NEW YORK & MUMBAI & LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jefferies announced today the establishment of full-service equity capabilities in Mumbai, India as part of the firm’s continued expansion of its global equities franchise. Jefferies has appointed Kunal Bajaj as a Managing Director and Head of India Equity Sales, Govind Chellappa as a Managing Director and Head of India Research and Senior Equity Research Analyst covering the Autos and Consumer industries, Anand Agarwal, CFA as a Senior Vice President and Senior Equity Research Analyst covering the Real Estate industry and Ramnath Iyer as a Managing Director in Equity Sales focused on serving the Indian Market. Messrs. Bajaj, Chellappa and Agarwal will be based in Mumbai, and Mr. Iyer will be based in the firm’s Singapore office.

Jefferies recently received membership approvals from the National Stock Exchange of India Limited (NSE) and the Bombay Stock Exchange Limited (BSE), as well as a Certificate of Registration from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) as a Stock Broker on the NSE and BSE.

Jefferies’ existing investment banking effort in India is led by Probir Rao, Head of India Investment Banking and Capital Markets. Established in 2007, Jefferies India investment banking effort consists of 12 investment bankers covering a broad range of sectors, and has advised Indian clients on over $6 billion in M&A transactions and more than $3.5 billion in capital raising transactions.

To support its growth in India, Jefferies has made additional key hires in the areas of Operations, Finance and Compliance who will join the firm in the coming weeks. To accommodate this expansion, Jefferies is building new office space in the MakerMaxity building in the Bandra-Kurla Complex in Mumbai.

“The establishment of a full-service Equities business in India is the next step in our broader Asian Equities expansion and comes on the heels of recent additions to our equity business in Tokyo and the firm’s ongoing growth in Hong Kong,” commented Mike Alexander, CEO of Jefferies Asia. “The Indian market represents a significant opportunity for our global Equities business, and the establishment of this capability, which we expect to launch in the third quarter of this year, is a key part of our strategy to provide clients with high quality research and insight coupled with world-class execution and distribution globally."

Nilesh Jasani, India Equity Research Strategist and Head of Pan Asia Equity Research at Jefferies, added, “Kunal, Govind, Anand and Ramnath are talented and proven professionals who will help to immediately establish our equities business in India, where we expect to launch research coverage in the next few weeks. These hires are part of our ongoing commitment to provide high quality, sector-based research that is both forward thinking and global in its approach, as demanded by our clients.”

The firm’s equities business now consists of more than 700 professionals globally, including over 200 outside the U.S. Jefferies offers sales and trading services in a full range of equity products, including cash equities, electronic trading, equity derivatives, exchange traded funds, convertibles, prime brokerage, securities finance and more than 215 equity research professionals globally covering over 1,100 companies.

Mr. Bajaj has 11 years of industry experience and joins Jefferies from Credit Suisse where he was a Director in Institutional Equity Sales covering clients based in Asia. He received a Bachelors of Commerce from the University of Bombay and is a Chartered Accountant.

Mr. Chellappa has 12 years of industry experience and joins Jefferies from Credit Suisse where he was a Director in Equity Research covering the Automobile and Consumer sectors. Previously, he was a Vice President in Equity Research at Deutsche Bank. He received a PGDM from the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta.

Mr. Agarwal has nine years of industry experience and joins Jefferies from Credit Suisse where he was a Vice President in Equity Research covering the Real Estate and Cement sectors. Previously, he was an Equity Analyst at UBS. He received a PGDM from the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad and is a Chartered Financial Analyst.

Mr. Iyer has 21 years of industry experience and joins Jefferies from Pioneer Investments where he was a Senior Portfolio Manager. Previously, he worked as an Emerging Markets Strategist at CLSA in London and as India Portfolio Manager and Strategy Coordinator at Uob Asset Management. He received an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta and a Bachelor of Commerce from Gujarat University, Ahmedabad.

Jefferies Group, Inc. (NYSE: JEF), a global securities and investment banking firm, has served companies and investors for nearly 50 years.

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