Prudential Financial keen on India foray

28 July 2006

Another Prudential, and this one's from the US, may be looking at the Indian financial services sector. CNBC-TV18 reports an exclusive.

Prudential Financial has revenues of $31.9 billion. Its services range from mutual funds, annuities and pension to retail securities broking.

The group managed assets of about $532 billion at the end of last year. Industry experts say Prudential Financial could be looking for a joint venture partnership with a domestic mutual fund player in India, which is interested in the insurance sector too.

If plans work out this would be the second Prudential in the Indian financial services space. Britain-based Prudential PLC has an insurance and mutual fund tie-up with India's largest private sector bank, ICICI Bank. But this Prudential is not related to Prudential Financial of the US.

Even so the industry is speculating on branding differences between the two Prudentials. But sources close to Prudential PLC say that they and Prudential Financial have a worldwide pact on branding. So there may be little room for differences.