Hdfc Bank In Rash Of Payment Facility Alliances

HDFC Bank has tied up with financial portals, e-brokerages and the National Stock Exchange (NSE) to enable broker payments for e-broking ventures.

The bank is also tying up with the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) to offer a similar product. Meanwhile, application have also been submitted for the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) approval for the HDFC Group's business-to-business (B2B) venture _ Sesami.com.

The initial capital for Sesami.com is $3.5 million.

Among the companies which have signed agreements with

HDFC Bank are e-brokerages like Investmartindia.com and Sharekhan.com, and financial portals like Indiainfo.com and Indiainfoline.com.

The deal involves providing payment gateway

facilities including funds payment and securities clearing

 

for e-brokerages. The security settlement will be for demat

accounts.

"We are the largest clearing bank with theNational Stock Exchange. Also there are few other banks which offer payment gateway

facilities," said H Srikrishnan, country head of operations, HDFC

Bank.

"The provision of the payment gateway will provide additional benefits to the brokers who deal with us."

He added: "We are also tying up with the BSE for providing payment gateway facilities."

Apart from Investmartindia.com and Sharekhan.com, the bank is also in talks with a number of e-brokerages for similar tie-ups in the field.

HDFC Bank and HDFC had tied up with Singapore telecom's B2B venture, Sesami.net, to provide solutions for corporates. An application in this regard has been submitted to the FIPB for foreign investment in the venture.

Srikrishnan said that the start-up capital

of the company is $3.5 million. HDFC and HDFC Bank together hold around 40 per cent in the company, while Sesami. net will hold 60 per cent.

Earlier this year, HDFC and HDFC Bank picked a 50

per cent stake in Chennai-based Net Savvy Solutions _ an

e-commerce solutions provider. The deal was worth around Rs 2 crore.

HDFC Bank had also launched on-line electronic banking solution, Enet, which will allow corporates to access their accounts over the Net and carry out trade-related transactions, and cash management functions.

The Enet solution is provided by a company called

Solutionnet which is the promoter of Net Savvy Solutions.

While Solutionnet developed Enet, Net Savvy Solutions provides backup support and helps in implementation of the product.