Reliance Money is getting ready to offer equity trading, Indian mutual fund products and portfolio management services to Singapore-based non-resident Indians (NRIs). The firm is setting up a new company which would serve as the base for South East Asia covering Singapore and Malaysia, both of whom have a large chunk of NRI population.

The firm has applied for necessary approvals with the authorities in Singapore. The project has been on for the last 6-8 months and indications are that the approvals could be granted over the next few weeks. Reliance Money is already scouting for office space in Singapore to house its operations.

According to Reliance Money director & CEO Sudip Bandopadhyay: "It is part of our plans to go international. We had earlier ventured into West Asia. But the market in South East Asia is underserved. While there are other firms who have institutional desks in the region, nobody is targeting the retail customers." The firm in Singapore is likely to be headed by one of the existing personnel of Reliance Money.

As against the operations in West Asia which is through local joint ventures, the firm is going solo in Singapore. Reliance Money is a group company of Reliance Capital, which is a part of the Reliance ADA Group. It is into equity brokerage apart from equity and commodity derivatives and distribution of various financial products including mutual funds, insurance and credit cards.

Reliance Capital had launched its retail brokerage business in April 2007 under Reliance Money with a 'fixed' flat-fee structure as against the industry norm of a percentage brokerage charge per transaction. The firm had also tied up with UK's CMC Capital to offer offshore investment products to Indian consumers. Thereafter the firm had unveiled an even more aggressive strategy by offering a free trading account to it's demat account holders.

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