L&T, BlueStone tie-up for finance portal

MUMBAI, MARCH 27: Engineering giant Larsen & Toubro (L&T) is also getting into the infotech business. L&T and BlueStone Capital Partners of the USA on Monday announced signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to set up a full service finance portal in India

The portal will use BlueStone Capital’s TRADE.COM — a global internet platform trading system. L&T has also roped in CRISIL as a strategic partner for the proposed joint venture for providing and managing contents for the site.ØTRADE.COM, a division of investment bank BlueStone Capital has developed the site which is a global trading platform. It is already operational and will be linked to 75 countries through partnering with international financial institutions round the globe, an L&T release said.The system will allow both Indian investors and foreign investors, including non-resident Indians (NRIs), access to conduct trades in the indian markets. It will allow Indian investors real time trade in securities round the globe and perform full convertiblity in conjunction with the transactions once the cyber laws are put in place and India opts for full convertibility.

The portal will initially allow securities trading via the Internet. It will also provide sophisticated decision support systems for the investors to assist their decision for trading in securities, the release said.The portal will provide finacial products like initial public offerings (IPOs), bonds trading, governmnet securities trading, loans and other financial products. L&T has already identified content providers, banks and brokers who are interested in long-term association with the portal in India, the release said.The portal will provide access to global financial markets. It will offerthe most comprehensive arrays of financial services–portfolio mangemnt tool, real time market data, etc. — to individual investors around the world, the release said adding investors from around the globe will be able to take part in finacial transactions and invest in markets in virtually any country.This initiative of L&T is in line with the the company’s strategic thrust in telecom and information technology as recommended by Boston Consulting Group (BCG).