Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Non-Tech : ICICI Ltd - (Nyse: IC) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mohan Marette who wrote (197)	2/21/2000 4:33:00 PM
From: Mohan Marette	Respond to of 494

ICICI - A great leap forward (ICICI's move towards a wireless application protocol (WAP)-based financial services architecture marks the next big idea in mobile banking) Feb 22,2000 ICICI's move towards a wireless application protocol (WAP)-based financial services architecture marks the next big idea in mobile banking ICICI has chosen a sunrise wireless application protocol (WAP) technology for reaching out to a larger customer base. ICICI's move towards a wireless application protocol (WAP)-based financial services architecture marks the next big idea in mobile banking or rather, e-banking. WAP represents the ultimate blend of mobile technology and the Internet. Given the fact that there are more cellphones across the world than personal computers, there is possibly a whole new arena of text-only Internet opening up, targetted at the mobile consumer. To that extent, ICICI is surfing on the latest frontier in technology; indeed WAP banking is said to have started off in Finland only in the last quarter of 1999. In mobile banking, users can download text messages into the cellphone's screen. This is usually a short-cut process, with a combination of keys accessing bits and pieces of pre-formatted information: like e-mail or bank accounts at the end of the day. Simply, it works like a cellphone call to a mailbox answering machine. WAP, on the other hand, allows users full two-way interconnectivity in the Web sense. That is, users can surf the Web (text-only) from the small cellphone screen, download items of choice, and even transact operations on line. In a way, whatever a user can do on the Web sitting in front of a computer, can be done on a cellphone with WAP-enabled features. The caveat, of course, is that at the moment available technology permits only text-based dialogue. A Moody's Special Comment 'Online winds of change', February 2000, notes "The marriage of the Internet with advanced mobile telephony should be a very powerful ingredient for the growth of online financial services." Though the technology is very new, and the cost of WAP-enables cell phone prohibitive at this stage, Moody's notes, "If it catches on, WAP or its successors might one day replace plastic cards. It is quite possible that mobile telephones will be the infrastructure of future person-to-person (P2P) or person-to-merchant (P2M) payments that could represent the next horizon for electronic payments. For ICICI -- though no official confirmation is available -- the WAP thrust could mean a giant leap in its search for market share. Mobile phone services, for instance, are available only in the area of the licencee. A consumer out of the licencee's range of operations will not be able to access mobile phone banking, unless operator interconnectivity is allowed. But the Web is everywhere, irrespective of the service provider. Banking, then, is as simple as accessing the Web but without the constraint to necessarily sit in front of a Web-enabled computer. Additionally, as one analyst commented, WAP could get ICICI a solid foothold into its latest Internet broking venture. Banking customers need the comfort of at least a bank branch or ATM in the vicinity to deal their cash transactions. But stock market customers don't even need that. ICICI apparently has a product which offers a seamless integration between its on-line broking services, its banking arm and its depository services. This product could possibly be the single biggest beneficiary of the WAP technology. -The Business Standard (Sec:Campus)

To: Mohan Marette who wrote (197)	2/21/2000 8:05:00 PM
From: Mohan Marette	Respond to of 494

Good NRI response to Net trading February 20: Initial response to online stock trading which does away with bad deliveries and delays pointed to a potential for massive volumes and massive response from NRIs to invest in Indian stocks, the chief of India's first internet broker, Geojit Securities, said here today. "Out of the 1,700 online registrations for trading, 1,100 were from NRIs in UAE," said C J George, the managing director of Geojit, who is on a Gulf tour to familiarise NRIs with the opportunities in internet trading, which to a large extent also eliminated NRI complaints of delays and bad transactions. "Though we are moving cautiously letting only a few players to trade online at present, as much as Rs 48 lakh worth of shares were shared in one day by just three account-holders," he told reporters. He said currently Geojit, a Kochi-based broking firm with participation from the Kerala government, allowed account-holders with a credit balance of Rs three lakhs, an exposure of up to Rs one million for online trading". Geojit launched internet trading in Mumbai to become the country's first internet broker. Initially internet trading will be open more to NRIs than to domestic investors as the company was looking for fewer clients and larger volumes. "Internet trading was ideal for NRIs as they could trade real time on the net without taking recourse to a broker or other intermediaries," George said. Geojit currently allowed trading only in 200 shares which are compulsory to be dematted out of a total of about 550 dematted stocks. But these 200 shares accounted for more than 90 per cent of market capitalisation in India, he said. "It will take at least three months for us to aggressively market internet trading," George said, adding that Geojit's daily turnover now was Rs 75 crore. Online trading is offered only to members of its depository services. K V Shamsudheen, the NRI director in Geojit said he received about 50 enquiries daily from prospective NRI investors. Geojit's commission in transactions is one per cent but that could fall with volumes as more and more of the existing 5000 NRI clients of Geojit try online trading, he said. The Geojit chief who is to address investors meetings in Dubai, Doha, Manama and Kuwait before returning to India said on-line trading with Geojit's internet trading module, which allows trading from anywhere in the world ensured transparency, reduced communication costs, time lag and broker specific delays. Marketmen expect at least 25-30 per cent of share deals to be routed through internet. "I expect a rise in business volume once internet trading kicks off. This has happened in the US where broking firms like Charles Schwab have made their mark. Much will also depend on the cyber laws being put up in the Parliament," said a dealer of the National Stock Exchange. In fact, ICICI Ltd has launched an integrated internet based service which allows its customers to place orders for shares over the internet, make payments for them online and hold them in dematerialised form. Investsmart India Ltd, an initiative of Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS) has already announced that it is geared to commence internet trading. "The objective of initiating internet trading is to allow quick and easy access to valuable research and information to an investor and enable him to execute transactions faster and more efficiently, as also to provide transparency in investment dealings," said an IL&FS official. -Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.