Shriram Group is exploring the possibility of entering angel investment space. Giving a hint at the group’s interest in adorning the angel investor garb, Arun Duggal, Chairman of Shriram Capital Ltd., however, added that “it’s just an initial thought.” Queried further, he said the group was keen to support entrepreneurs at early stage. Dwelling on the subject, he said the ticket size for angel investment was very small in India at around Rs.50-60 lakh. “We don’t want to go by the ticket size. Rather, we will like to go by the entrepreneur and his/her idea,” he pointed out.
Fielding a range of questions, Mr. Duggal said though the group had been an investor in a growth fund promoted jointly with TVS Capital, it was not involved in the management of it.
Mr. Duggal was addressing a press conference to announce the launch of “Shriram awards for excellence in financial journalism”. Akhila Srinivasan, Managing Director of Shriram Life Insurance Company, said the group had been promoting the cause of showcasing excellence in areas such as fine art, music and Tamil literature. The excellence award for journalism was an extension of this philosophy of the group, she added.
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G. Sundararajan, Group Director, said Shriram Inside, the brokerage arm, was only in retail space. He also indicated that the group would get into wealth advisory space soon. “Things are still at the drawing board level,” he said.
Quizzed on the group’s banking aspiration, both reiterated Shriram’s desire to enter the banking space. But they wanted the removal of glitches in the way of ‘financial inclusion’. To a specific query, Mr. Sundararajan said the Shriram Group would be keen to get into banking space if only it could help it serve its huge client base better.