Last month, International College of Financial Planning and International College of Fashion were invited to various colleges in Delhi & NCR; we were pleased to give a talk to help the youth choose their career wisely. While International College of Financial Planning visited Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru College in Faridabad, Agarwal College of Commerce in Ballabhgarh, Bharti College for Women in Janakpuri and Shyam Lal College in Shahdra to speak on various career opportunities in the financial sector to all their commerce students; International College of Fashion visited Janki Devi Memorial College, Rajinder Nagar, to give a talk on "Fashion Entrepreneurship- A Lucrative Career".  Our prestigious members from the management Mr. Rishi Taparia, Head-Corporate Relations; Mr, Kushal Bhateja, CFA, FRM & Head of Academics at ICOFP and our fashion subject expert Mr Vinod Kaul, IIM A Alumni and Ex FDCI Director, spoke at length on trending careers in the finance fashion world and lucrative career opportunities, respectively. All the sessions were really engaging and students thronged the speaker after the sessions got over with their multiple queries.

I am a subject matter specialist in International Derivatives and Portfolio Management and currently handling various independent national and international assignments. My experience in risk management is over 6 years but prior to this I have worked in relative field and got exposure in management consulting and investment banking. Though I started my career in banking and finance in the year 2010 handling client relationship in Kotak Mahindra Bank, soon in 2011, I moved to investment banking with a then upcoming Indian company ‘FIHL’ which was taking baby steps to enter in investment banking and managing premium investors who could act as angel investors in the time to come. I looked after the Asian (covering India and Singapore) market for them. After gaining exposure till the mid  of 2012, I expanded my career further in risk management and specialised in Derivatives Market and started with my own venture, RB Capital. My international exposure in Derivatives and Portfolio Management has got built through various clients and different Financial markets. The major chunk of business comes from India, USA, London, UK and France. I further expanded my company RB Capital and started a joint venture with Greenbucks Securities Pvt. Ltd. in 2015 Managing capital market and derivatives is a challenging role. It is important to understand the entire financial system to make risk mitigation strategies, maximizing returns of your client and managing day to day operations. It requires an exquisite sense of timing and strategies. This is one of the major aspect that got to learn in my course at ICoFP. I completed my master diploma from ICoFP in the year 2008-10 as a student in Post graduate diploma in Securities Analysis and Trading popularly known as 'PGDSAT’. It was a wonderful experience with ICoFP. I got  my campus placement  in  'Kotak Mahindra Bank'  which helped me take the first step in  my career. Apart from the financial sector, I am now happy being a part of ICoFP as a visiting faculty at Sharegurukul as well.  

General Election 2019 is the thing now every investor is waiting for. But why the elections are considered to be much more important for stock markets. Why every tom, dick and harry associated with the stock market is saying 2019 elections as a key trigger for the markets? Let us explore the facts behind this and see where the markets are expected to head ahead.General Election 2019 is the thing now every investor is waiting for. But why the elections are considered to be much more important for stock markets. Why every tom, dick and harry associated with the stock market is saying 2019 elections as a key trigger for the markets? Let us explore the facts behind this and see where the markets are expected to head ahead. General election results decide the apex authorities for the country. The elected party will be responsible for the policy formulation and other economic decisions for the country. These decisions are directly related to the stock prices, as the favourable policies lead to industry growth and vice versa. Therefore elections are considered to be crucial for the stock markets. Generally, in the pre-election period the government's past actions and election manifesto are considered to be the indicators for the future. Therefore, if investors find government optimistic on certain sectors then they start betting on the best possible stocks among that industry or sector, which further drives their prices. On the basic level for everyone, the anticipated reforms and government plans drive the market sentiments. This is the only relation between the stock market and the general election. Upcoming election 2019 is a litmus test for BJP government. The biggest regulatory changes, tax reforms GST, Demonetisation have been carried by this government. Moreover, the export policies and other policies to boost small businesses are the key takeaways in the last 5 years. Let us take the example of General Elections of 2009. Dr. Manmohan Singh led UPA Government won the elections favourably with a comfortable majority. But before the results came out, Sensex was around 12000. After the results declaration and subsequent trading on the next day Sensex hit 2 upper circuits and closed around 2100 points up taking its level to over 14200 and gaining almost 17.4%, Its single largest gain in a single day in its entire history. Nifty too gained over 17% over the Pro Government Sentiments. Investors were euphoric after the United Progressive Alliance emerged victorious in the 2009 general elections. General Election 2019 are not only important for BJP but also for all the stock market investor. The history shows that stock markets have always favoured with the stable government and good economic reforms. The best example for this is the market movements in 1991. In the election year (1991) markets, market shot up almost by 200% due to the good economic reforms and strong budgets. A similar thing could be observed in 1999 which was the technological boom era where stock markets appreciated really well. It’s not only the election which drives the stock market rally but the decisions made by the government. This makes us crystal clear that elections have the material impact on the stock markets in the short run. But in the longer term, the decisions of the government and the economic growth matters more. Election in 2019 can bring volatility in the markets; however, the strong economic growth can offset this. If the election result favours BJP, then it may turn a big positive. The investors would start betting on the sectors where progressive government policies would be pointing out. IT, pharma industries as well as textile and paper industries are some of the key beneficiaries of last year. And if the government changes then the market may see another crash soon. Huzefa Lokhandwala MBA-FP (2018-20)

Overlooking tension, which was brewing in the area for long time in Mathura, is not good !! In the urge of being “Satyagrahis" , people killed innocent policeman, possessed guns, rifles, pistols, cartridges and explosives, including grenades. These deaths were because of deaths of encroachment on government land by people believed to be members of a religious organisation called the “Azad Bharat Vidhik Vaicharak Kranti Satyagrahi”, which follows the teachings of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. “Azad Bharat Vidhik Vaicharak Kranti Satyagrahi”leader is Ram Vriksh Yadav. He was assisted by Chandan Bose from Bengal. Most of the followers were from eastern UP. Superintendent of Police Mukul Dwivedi was killed, along with his colleague Santosh Kumar Yadav. The other victims are members of the sector which appears to have functioned more like a culture over 300 members of the sector have been arrested. Meanwhile, Union Minister of State Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti accused Uttar Pradesh PWD Minister Shivpal Singh Yadav of being responsible for the violence and they demanded that a case be registered . The Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav ordered an inquiry into the case of Mathura clash. The State Government announced a compensation of ₹ 2,000,000 each for the families of the two dead policemen The police recovered 47 guns, 6 rifles and 179 hand grenades from the camp. By 3 June, they had arrested 368 people, 120 of whom were charged with "creating disturbances". This included 196 preventive arrests, including those of 116 women.

Written by  Shivam Malik

There was a time when he owned India’s biggest liquor company and also launched Kingfisher Airlines in 2005 known for its stylish and premium experience which during his golden days matched his styles. It was then. Now, he is no longer talked about in this context. The problem we see now started almost a decade ago. In 2006, IDBI bank got a proposal from Kingfisher Airlines seeking funds to acquire additional aircrafts. Rising crude oil price were making up half the operating cost of airlines, airline industry was highly competitive and Kingfisher was the new-kid-on-the-block. But Mallya was clear in his ambitions. He had announced that Kingfisher would be a world class airline. The feedback from the travellers was matching his ambition. Although Kingfisher failed to convince the credit committee of IDBI in 2006, he finally got the loan in 2009. While Airline Industry’s blood bath continued, Mallya ambitions did not correct. In December 2007, it was clear that he shall acquire DECCAN Aviations, India’s first low cost airline, taking into his fold a player which had a loss of INR 3400 Mn in the previous year. With this acquisition, Kingfisher became India’s second largest airline in terms of the number of passengers carried. But the fortunes did not change much. As the oil prices still soared, company struggled to run a business, its finances floundered and its debt burdened and loses surged. By the end of 2008, debt accumulated to INR 934 crores which compounded to INR 5,665 crores as time progressed. In 2009-2010 the Kingfisher has accumulated a debt of over INR 7,000 crores turning Kingfisher into NPA for its lenders. But hopes were still galore. In 2010 banks reconstructed Kingfisher’s debt. Period of repayment were stretched to nine years with two year moratorium but this was not enough to revive Kingfisher airlines which continued to bleed with every passing years. His membership in the upper house of the country, Rajya Sabha, was enough to prompt questions in parliament on the airline’s bad loans. It is noteworthy that Mallya still continued to withdraw huge pay packages for himself. In 2012, Airlines was not able to pay salaries to its employees and for 2012-13 its accumulated losses on its balance sheet turned into INR 16,023 crores. In April 2015, Mumbai International Airport sold Mallya’s personal aircraft for INR 22 lakhs to recover airport dues. The Board of Directors of United Spirits asked him to resign as chairman after internal problems alleged finical irregularities. He is publically denying his ‘defaulter status’ and blaming media for the same. The Kingfisher case is an example of collective failure of system.  The bank should have declared it an NPA much earlier, may be it should not have been reconstructed then. Hindsight wisdom is always correct. While leaving the country he promised to return but only time can tell.

Written by Roushan Choubey, MBA FA 2015-17 student.

Human beings are said to rational animals, but when it comes to earning money we have been irrational and this has led to a lot of mistakes. Mistakes have been part and parcel of our daily life. Sometimes we learn from these mistakes, some we ignore and some are not even known to us. Stock markets are also not free from mistakes. Investors make mistakes regarding when to buy a stock, price of the stock, holding period of a stock, and even end up buying wrong stocks. In stock market we call these ‘mistakes’ observational errors. Observational error refers to the difference between a measured value and its true value. Since these mistakes are caused due to the various emotions of an investor there is a need to understand how and why emotions and even cognitive distortions influence investors. Behavioral Finance serves this need. Behavioral finance is primarily concerned to the rationality of investors. The whole stock market runs on two basic principles – Demand & Supply. The introduction of a third principle of market sentiments triggered the study on how these emotions would affect the working of stock markets. As the old saying goes ‘Stock markets are driven by two powerful emotions – greed and fear’. These two emotions if unchecked influences the decisions of investors and they tend to make mistakes and in extreme cases leads to bubbles and crashes. These extreme urges in investors have led to numerous reactions like herding, overconfidence, confirmation bias, noise trading etc. Other observations of behavioral finance include ‘bird in the bush paradox’ and loss aversion. Behavioral finance attempts to fill the void and explore the relationships among these factors. This takes me to our title ‘Why smart people make big money mistakes?’ why they commit these mistakes even after these are pointed out to them in the first place?. The answer to this is that emotions have better hold on humans than actual facts or data. Warren Buffet once said “Investing is not a game where the guy with the 160 IQ beats the guy with the 130 IQ…Once you have ordinary intelligence, what you need is the temperament to control the urges that get other people into trouble in investing.” The trouble that Mr. Buffet was talking about is only caused by sentiments. Control them investors are going back home with cash.

This blog is written by Salman Shiras, student of MBA-FA  2015-17 batch, ICoFP Delhi Campus.

China, which was once the fastest growing economy, is now going through a slump. More than $3 trillion worth of wealth has vanished. The Shanghai Composite Index, from a high of 5166 on 12th June came down to 2,927 on 26th August. What was first thought of as a correction in the inflated stock market now seems to be a real economic crisis. The crisis in China has certainly had a domino effect on world economy since it is the second largest economy in the world and contributes to 50 percent of the world GDP growth. China’s debt to GDP is at a staggering level of 202% and is growing at a faster rate compared to the overall economic growth rate. To boost its economy through exports, People’s Bank of China devalued its currency with respect to USD by 2%. This had a ripple effect on other emerging market currencies. Notably, the INR has depreciated by almost 5% since the devaluation of Yuan. This is because when FIIs start to sell off their holdings, the demand for the dollar exceeds, which results in the rupee depreciation. With the current slowdown of the Chinese economy, the first thing that comes to mind is the subprime crisis of 2008 and the effect it had on the entire world. Concentrating on India, FIIs have taken out close to $2.6 billion from the equity market in the month of August which is the highest since January 2008, the starting of the (in) famous subprime crisis. Almost all the gains since the inception of the Modi-led NDA government have been eroded. This is because of the economic conditions in China and the possibility of US Federal Reserve increasing the interest rates. And just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse for India, the implementation of GST from April 2016 seems very unlikely since the bill could not be passed in the current Monsoon Session of the Rajya Sabha. As awful as this may sound for the Indian economy, let us halt and rethink, is the current scenario really that bad for India? The crisis in china is not entirely a bad thing. Let’s not forget the ‘Make in India’ project and the huge implications it can have for our economy. If the GST and land issues are sorted out in time, India would be in the right position to benefit from misfortunes of its peer countries. China intends to increase its exports through currency devaluation but Indian products are not in direct competition with China’s. At the same time, India has a wider export base which overall has a lower share in the country’s GDP compared to other Asian countries. Moreover, China constitutes only 4% of India’s exports, so even if the situation gets any worse India won’t be affected. India is less reliant on export of goods because of the large amount of service sector exports mainly from BPOs and IT industry. The investors have become cautious and are pessimistic. The situation could have been better if the government had been more aggressive on the reforms front (Land acquisition and GST bill not passed in Rajya Sabha where BJP lacks majority.) Nonetheless, India still remains an attractive market for investment among all emerging economies and has strong fundamentals. The same was validated by Domestic Institutional Investors who were net buyers in equities in the month of August to the tune of $1.62 billion. Hence, It’s safe to say that the recent sell off is due to external shocks (US fed rate, China, Greece) and the current fall in the equity market is nothing but temporary.

This blog is written by Akshmeet Singh (MBA FA Sem 3, CFA Level 2 candidate) ICoFP Student, Delhi Campus

“This content has been blocked by your service provider” Have you come across such a line while opening up websites? This means that access to this content is not available to everyone. You may have to pay for getting access to this content. Net neutrality is the principle that all internet users must have equal access to all content and applications. Net Neutrality means an Internet that enables and protects free speech. It means that Internet service providers should provide us with open networks — and should not block or discriminate against any applications or content that ride over those networks. Just as our phone company shouldn't decide who we can call and what we say on that call, our Internet Service Provider (ISP) shouldn't be concerned with the content we view or post online. The citizens should have the right to net neutrality which will support a competitive market place and will provide a place for all firms in their growth.The main disadvantages of the net neutrality that telecom companies argue is that companies like Google and Facebook have created the services that allow the people to make calls for free on networks that telecom companies have spent billions to build due to which net neutrality is an injustice to these companies. The Internet users in India has grown at an exceptional pace since 1991 sand this has been largely because of the freedoms, protections and various other benefits that net neutrality has offered. Ideas and products like YouTube, Google, Twitter, Flipkart, Snapdeal, eBay have been growing and the funding that these companies receive is largely owed to the fact that these companies are having the groundbreaking ideas of the 21^st century. There are no laws which enforce net neutrality in India. The Information Technology Act, 2000 does not prohibit companies from throttling their service in accordance with their business interests. Some companies in India have violated the net neutrality. Violations in India are Facebook's Internet.org, Aircel’s Wikipedia Zero,Aircel's free access to Facebook and WhatsApp, Airtel's free access to Google, and Reliance's free access to Twitter.

 This blog is written by Samsan Simon, CFA Level 1 Candidate Semester III, MBA (FA), ICoFP Delhi campus.

This blog is written by Neha Jain. Student of MBA in Financial Analysis (Batch 2014-2016)

On the bright yellow Saturday morning, my sister came running to me that today is the last day for submitting her university fees. I screamed at her that you always recall things at the last moment. Thanks to the banking revolutions that there is a system of online payment through cards and net banking. I quickly check out the balance in my account through mobile banking application. And Ooppppsss....Why it always happens to me, there was not enough balance in my account. I immediately step out from my house to deposit cash in my bank account as it was Saturday and banks were supposed to remain open till 2 pm only. Soon afterwards, I deposited cash and made the payment for university fees. Thank god it all happens before 1 September as IBA (Indian Bankers Association) has issued notification that 2nd and 4th Saturday of every month will be a full day holiday for all banks. Trade unions ILO (International Labor Organization) is of the view that stock markets and even RBI (Reserve Bank of India) remain close on Saturdays. Some people also argue that although the Saturdays were half days for banks; work load for the bank employees is the same as of full day. But what I feel is business and personal transactions are really going to hampered due to two days closure of banks between Friday and Sunday in the second and fourth week of the month. Currently it takes T+1 or 2 working days for clearing of local cheques but if you deposit your cheque on 2nd Friday of the week for clearance, it will get credit in your account on Tuesday or Wednesday. Moreover, you will have to face a hard time to remember that when will be 2nd and 4th Saturday of the week if you are not aparent (school students generally have their school off on 2nd and 4th Saturday). By the way, I want to congratulate all the bank employees to be able to fetch two more holidays in a month. This was the first thing that came to mind to text a congratulating message to one of my friend who is a bank employee, after reading the notice of bank holiday.

The word “Derivatives” refers to a variable that has been derived from another variable. Similarly a financial derivative is something that is derived out of the market of some other market product. Hence the derivative cannot stand alone. Its value depends on equity, Interest rate, and commodity and on currency. This product in derivatives is known as underline asset. As we all know capital market comes with very high degree of risk and volatility. Derivative products can be used to partly or fully hedge the impact of volatility in the asset prices. Nowadays many investors invest money in derivative segment and India is one of the largest derivative markets in the world. The derivatives products can be categorized into the following main types:-

• Forwards
• Futures
• Options
• Swaps
• Warrants

Let me explain derivatives by real time example… Say, you go to a car showroom to buy a car. After searching around you decide on a model which costs Rs. 400000/-. The showroom owner says that he would take delivery after a week if you place an order with small initial token money today. Once the showroom owner delivers the car you are expected to pay the full amount. This is effectively a “forward” contract where you are agreeing to the terms of delivery and a payment in future date. Say, you go to another showroom to buy a car .After searching around you decide on a model that costs Rs. 425000/-. Though you like the model and sure if this is the best model for you and at the same time you are predicting the price of car to come down in one week, thus you talk to owner to put aside this Car for two weeks so that you can arrange cash and come for purchase. The showroom owner in return asks for small non refundable deposit which you pay to block the car in your name. If the price of the car falls then you may not opt to buy the same car but if you want you can always walk into the showroom after the few days makes the payment and take the car. This is “option” contract, wherein you have the option of executing at it your will & wish. The showroom owner took the non refundable deposit, which is to compensate for the few days that he may have to hold on to his item without selling it. Even if you do not go to buy the car he would have made a meager profit. HERE ARE SOME TIPS TO MAKE MONEY:- Indian equity market is most volatile market in the world & hence derivative can be used to protect the investment. So it is very difficult to earn profit on derivative position. Earning profit is difficult & making loss is easy. 3 Aspects of successful trading are;

1. Charting and Entry technique
2. Money and Trade technique
3. And trading psychology.

Some important points to remember:-

• Market will not behave certainties or the way you want, be prepared to handle its volatility.
• Trading in derivatives is RISKY; do not trade them if you don’t understand them.
• You should be prepared to cut losses or take small losses in order to earn large profits.
• There are times where you will not get opportunity to trade.
• Never create any assumption that market will give you fixed monthly income or can be a substitute to your regular job or business.
• Always trade with an amount you can afford to loose.

This blog is written by Sachin Kumar, Nishu Gandhi, Nishant Chauhan and Akansha Mahajan, students of Post Graduate Diploma in Financial Planning (PGDFP), International College of Financial Planning (ICFP).

“All content provided on this blog is for informational purposes only. The owner of this blog makes no representations as to the accuracy or completeness of any information on this site or found by following any link on this site. The owner will not be liable for any errors or omissions in this information nor for the availability of this information. The owner will not be liable for any losses or damages from the display or use of this information. Any views or opinions represented in this blog are personal and belong solely to the blog owner and do not represent those of people, institutions or organizations that the owner may or may not be associated with in professional or personal capacity, unless explicitly stated. Any views or opinions are not intended to malign any religion, ethnic group, club, organization, company, or individual.”