Investment Bankers are the financial institutions or Banks who finances their clients for their various projects including the expansion or restructuring plans. The need for investment bankers increases very much particularly in the developing & underdeveloped countries.

Since the underdeveloped & developing states have little resources to spend but their requirements are very high. Therefore, they needs the outside help i.e., the financial institutions or the developed states who lends money against some specific terms. These lending institutions or banks are called investment bankers.

Types:

There are three types of investment bankers depending upon the size of their credits:

1)Small, 2) Medium & 3) Large. Again depending upon the ownership types, we can categorize the investment bankers into three categories viz., a) government owned,b)Private owned & c)Public owned or Cooperative investment Banker.

The small investment bankers are those who finances for small or individuals projects.Usually investment below than Rs. 10 lakhs is called a small investment. Many Banks working under both public & private sectors in India i.e., SIDBI, HDFC, CITI, SBI, PNB Banks etc. are providing small credits for financing various projects including the self-employment programmes of the unemployed youths.

The credits between Rs. 10 lakhs or Rs. 50 lakhs are called medium credits. The Medium Investment

Bankers are those who provide credits upto this limit to their clients.Generally the projects for example building own house in a big or medium city,establishing a motorcycle showroom, setting up of home appliances unit etc. requires somewhat an healthy investment which ranges between Rs. 10 lakhs to Rs. 50 or 60 lakhs. All the big Public sectors Banks & Private Banks like ICICI, HDFC, CITI,Punjab Bank, Standard Chartered Bank etc., are providing loans for such projects to their clients. All the big investment projects like infrastructural development, power, irrigation, Steel, housing projects needs heavy investment and it is not always possible for any

Company or the governments to meet up the entire expenses on its own. Therefore,they need the help of the financial institutions or the banks for their investment projects.With the liberalization of the world economies, several multinational banks like Hongkong Bank, Asian Development Bank, American Bank, International Monetary fund, etc. have now taken the role of the investment bankers for financing the gigantic projects worldwide. The terms & conditions for providing the credits also vary. Many of the multinational banks are owned & controlled by the rich countries and they often manipulates the terms & conditions of the bank loans for their own benefits.

This ultimately results catastrophic effects on the economies of the poor countries.

Again the credits for investment bankers purposes are of the short, medium & long terms.

The short term credits are for 1 to 2 , the medium term for 3 to 6 years & the long term for 8 to 20 years periods respectively. Many of the big power projects in India,Oil refinery projects in the gulf countries, drilling works, housing projects worldwide etc. are completed with the help of MNC Banks who meet up at least 90% of the whole project expenses. Many of the big Companies often takes restructuring programmes for their organization & they seeks the help of the investment Bankers for it. The investment Bankers first sees the project details & other documents of their clients in details and after thorough examination, they decide regarding the credits for their client.Such examination is also necessary for the banks because of the possibilities of the Projects collapsing, financial ailment of the clients, fraudulences , internal problems in the clients countries etc. Sources of the banks incomes are profits due to interest payment, share markets, Government Aids, public finances etc.

History of investment bankers:

The history of the investment Bankers begins from the world war II. In India, the activities of the investment Bankers got momentum after the post liberalization era

( i.e., from the year 1990 & onwards).It is only after 1990s that the investment bankers are playing leading role in the investment activities of India. During the period 1991-1996, total credits disbursed by the PSU Banks in India for rural development was about Rs. 87800 crores, for urban development & renovation work Rs. 9930.143 crores& for various steels, power, drilling, modernization projects Rs. 24500.132 crores respectively. According to the ADB annual report, total loans disbursed to India for its development activities during the year 2004-2005 was $4780 millions. It seems from the above data, that the PSU Banks are actively involved in the development activities of the rural areas. The pragmatic shift in the economic policy of the Govt.of India after the Year 1990, is the increasing role of the private & multinational Banks

in the development activities of the country. This has increased the competition among the all existing investment Bankers and it is good for the customers because they gets better services from the Banks.

Conclusion:

No doubt, investment bankers are nowadays backbone for the economic development&Progress of the any country especially the third world countries. Some Banks not only provides loans but they also provides consultancy services to their clients. In the developing countries, resources are very scarce and the problems are numerous viz.,

Unemployment, malnutrition, underdevelopment, poverty, illiteracy etc. To cope Up with this situation, Government needs the help of the outer agencies or the Investment bankers. However, Governments in these countries have to carefully borrow Loans by examining the various aspects of the loans i.e., rate of interest for the loans, Period of the payment, other associated terms of the banks loans, which might affects the economic policies of the government. In fact, these aspects are looked in by the other clients like companies, individuals or groups too. No institutions or the agencies will success or progress unless they provides better services to their clients and satisfies their needs as far as practicable. For this Government too has to take corrective measures like establishing a Regulator like RBI in the India, which regulates all the Banking operations in India. Developed Countries too should refrain from the malpractices which jeopardizesthe overall economic development all over the globe, which is the ultimate objective of the liberalization policy and free & fair trade.