SBI ventures into online equity trading - a delayed start

India’s biggest bank, State Bank of India has launched electronic broking through its subsidiary SBI Cap Securities for retail and institutional clients.

SBI Caps is also offering trading in futures and options and eventually would also offer commodity trading under its broking umbrella.

It seems off late, SBI seems to be quite fascinated with ICICI Bank as after declaring its intention of raising funds for expansion, plans of listing its insurance subsidiary, it has now decided to provide better customer satisfaction by providing better services and greeting its customers with a smile. Though, it would be a tough act to follow considering the orientation of existing employees.

SBI plans to take on ICICI Securities which is the market leader in online share trading through icicidirect.com with 10 lakh customers. But given a late entry for SBI, when already many players have established a nationwide footprint like HDFC Securities, Kotak Mahindra, IDBI, 5paisa.com, Indiabulls and Sharekhan, it would be difficult for it establish a firm market presence.

SBI is not known to be very much customer responsive and technological advanced as compared to ICICI Bank, so a level of satisfaction would be a key factor. Also, there is nothing much differentiated offering from SBI as compared to other trading platforms. Even the website of the SBI and SBI Caps has any mention of its e-broking services and the tariff scheme, etc.

The only advantage which SBI has is its wide reach and distribution spanning across India but that won’t be a deciding factor too considering the profile of its target audience.