Steel City turnover up 50 per cent

Visakhapatnam-based Steel City Securities Limited (SCSL) registered a 50.46 per cent growth in trading turnover at Rs 25,616 crore during the first half of the current fiscal, as compared with Rs 17,025 crore in the corresponding period last fiscal.

"Our trading turnover improved significantly due to the bullish trend in the stock market. If this continues, we could witness 100 per cent growth by this fiscal end," SCSL executive director G Raja Gopal Reddy told Business Standard.

Driven by its branch network expansion, the company expects a trading turnover of over Rs 60,000 crore this year, as against Rs 32,424 crore achieved last year, he added.

SCSL currently operates 270 branches across the country, of which 20 branches (16 in Tamil Nadu and 4 in Andhra Pradesh) were set up during the first half of the current fiscal. It plans to open 25-30 more branches in Tamil Nadu and 25 branches in Karnataka by this fiscal end.

So far in the current year, the company has spent about Rs 1 crore on expanding its network and would further invest Rs 2 crore over the next six months for setting up new branches, Reddy said.

SCSL, which witnessed a turnover of Rs 400-500 crore during the last few months, expects to garner a net profit of Rs 7 crore this year, as against Rs 5.66 crore last fiscal.