, wealth management and advisory services.
"Would we have expected to grow our presence internationally had the markets continued to be buoyant? Yes. Today we are a little more careful about those plans," Buch said.
India`s main stock index fell 52.5 percent in 2008, its biggest annual fall ever. Total M&A volumes fell 24 percent and share sales tumbled 80 percent to their lowest level since 2003, Thomson Reuters data showed.
Commissions on share trading and advisory fees for share sales and M&A constitute a large part of a brokerage and advisory firm`s revenue.
Filings by parent ICICI Bank show ICICI Securities` net profit for the nine months ended December fell three-quarters to 250 million rupees ($5 million).
Bureau Report
