Geojit Financial going for branch expansion

MUMBAI: Bucking the trend of closures, Geojit Financial Services has embarked on branch expansion in parts of south, north and west India. Between January and March 2009, Geojit plans to open 25 branches mostly in southern states while they have already opened 20 new offices in Delhi, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Orissa in the last two months. At present, the broking house has 503 branches, out of which 105 offices are through franchise model.

All these braches are low cost involving an investment of Rs 10-12 lakh on an average per branch. Geojit is funding the cost through internal resources as the financial company is sitting on enough cash without any borrowings. It is also recruiting people in those branches at entry level.

Said Mr. C J George, managing director, Geojit Financial Services, ���As a business policy, we expand whenever market declines. In fact, we expand aggressively in a bear market.���

Explaining the rationale behind opening new branches in market recession, Mr. George said, ���we believe in managing customers��� asset directly without compromising the quality of services, which sometimes happens in franchise business model. The market meltdown has made time ripe enough to go for investment at lower valuations. Once our experience to fight recession is over, we shall have gained expertise to do much better in the next market boom.���