Angel Broking bets big on Uttar Pradesh

Angel Broking, one of India's largest stock-broking and wealth management houses, is bullish on Uttar Pradesh.

"Uttar Pradesh is emerging as one of the fastest-growing markets of retail investors, and is a focus area in the company's expansion plan. We plan to commission eight branches in the region over two years," Nikhil Daxini, executive director (sales and marketing), Angel Broking, told Business Standard.

The company at present has two offices in Lucknow and Kanpur each. It has about 65 business associates present at 145 locations across the state.

"There will be 500 business associates by 2010," said Daxini. "In the first three months of our commencement of operations in UP, we have established a client base of over 2,000. We will be taking our services to a wider client base by making our presence felt in each taluka, through owned branches as well as by working with business partners," added Daxini.

"Kanpur is very promising city for us because it has a lot of traders. Fifty per cent of our customers are active members, meaning thereby they trade on a monthly basis, which is a healthy sign," said Vivek Singh, assistant vice-president (business development) of the region.

Angel thinks its current annualised growth rate of 100 per cent will continue over the next two years by extending its presence to nearly 100 Tier I and II cities, and increasing its current network of 125 branches to over 250 in 2009.

"We want to capture 8-10 per cent of the entire North market as it is quite enterprising and a major contributor for us," Daxini added.

The North region, besides Uttar Pradesh, consists of Punjab, Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, and Delhi and the NCR.

For better visibility among the customers, the company will have four mega events in co-sponsorship with the CNBC in Uttar Pradesh.

These will be investor awareness camps. One will be held in Kanpur shortly.