The ‘turnaround’ experts

Manoj Garg, Partner, Simply Invest, shares details of an aggressive strategy adapted by them to grow their assets. Just 14 months later, Simply Invest handles an AUM of Rs. 30 crore and a kitty of 1000 SIPs with 2000 investors.

Investors always wonder about turning their negative or disastrous investment in equity into a valuable investment. It might seem like a distant dream... but this is a promise that Simply Invest keeps up to with its innovative new service – ‘Parivartan’.

To turn around disastrous investment into lucrative returns, the investor at Simply Invest has to abide by certain rules:

1. The investor has to handover all his non-performing, pure equity shares and/or equity mutual funds. An investor has to handover a portfolio with minimum Rs. 5 lakh investment.
2. Simply Invest then evaluates the current portfolio and constructs a new one – the “Parivartan Portfolio”, from the sale proceeds by keeping investor’s future financial goals in mind. The investor does not have to invest any extra money.
3. The investment is locked for a year, within which the investor is not supposed to ask about his/her portfolio returns. He/she isn’t allowed to even view his/her portfolio till the end of a year.
4. The investor is charged 2% per annum of his/her portfolio value as fee.
5. Performance of the ‘Parivartan Portfolio’ is evaluated after completion of one year with investor’s old portfolio. If there is any negative/ shortfall found in the "Parivartan Portfolio", the client is reimbursed full investment without any explanations.

This scheme is not only for equity investment, but also debt investments. The only difference is the fee charged, which is 1% of the portfolio value, in the case of debt investment.

This new investment approach is a brainchild of Manoj Garg, one of the partners at Simply Invest. Garg came up with this new scheme after turning his father’s non-performing investment into a positive high return portfolio.

The birth of Simply Invest

The Kolkata-based financial advisory firm was initiated in 2011 by two mutual fund professionals Manoj Garg and Somshubhra Purkayastha with a combined experience of 27 years in the MF industry. The duo intended to start in 2008 but delayed their entrepreneurial foray after SEBI banned entry load.

After completing his graduation, Garg with his college friend – an expert in software development, launched a software development firm. The automation movement had only set in during 1994, so the duomainly produced data processing software. Within just three years, they had acquired a clientele of 50 banks. But the venture did not sustain and soon the firm had to be shut down.

During this course, Garg met Naveen Sukhramani, CEO, Franklin Templeton Learning Academy accidentally. Spotting genuine interest in Garg to learn about mutual funds, Naveen imparted in-depth knowledge about mutual funds to Garg.

Around this time, ICICI Bank was looking for a professional to initiate their mutual fund business in the eastern region of India. Garg cleared the interview and spent six years with ICICI Bank. His journey continued as an initiator or facilitator of MF business for various other banks and fund house: IDBI Bank, Tata Mutual Fund and JR Laddha.

“I completed my target in the first six months of my first job. After that exercise when I joined IDBI, mutual fund initiation was like dal-bhat for me,” remembered Garg.

During Garg’s corporate journey, he came across an aggressive but sincere friend –Somshubhra, who partnered with him at Simply Invest in 2011. The firm had the target audience clear in mind and offered their service first for retail clients. They approached known investors and from their references expanded their client base. Today, just 14 months later, Simply Invest handles an AUM of Rs. 30 crore and a kitty of 1000 SIPs with 2000 investors.

The firm aims to target untapped markets. It has opened a full-fledged branch in Siliguri which caters to Malda, Gangtok, Darjeeling and Guwahati.Simply Invest largely promotes SIPs; they feel that it is the right way to enter mutual fund for retail clients. The company plans to penetrate more into tier-II regions.The partners are determined to take Simply Invest among the top five advisory firms in East India. 

“Whenever we meet a new retail client, I brief them about mutual fund and SIPs. I usually show them my SIP investment and they are convinced seeing my returns,” claims Garg.