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Strategies & Market Trends : India Coffee House -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mohan Marette who wrote (6240)	9/2/1999 5:31:00 PM
From: Mohan Marette	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 12475

Citibank (India) plans AMC for mutual fund business Citibank India citibank.com Srikala B. BANGALORE, Sept. 2 (BusinessLine) CITIBANK is looking at setting up an asset management company for entering the mutual fund business. Having built up a good retail base with its Suvidha project, the bank believes that it has enough customer base to tap the mutual fund sector. Speaking to Business Line, Mr. Nanoo G. Pamnani, CEO, Citibank India, said being a part of a global bank, Citi has access to mutual fund expertise. "We will be looking at setting up an AMC in the near future," he said. Mutual funds have turned out to be one of the core products for the banking sector in view of the increasing focus on fee-based activity. Various private sector and foreign banks have taken up distribution of mutual fund schemes in an effort to be a one-stop-shop for various financial products. However, the bank has decided to keep in abeyance its housing finance subsidiary project as, according to Mr. Pamnani, the customer base is not big enough for a separate housing finance subsidiary. It had proposed a separate subsidiary for housing finance, a couple of years back. Citi at present has been disbursing housing finance products through its franchise network, Citibank Shelters. Having made its foray into retail banking through 'Citibank Suvidha' Citi is keen on introducing more products under its New Millennium Bank project. The test marketing of this 18-month old global pilot project is expected to be completed by the middle of next year. While Citibank Suvidha, according to Mr. Pamnani, has managed to be profitable well ahead of time, the bank would be taking global decisions based on the performance of the pilot, next year. Besides Bangalore, Citi had chosen Philadelphia as the second site for its pilot. While Citibank at Bangalore has roped in close to 75,000 customers under its Suvidha project, the response from the other pilot site too has been encouraging with a customer base of 50,000. According to Mr. Pamnani, though Philadelphia is a more advanced market for the project, Bangalore too has managed to keep pace with its products. Having launched the facility of global ATM network for its Suvidha customers, the bank is gearing up for a couple of more products in the coming months. And Citi is looking at expanding its customer base further with its Suvidha project. Mr. Nandan Mer, heading the New Millennium project for Citi, is hoping to conclude Suvidha's test marketing with a customer base of 2 lakhs. That should bring Citi closer to its ambitious target of one million customers by the new millennium.

To: Mohan Marette who wrote (6240)	9/2/1999 6:05:00 PM
From: sea_biscuit	Respond to of 12475

Well, websites and glossy brochures can't do the trick. What is required is good service! Now, I know very well what a rarity that is, in India! Here is an email sent by a visitor to an animal sanctuary, who went there after seeing the glossy brochure and got royally shafted!<g> We recently went on a 2 week trip from Bangalore to Mysore, Bandipur, Coonoor, Kerala and Kodaikanal. In Bandipur we stayed in a place called Tiger Ranch. They had advertised that we would be staying in bamboo thatched huts with modern amenities. The huts were pathetic and far from modern. Lights are on only from 5 to 11pm. They do not provide clean sheets unless you insist. They have no way to control mosquitoes. We had taken two children along as they had mentioned in their brochure that they have a nanny and will prepare infant food etc. But such things are only on paper. The food is served on dirty plates and is barely edible. We had said that we would check in by 12 noon. But we were delayed on the road. So, when we reached Tiger Ranch at 3pm. They said that they had given our cottages to some one else, as we had not informed them about the delay. I cannot see how this could be done when they do not have a phone at the place! Their motto is Tiger Ranch - NOT JUST A HOLIDAY. After our experience we can change their motto to - NOT JUST A HOLIDAY BUT A NIGHTMARE. Hope this message will deter others from going there and suffering and spoiling a holiday.