Wisec Global Ltd

With the Indian economy opening up in 1991-92, the Gadgil Western group, to make a concentrated effort in finance, formed Western India Securities (WISEC), now called Wisec Global Ltd. The company obtained clearance from SEBI to become a category-I registrar and commenced operations in 1992, initially from its registrar and share transfer agency division. By the end of 1992-93, the division (currently called the share services division) had created enough market awareness to help the company expand its client base. In 1994, it decided to steadily broad-base its activities to tackle the fast expansion and swelling competition in the financial sector. Since Apr.'94, there have been five business divisions operating with a pragmatic mix of fee-based and fund-based activities -- the share transfer agency, investments and equity research, corporate advisory division, the treasury division, the trade finance division and the stock broking division. This phase established the presence of WISEC in the identified areas and provided it with an opportunity to gain valuable experience. By the end of 1994-95, WISEC had achieved a sound infrastructure for its various activities. It ranks eighth in the share registrar business. It was awarded a credit rating of A by Credit Analysis and Research after a year of broad-based operations. The diversity of its operations helped especially during the year 1995-96, where severe liquidity crunch, spiralling interest rates, volatile money markets, rupee depreciation and bearish stock market conditions adversely affected the performance of many NFBCs. Today, there are two more divisions -- the leasing division and the international trade division. The company plans to reorient its business and add new synergistic lines of business.