Currencies Direct, a UK-based commercial foreign exchange company, which claims to be one of the fastest growing such outfits this year, plans to enter India in a strategic way.
The company co-founded by NRI entrepreneur Mayank B Patel, who has family roots in Baroda in Gujarat, said that the company has registered a turnover of £650 million this year as against £431 million last year.
"We are one of the fastest growing companies. We are really aiming for a turnover of 1 billion pounds in the next 18 months," he claimed.
Patel, who was one of the winners of the NRI Excellence Award in New Delhi last month, said his company planned to open a dedicated service centre in Pune employing about 100 people to act as a hub for its present and future offices.
"This centre is being initiated after consideration of both core and non-core business processes. Not only will it serve to streamline the non-core processes, it will also keep the company ahead of its competition by creating a 24-hour operation working in 3 shifts to look after the front-end core processes.
"In time the service centre will act as a stepping stone for Currencies Direct to set up a fully fledged commercial foreign exchange facility in India once the market fully opens up. In line with these advances, the company has also created a web-enabled, online deal management system which provides access to Currencies Direct's services from anywhere in the world."
The NRI Excellence Award was presented to Patel by the former prime minister I K Gujral on January 12, when he had visited Delhi to attend the 2nd Pravasi Bhartiya Divas.
Currencies Direct, established in 1996 with an investment of 8,500 pounds, has registered a growth of 28,000 per cent till now.
Currencies Direct has two offices in Spain and opened its Australian office in Sydney a few months ago. As part of its expansion programme, the company proposed to have offices in Dubai, Cape Town and Atlanta.
Patel plans to visit South Africa in this connection this week.
Patel was awarded the London Entrepreneur of the Year Award 2003 and was short-listed for the prestigious Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award.