Wall Street Finance all set to expand in Punjab

Wall Street Finance Ltd is planning to open over five outlets and around 25 franchisees in Punjab in the financial year 2006-07. It has four branches in the state "" at Chandigarh, Jalandhar, Ludhiana and Amritsar "" at present.

The Patels, the promoters of the firm, have interests in finance, forex, remittance, logistics and construction among other things.

Wall Street Finance has 25 branches across India, 120 franchisees for foreign exchange and over 2500 sub-agent locations for money transfer business. Besides India, it has a presence in the Middle-east, south east Asia, Europe and the US.

On the company's plans in the region, Ashok Makkar, regional manager, Wall Street Finance, Jalandhar, said, "We are planning expansion of our network through our own outlets as well as franchisees. In 2006-07, we plan to open a minimum of 5 own outletsand around 25 franchisees in Punjab. This is in addition to around 150 new sub-agent locations for the firm's Western Union Money Transfer business.

"Currently, we have a network of 27 forex franchisees and 300 sub-agents for Western Union Money Transfer in Punjab. We have been in the foreign exchange business for more than 15 years and for more than 10 years in the money transfer business. We were the first private company to be granted a money changers licence by the RBI."

He further said Punjab has great potential for foreign exchange and inward money transfer services.

"Since Wall Street Finance operates in both these fields, Punjab becomes the most important area of operation for the company. We have a strong base in Punjab for the last 10 years and see a great future, especially in sectors like mutual funds, securities, apart from the traditional strongholds of foreign exchange and money transfer.

The core activities of the company are retail and wholesale foreign exchange, export of foreign currency notes and Western Union Money Transfer.

It has also entered mutual fund distribution, portfolio management, overseas medical insurance and is planning to enter securities broking, air ticketing and distribution of mobile cards.