NEW YORK: Merrill Lynch's South Asian Professional Network hosted some 500 South Asian employees, families and friends at its annual Diwali Festival of Lights program at the Royal Albert's Palace in New Jersey on November 16.

Celebrating the glittering ceremony of lighting the "diyas", were guests, resplendent in traditional Indian dress, with courses of Indian food, and danced to engaging sets of contemporary Indian dance and Bollywood music powered by "DJ Magic Mike," besides enjoying an art and fashion show that combined Indian dance and the latest designs by Mumbai-based designer Rajat Tangri.

Welcoming the guests were Paul Critchlow, Vice Chairman, Public Markets, Merrill Lynch, and executive sponsor of the South Asian Professional Network; and Nikos Kardassis, Managing Director, Head of Business Development & Distribution, Global Bank Group, Merrill Lynch. "Each year we celebrate the holidays and customs of the South Asian community, led by our South Asian Professional Network," Critchlow said.

"This is illustrative of our dedication to understanding and meeting the needs of our employees as well as those of the over-250,000 diverse South Asians in the New York area.""We are proud to host the biggest Diwali celebration in this region, and by a major Wall Street firm, for our extended network of families and friends," said Kardassis, who prior to his position at Merrill Lynch spent several years in India as a senior executive with Jet Airways.

Also lighting the diyas were Jyoti Chopra, Managing Director and Head of Communications, Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management Americas; representatives and volunteers of the Merrill Lynch South Asian Professional Network; and representatives from Helios and Matheson; Covansys; Iris Software, and Jet Airways.

The South Asian Professional Network of some 1,100 is one of the largest of Merrill Lynch's professional networks. It is led by Senior Advisor Jyoti Chopra, and Global Co-Leaders Neetu Khiantani, Alok Kapoor, Amrit Walia and Indrajit Bardhan.

The fashion show was choreographed and produced by Myna Mukherjee, artistic director of Nayikas, a resident classical Indian Odissi dance theater company.Merrill Lynch is one of the world's leading wealth management, capital markets and advisory companies with offices in 38 countries and territories and total client assets of approximately $1.8 trillion.

As an investment bank, it is a leading global trader and underwriter of securities and derivatives across a broad range of asset classes and serves as a strategic advisor to corporations, governments, institutions and individuals worldwide. Merrill Lynch owns approximately half of BlackRock, one of the world's largest publicly traded investment management companies, with more than $1 trillion in assets under management.