Confirming the decision, Sharekhan.com chief executive Mr Dhiraj Agarwal said that the portal has already received venture capital funding from HSBC Private Equity and First Carlyle, Mauritius worth Rs 22 crore each. In addition, Intel is also also likely to take stake in the company. However, Mr Agarwal declined to disclose the valuation of the portal and the price at which the stake to these two venture capitalists would be given. Funds raised from these VCs would be used for building the brand for the financial portal and adding the infrastructure in different parts of the country.

The portal is considering to position itself not as a another dotcom company offering e-trading, but as a finance company offering different financial products with Internet as the medium. "We are multi-channel resource management establishment and not just a dotcom firm", Agarwal added. At present the portal has 20,000 to 30,000 customers with fifty franchisees in 28 cities across the country. With its new plan, the company plans to expand the customer base to 2,50,000 and add 450 franchisees to its umbrella.