Introducing Cafemutual

Bhushan Mahajan, the man behind Pune Investment Advisors Association, talks to Cafemutual on how his group is trying to educate investors in Pune about fee-based financial planning. Though launched recently, it has already become popular among Pune IFAs.

When was the group formed? What prompted you to start this group?

We formed this group in July 2011. We were a group of 20 wealth advisors and distributors attending a diploma course in wealth management organized by Pramerica Mutual Fund. We used to meet every week. All of us are very serious about our business. During breaks at those sessions, we used to discuss how the industry is changing, our approach with clients and new products etc. Often the discussion would be about the successful methods of our fellow IFAs. That was the time we thought that we should form a group wherein we can share ideas and also add value to every member of the group.

The idea caught on with all the members. After evaluating the various legal structures, we decided to  register our group as Association of Persons (AOP). This was the fastest way we could come together as a group. Our membership started expanding very fast. We are trying to figure out if we should register PIAA as a Section 25 company. We are currently formulating our constitutional bye-laws for the group.

Our core team members are Sandip Bhushetty, P Gurushankar, Ravindra Kulkarni, Nilesh Karkare, Manoj Munot, Avinash Patankar, Hiten Shah,  Kedar Kulkarni and me.

Our members will retire by rotation every year so that there is continuity in leadership and new people get to head the group. 

What is the objective of your group?

Our main objective is to equip ourselves to face the challenges of this industry. We wanted to understand the problems faced by the IFA community and address them. We thought of organizing training programs by roping in AMCs. We also try to organize events on our own. Apart from this, our aim is to create awareness about fee-based financial planning among investors in Pune. Training is our main focus.

Besides these broad objectives, we wish to achieve the following:

• To work collectively to promote our advisor work as a respectable profession to AMCs, investors and other stakeholders in the industry. 

• To understand the various concerns, problems of the independent financial advisors and to represent them at the appropriate forum.
• To represent Pune-based advisors before other advisor associations, AMFI, and SEBI.
• To organise training programmes for the benefit of advisors and keep them updated with the latest developments in the financial sector.
• To recognise advisors for outstanding work in the field of advisory.
• To clearly define the role of advisors.
• To hold investor education and awareness programmes and to stress the importance of asset allocation and financial planning through long-term investing. 
• To have regular interaction on a monthly basis to share the best practices in the industry.
• To support advisors for upgrading their knowledge and infrastructure.
• To create employment by educating and training people.
• To increase the small savings habit amongst people and reach the interiors of Pune.
  

Our slogan for PIAA is “Enter to Learn and Learn to Serve.”

How many members does your group have?

We formed this group with 20 members. Currently, the group has around 105 members and many more are joining every month. We conducted a small survey and found out that there are around 300 active IFAs in Pune. We targeted 100 IFAs initially. By the end of this year, we should have 200 IFAs enrolled with us.

How are you reaching out to fellow IFAs?

We have created a group on Facebook which is called ‘Pune Investment Advisors Association’. Two of our core committee members are trying to reach out to more members around Pune through this social media platform. We send all the updates to our group members every week through email. The response has been excellent. We will soon communicate with all group members through PIAA's SMS network. We get 100% attendance without sending any reminders.

Is there any membership fee to join your group?

The fees are Rs 1,000 for joining the group and Rs 2,000 is the annual membership renewal fee.

What activities does your group undertake? How often?

We organize one programme per month. In the last 10 months, we have organized around nine programmes.

We have organized training programmes on soft skills, portfolio management with diversified products like debt, equity, gold, etc. We have also covered topics such as customer service, technology upgradation to serve customers, communication skills, and a workshop on software used for regular business.

What kind of activities has the group undertaken so far? Highlight any events or activities that you are  proud of.

Other than training programmes, we have organized a blood donation camp which we feel as a group would support and add value to the needy in society. The event was supported by Mirae Asset Mutual Fund. The blood donation camp received huge support and more than 200 friends and customers participated in the campaign. It was a great success for all of us. We are happy that our customers and friends have confidence and trust in us.

Another important event we organized was an IFA conclave on ‘Challenges before the Independent Financial Advisor: The Roadmap to Investor Wealth Creation'. We have also participated in group activities and brainstormed on issues like sharing circulars of regulators, understanding the nuances of the business, what could be the right strategy in the current market scenarios for advising our clients, etc.

We conduct events in various parts of Pune. Our last event was held in association with Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund. We had a programme on how to decipher and use factsheets to the best advantage of clients. We are planning a programme on commodities soon. We have also done a programme on debt products.

Do you interact with AMFI/SEBI on the issues in the mutual fund industry?

As the group will be one year old soon, we are in the process of organizing our roles and responsibilities, keeping in mind the number of members joining the group. We regularly share the views, circulars and guidelines given by AMFI and SEBI.

We also plan to meet officials at AMFI/SEBI to inform them on the initiatives that we are taking and seek their guidance for further improvement and directions.

What kind of support do you get from fund houses?

We have regular meets with the officials of various fund houses. Based on inputs from various members on the kind of training programmes they require, we seek the support of AMCs and have content developed on areas like soft skills, marketing strategies, customer service, regulatory guidelines, customer awareness programmes and so on.

AMCs are playing the role of a guide and are assisting our members for building a good brand for their business through proper education and training programmes.

What are your plans for the group?

Very soon we will complete one year. We plan to have a meeting to share ideas, what all went well in the last year, areas of improvement and additional support that the members feel they require. There are also plans to start a series of training programmes in the areas of soft skills, financial planning and portfolio management with the support of AMCs.

We plan to organize investor education and awareness programmes in various parts of Pune where a group of 5-6 advisors in the locality will be benefited and the investing community in the city will also benefit. We also intend to take up some very important issues concerning IFAs and represent the same in front of the appropriate entities for resolution.  PIAA will also enroll with other IFA Associations like FIFA and IFA Galaxy.