Mumbai: Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group company and the largest broking and distribution house in India, Reliance Money has obtained Category I merchant banking license from the Securities and Exchange Board of India, Sudip Bandyopadhyay, director and CEO, Reliance Money, said today.

This new licence allows Reliance Money to provide a wide range of investment banking services such as issue management, underwriting, private equity advisory/ syndication and corporate finance services in India.

''We are extremely pleased with this development, as we believe the potential for investment banking in India is huge. While the main focus of the industry has been on large caps, we see a huge opportunity in serving the small and mid-sized segment, currently being under-serviced,'' said Sudip Bandyopadhyay.

Reliance Money plans to initially concentrate on issue management activities such as initial public offers, rights issue, follow-on public offers, qualified institutional placements, open offers, buyback offers, delisting offers, ADR/ GDR/ FCCB advisory and preferential issue of listed equity.

The company said it will leverage its existing customer base of more than 2.5 million and wide distribution network of 10,000+ outlets and 20,000+ touchpoints across 5,165 cities and towns to effectively distribute the IPOs it handles. The company is eyeing at least 50 fund-raising deals by the end of the current fiscal.

''Our expansion into investment banking highlights Reliance Moneys' broad-based approach in building an integrated, comprehensive global financial services platform in the country,'' added . Bandyopadhyay.

The company plans to focus on small and mid-sized companies and expects to strike around 50 fund-raising deals within the first 6 months of operation.

Reliance Money is a comprehensive financial services and solution company providing customers with access to equity, equity and commodity derivatives, portfolio management services, mutual funds, IPOs, life and general insurance and gold.

The largest broking house in India with 2.7 million customers and a wide network of over 10,000 outlets and 20,000 touch points in 5,000+ locations, Reliance Money offers loans, credit card, money transfer and money changing services.

Reliance Money is a subsidiary of Reliance Capital, one of India's leading and fastest growing private sector financial services companies, and ranks among the top 3 private sector financial services and banking groups, in terms of net worth.