Compared with its Wall Street rivals, India's Ambit Holdings has long been considered small fry.
Launched in 1988, the Mumbai-based investment bank has just 180 employees. With the financial crisis engulfing the big Wall Street firms, though, Ambit executives want to grab the opportunity to gain ground on their better-known competitors.
Over the past year and a half, Ambit has expanded into wealth management, private equity, and insurance brokerage. The expansion has helped it emerge as one of the top five banks in the Indian league table.
Ambit's biggest coup came on Sept 15. That's when it announced it had poached Andrew Holland, head of the strategic risk group at DSP Merrill Lynch, the Indian joint venture that Merrill operates.
Photograph: Getty Images
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