The money changer

INTERVIEW: Guru Prasad

'By June 2007 we will have 54 branches'

Mr Guru Prasad, who joined CentrumDirect as regional head (forex) of the southern region 10 years ago, is Executive Director in charge of overall (forex) business development, taking care of new product tie-ups and business acquisition. He speaks about the company's plans.

What businesses are you present in?

CentrumDirect is a boutique financial services company and a subsidiary of Centrum Capital Ltd, a full-service investment banking company and a Category I merchant bank registered with SEBI. CentrumDirect is the foreign exchange, insurance and retail distribution business arm of Centrum Capital. It is a full fledged money changer authorised by the Reserve Bank of India. It does money changing for leisure and corporate travellers and is also involved in the wholesale foreign exchange business like export of currency. We buy and sell all leading brands of travellers cheques and major international currencies for tourists.

At the retail level, we provide investment advisory services and distribute financial products like mutual funds and insurance products. Centrum Broking is the secondary market broking arm of the group, and is a member of the Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange. We also offer wealth management and portfolio management services. We are also into real estate consulting.

How large are your operations?

We are among the top three money changers in India, with offices in all tourist locations and international airports. We have taken over the retail operations of American Express in Baroda, Goa and Kochi, we have a tie-up with Western Union for inward money transfers, and we have a co-branded travel card with Citigroup and ICICI Bank. We have tied up with major hotel chains for procurement of forex in India. We have national tie-ups with multinationals for selling forex to their employees who travel abroad on business.

How have you benefitted from the tourism boom?

There has been tremendous growth in outbound tourism, and this has been good for our business. Last year (2006) 8.2 million Indians travelled abroad, compared to about 7 million in 2005. April, May and June are the months when Indians like to go abroad, and 50 per cent of our annual sale of travellers cheques take place in these three months. In the last two years we have grown year on year by 60 to 65 per cent, and lots of tour companies, corporates and foreign banks have tied up with us.

How have you been extending your operations and your network?

We have been spreading our network geographically. We closed June 2006 with 33 branches and by June 2007 we will have 54 (our fiscal year is July-June). We want to be in more airports, seaports, malls and tourist centres. We have 32 corporate implants, and by December 2007 this will go up to 75.

Where do you see Centrum five years hence?

In five years I see us becoming a bank. We want to go international, with offices in Hong Kong, Singapore, Mauritius and London for money changing and wealth management. We already have a branch in Dubai catering to high net worth NRIs for wealth management.

"Five years from now I see us becoming a bank. We want to go international, with offices in Hong Kong, Singapore, Mauritius and London for money changing and wealth management"
Guru Prasad,
Executive Director, Centrum Direct Ltd