ABN Amro Broking will initially offer services to the bank's client base. The bank already provides research and broking services to institutional clients in India.
India is the first country in Asia in which ABN is launching the service and recent turmoil in the stock market is not a fair reflection of the opportunity that is also present, Jeroen Drost said.
"We are obviously very keen on the opportunities in India and China," he said. "India has been on a growth path for the past several years ... obviously we don't expect it to be a straight line going up all the time."
The country's main stock index lost 14 percent over three days at the start of this week and the market has been volatile since.
ABN Amro's country head, Romesh Sobti, said they expected to see "very healthy" numbers, with a possible target of 100,000 clients over five years.
Banks in the retail broking space include ICICI Bank Ltd., Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd. and HDFC Bank Ltd.
Financial services firms that offer retail broking include Indiabulls Financial Services and IL&FS Investsmart Ltd., besides some brokerages. ABN Amro, which has been in India since 1920, is also considering setting up a non-banking financial firm.
"We are open to (it) ... we are waiting for guidelines from the (central bank) as we would like more clarity on the regulations," said Drost, adding that the bank may launch trading in commodity futures over the next 12 months.
Foreigners cannot hold more than 5 percent in Indian banks and that has led to a surge in private funds buying into finance firms in order to gain a toehold in the fast-expanding but strictly controlled sector.
