Thanks to Karnataka Association of Mutual Fund Advisors (KAMFA), after a long time, I experienced a pleasant winter in Bengaluru. My karmabhoomi, Mumbai has nothing called winters. So landing up in the cool and salubrious weather of Bengaluru was a bonus though what had brought me there was the eighth annual convention of KAMFA themed challenge ver 2.0.
I saw over 600 IFAs from places like Bengaluru, Belgaum, Udupi, Mysuru, Hubballi, Ballari, Shivamogga and Mangaluru who had gathered to get insights on growing business.
The event started with the address of Himanshu Vyapak, Deputy CEO, Reliance Nippon Life AMC who said that market regulator is moving from buyer beware to seller beware regime and distributors should focus on customer centricity to grow business. Vyapak talked about how IFAs can add value to their services through tie-ups with tax planners and estate planners to grow business.
Janakiraman R, Vice President and Portfolio Manager – Equities, Franklin Templeton MF made a case for mid and small cap funds. He said that a well-disciplined, quality oriented investment approach works well in this volatile space. He asked distributors to recommend mid and small cap funds only if their clients were willing to stay put for five years.
Tushar Pradhan, CIO, HSBC felt that FIIs would return to emerging markets like India. He said that better growth prospect, low oil prices and strong currency would drive emerging markets.
Speaking about business continuity in the current scenario, Ajit Menon, CEO, DHFL Pramerica gave a two-year roadmap to IFAs to generate a monthly income of Rs.1 lakh. He said that IFAs should make at least 4 business calls a day and 100 calls a month. IFAs should convert at least 10 of them for SIP of Rs.15000 each and 10 for lumpsum investment of Rs.1.40 lakh each. Such a strategy can help IFAs to increase their AUM from Rs.3 crore to Rs.6 crore in one year and Rs.12 crore in two years.
Ashish Chauhan, MD and CEO, BSE in his keynote address urged IFAs to use technology platforms to scale their business.
While Raghav Iyengar, CEO, Indiabulls Mutual Fund asked IFAs to increase their offerings by adding loan products, Swarup Mohanty, CEO, Mirae Asset Mutual Fund talked about successful sales practices.
Sunil Subramaniam, Managing Director, Sundaram Mutual Fund gave 11 lessons to IFAs to grow business. I must say that many IFAs believe that Sunil is Mahendra Singh Dhoni of the MF industry. The kind of response he received from IFAs reminds me of the audience going crazy after a Dhoni helicopter shot.
Another role model for most IFAs, Rajiv Bajaj, MD, Bajaj Capital shared his mantra to build large retail client base.
Pradeep Kumar Jain of PMPK, Ranchi spoke about opportunities for IFAs in retail segment. He urged IFAs to hire employees for back office work and utilize time to meet new prospects to grow business.
Other speakers who made a mark with their insightful presentation were Arvind Subramanian, Vice President – Funds Management IDFC MF, Jatinder Pal Singh, CMO and Head – Sales and Distribution, Mahindra MF, Swati Kulkarni, Executive VP, Fund Management, UTI MF, Mohit Bhatia, Head, Sales and Marketing, Canara Robeco MF, Dhirendra Kumar, Founder & CEO, ValueResearch and Anand Kumar from Super 30.
The hard work put in by Nilesh Shah, President, KG Manjunath, Secretary, Job Neroth, Jt Secretary, TT Samuel, Treasurer and other KAMFA members clearly showed.
