August 11, 2021

Since the entry of discount brokers in the industry, the intensity of competition for full-service brokers has increased day by day. To maintain and grow our market share, we at the Sharekhan Advisory Desk are now focusing more on increasing the managed business by introducing various ideas and strategies that can work across market cycles as well as provide sustainable good returns for customers. To promote the managed business and motivate our Branch Network team, we have implemented an Index Powerplay Recognition Plan for the past four months on a monthly basis, wherein we provide daily Nifty strategy to be executed for clients at the network end and recognise excellent performance. Each Relationship Manager (RM) must execute this strategy in at least five client accounts and we recognise the efforts of the top 10 RMs across India based on the number of clients and turnover criteria at the end of a month.

The Bhilai Branch, managed by Sr. Branch Manager Nitin Sharma from the cluster led by Mustafa Pardiwala, is a small branch from a small town in Chhattisgarh. But the achievement of the branch is not small, it is the only branch across the network that has met its Index Powerplay target for three consecutive months, over-achieving it by 106%, 135%, and 141% in May, June and July 2021 respectively. In June and July this year, two RMs from the branch, Ashish Gupta and Manish Kumar Patle, reached the top two positions across the network. What’s more, Ashish was ranked second in May 2021. The branch has achieved 133% of its yearly targets for the managed Algo strategies (AOS, Banko and APEX) as well as over-achieved its futures and options (F&O) average daily turnover (ADTO) target by a big margin. Nitin has also conducted various trainings for the Branch Network team and shared his knowledge of derivatives and the managed business with them, which has been well received by the network people. It is time to hear Nitin’s success story in his own words.

Internal Communications Team (ICT): Congratulations! Your branch has topped the Index Powerplay contest in May, June and July this year and two RMs from your branch have reached the top positions in June and July. How does it feel?

Nitin Sharma (NS): Obviously, it feels fantastic when you make efforts and get desired results. We started Index Powerplay in the middle of May and our goal has been to implement the strategy in a minimum of 100 client accounts and cross Rs.50 crore ADTO from this strategy alone. I'm pleased to report that we did so in just one month. We just put our 100% effort in implementing our plan and the results followed. I am really thankful to my team members Ashish Gupta and Manish Kumar Patle for doing a wonderful job and am very proud to see them in the top positions on the Leaderboard.

ICT: How are you expanding the managed business base in your branch? How do you identify customers for the business? Most importantly, why do you believe the managed business is important?
NS: I strongly believe that the only way to remain relevant in such a competitive market is to focus solely on the profitability of our customers. By offering managed strategies, we're not just offering them profit or loss, we're also offering them "discipline" that might lead them to a profitable path. For example, earlier it used to be the Top Picks portfolio, Alpha Delivery Picks and so on. Today, it's Banko Nifty, AOS or Index Powerplay. So this thrust is fairly old; however, the cumulative result of the various strategies is now visible. And now that we've broadened our knowledge and skill set to include these advanced trading strategies, particularly in the options segment, we simply approach each and every trader/investor client advising them to leverage their current equity or mutual fund portfolio or holdings and generate some alpha returns by using managed strategies and other well-known option strategies.

ICT: How has the managed business changed your branch revenue and ADTO, and what is its contribution currently?
NS: In CY2020, our F&O ADTO was just Rs.23.39 crore while in CY2021 (till July 2021) our ADTO is around Rs.122.73 crore. In July this year, the ADTO was Rs.237.50 crore against our ADTO target of Rs.130 crore. As a result, the revenues too almost doubled...I can happily and proudly say that this whopping surge in ADTO and revenue is not driven by just the market. Instead, it is driven more by the efforts we made to engage with our clients to help them invest in various managed strategies and other option strategies. Overall, approximately, 65-70% of the total branch volume is secured through these strategies and various options strategy trades. Now we are looking to achieve a target of Rs.300 crore ADTO by year end...so I can say that the best of the Bhilai Branch is yet to come. Hopefully, we will achieve some new milestones very soon!