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BNP Paribas Securities Asia has announced today the launch of a 27-people strong securities research team in India, which will be headed by Praveen Chakravarty, Chief Operating Officer and Acting Head of Equity Research for BNP Paribas Securities India. The company had earlier announced the appointment of Abhijit Raha (formerly CLSA Asia) as the CEO of BNP Paribas Securities India, a joint venture between BNP Paribas Securities Asia and Geojit Securities. Raha is also the Head of Institutional Equities and Corporate Finance for BNP Paribas, India.
The new onshore research operation based in Mumbai is the second-largest research platform after the Hong Kong and China team. Chakravarty moved from Thomas Weisel International's India office, which was set up by him in Mumbai two years ago. A large section of his former team at Thomas Weisel was believed to have moved along with him to BNP Paribas Securities India. Thomas Weisel Partners is a San Francisco based investment bank.
The new setup will have 10 writing analysts and 13 research associates, and the firm plans to initially cover 100 Indian stocks by October 2008, according to a release. BNP Paribas Securities Asia will now be a full-fledged securities house with trading capabilities on the Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange.