BNP Paribas buys Sharekhan for around Rs 2,000 cr

Mumbai, July 30

French banking giant BNP Paribas today acquired homegrown brokerage firm Sharekhan in an estimated Rs 2,000-crore deal, as it seeks to expand retail broking operations here.

The Mumbai-based Sharekhan began operations in 2000 and is one of the largest independent retail brokers with about 1.2 million clients.

Though the companies did not disclose the deal value, sources in the know said, the deal size is estimated to be Rs 2,000 crore.

BNP sees a large potential for growth in the domestic brokerage sector, as the retail investors are only about 1.5% of the households, against around 10% in China and 20% in the US.

It can be noted that both the Sensex and the Nifty surged over 40% since the start of 2014 on expectation that the new government will bring back growth to a higher trajectory. PTI