 Geojit's all-woman branch in Chennai
 Geojit Financial Services Ltd, a premier stock broking company and a joint venture with Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation Ltd (KSIDC), opened an all-woman branch in Chennai on April 22, 2006. This is the first all-woman branch of Geojit in Tamil Nadu and the third in the country.
This branch, exclusively for women investors, will be managed by an all-woman team of professionals. This team will be responsible for educating and guiding the female clientele through the various investment options and intricacies of the capital markets and is located at K C S Complex, 44-A, C P Ramaswamy Road,
Abiramapuram. Sivasankari, writer and activist, along with Suhasini Maniratnam, inaugurated the all-woman branch. While addressing the large gathering of women at the inauguration function, Sivasankari said today's women with more education and exposure take wise decisions and make good investments. She congratulated Geojit for taking the new initiative for women.
Suhasini Maniratnam said in the past women thought of investing their money in gold or property but the new generation girls are smarter than the previous generation and exercise better investment options.
C J George, managing director, Geojit, said, "Geojit, in response to the need of the hour, opened the country's first exclusive branch for women in Kochi on October 15, 2005, and the second at Mumbai on January 16, 2006. Motivated by the tremendous response received from women investors in Kochi and Mumbai, Geojit decided to open a similar one in Chennai to provide a platform exclusively for women, to learn about investments."
He added that the Geojit women's branch at Chennai will be a place where women can feel at home, with qualified professionals to help them learn about various investment opportunities and to guide them while making investments. All financial products from debt instruments, equity, mutual funds, commodities and insurance will be provided under one roof with market experts present to answer all questions on financial markets. "With the ambience at the branch created specifically to make women feel at ease, Geojit hopes to ring in a new era of empowered female investors in Chennai," he added.
Jaya Jacob Alexander, head, HR, Geojit, said women in Chennai, apart from being well educated and employed, also tend to control the saving and expenditure segments within the family. "The high rates of literacy and the economic empowerment of women in Chennai make them ideal candidates for being stakeholders in the economic boom that our country is witnessing today," she said.
Financial investment has been a largely untapped avenue by women. This is due to a variety of factors namely lack of requisite awareness and information to access the markets. This is what Geojit wants to change with its radical new concept of setting up an only women branch, she pointed out.
Investment holds the same benefits for both men and women, but the degree of involvement in this field is heavily skewed towards men. There is a great need to correct this disparity. The financial independence that good investment can bring improves the standing of women in society and empowers them. Women have been succeeding in formerly male-dominated bastions and investment is another area for women to come to the fore. Hence, it is Geojit's duty and privilege to aid in this process by being the first to bring the advantage of financial investment exclusively to woman in Tamil Nadu, she said.
Geojit has 77 offices in Tamil Nadu with 30 offices in Chennai city. "We have four regional centres with two at Chennai (north & south), Coimbatore and Madurai. We are planning 32 more offices in Tamil Nadu for this financial year. We have exclusive offices for Internet trading, commodity trading, high profile investors (HNI Platinum Club) and now for women investors," said George.
R Rangaraj
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