France's Biggest Bank BNP Paribas SA to acquire Indian Brokerage Sharekhan

France's Biggest Bank BNP Paribas SA has agreed to buy Indian brokerage Sharekhan for an undisclosed sum as France's biggest bank looks to beef up its retail broking operations in India, taking advantage of a surge in retail investments into stocks.

"Sharekhan will serve as a platform for the Group's strategy in India to offer a comprehensive range of products," Joris Dierckx, country head of BNP Paribas, said in a statement.


Mumbai-based Sharekhan, which started operations in 2000, is one of the largest retail broking shops in India and serves about 1.2 million clients

The deal marks BNP's second big play at retail broking in India after the 34% stae acquisition in a domestic brokerage and renaming it BNP Geojit Paribas Financial Services in 2007 and it has now 1.2 million clients