The Most Trusted Financial Consultants to watch in 2021

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The Most Trusted Financial Consultants to Watch in 2021

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ith rapid globaliza on, the world is moving forward at a faster pace. New industries have come up and they have all opened up new avenues for the investors. But with the exci ng new opportuni es, it has also increased the risk. And to cater to these worries, our financial consultants have stood guard.

With the help of financial consultants, people have been able to make informed decisions and grow in their financial space.

This issue of The Business Fame of “The Most Trusted Financial Consultants to Watch in 2021” features some of the best financial consultants, who with their mely advice have helped many in their investment journey.

Featuring for the Cover Story is Prabhudas Lilladher, a firm that has garnered the trust of hundreds of thousands of people for providing prudent financial advice. The company provides cu ng-edge Investment Banking and Corporate Advisory services to corporate clients in India and abroad.

Helping people manage their wealth efficiently and embark on the journey of learned investments is Mehta Wealth, a company that is commi ed to empowering the wealth of people. Mehta Wealth is a seasoned wealth management company located in Surat, Gujrat. Their services cater to the HNIs and the Ultra HNIs and have a diverse client base of domes c, NRI, and ins tu onal clients.

In Candid Conversa ons with The Business Fame read interviews of-

In an interview, Abhishek Marwah is the Founder and CEO of Marwah Financial takes us through an interes ng journey with his company. Marwah Financial provides premium services from Mutual Funds Distribu on to Real Estate Advisory. They are driven by a passion for touching lives and not just managing the client's wealth.

In an interview, Nikhil Vora is the Founder and CEO of Sixth Sense Ventures Advisors LLP takes us through an interes ng journey with his company. Sixth Sense Ventures is India's first domes c, consumer-focused venture fund that is inves ng in the Consumer of Tomorrow…Today!

Founded in the year 2000 by Mr. Sanjay Kalika Mishra & Mr. Vijay Arora, Apex is a complete risk management company for medical prac oners. The company provides people with an innova ve idea of providing a safe and pa ent-friendly atmosphere for medical professionals by managing all their crises through our exper se & Insurance.

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CONTENT COVER STORY | 08

PRABHUDAS LILLADHER Your Trusted Financial Consultant

BEST OF BUSINESS

16 20 24

Mehta Wealth

Empowering Wealth of People

Marwah Financial Delivering Best-in-class Financial Services

Sixth Sense

Success in the Venture World

FROM THE EDITOR

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Top 4 Trends Reshaping the Consulting Industry in the Post-Pandemic World

PRABHUDAS LILLADHER Your Trusted Financial Consultant

“All of PL's offerings and operations are backed by its excellent technical infrastructure which is the best in the industry - ensuring speed, accuracy, security and live customer support to clients.”

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THE MOST TRUSTED

FINANCIAL

Cover Story

CONSULTANTS TO WATCH IN 2021

AMISHA VORA JOINT MANAGING DIRECTOR

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Cover Story

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he world today is moving at a fast pace, and equity and money are moving faster. Things are not like the olden times anymore. The concept of saving money has changed drastically.

Today, people are looking for options to invest their money. With several options available, the question is, where?

Because when it comes to investing money, you cannot experiment. You need to study the market, and consider all the positive and negative outcomes. And to minimise the effort, you need a partner to give you the right solution at the right time.

1970s First broking firm to provide doorstep service IPO Distribution and Underwriting added to the portfolio of services

1980s First corporate broker to be accepted as a member of the BSE First broker to computerise back-office operations

Featuring in the cover story of The Business Fame's issue on The Most Trusted Financial Consultants to Watch in 2021 is Prabhudas Lilladher, a firm that has garnered the trust of hundreds of thousands of people for providing prudent financial advice.

1990s

The firm's origins

2000s

In 1944, Prabhudas Lilladher Sheth registered a partnership firm providing equity arbitrage and stockbroking services. Evolving from a standalone brokerage entity, today, the Prabhudas Lilladher Group is one of India's leading and most-reputed providers of financial services, covering the entire suite of key financial services. Its biggest asset is a 76-year old legacy of expertise and adherence to the founding principles of integrity, transparency and accountability.

The firm is proud to have witnessed the evolution of the Indian capital markets. It has worked closely with regulators to streamline the policies that have led to the maturing of these markets. This includes membership of the Technology committee for the conception, design and implementation of BOLT and CDSL systems. Milestones include:

Empanelled with several FIIs & DIIs A leader in Badla finance for the retail segment

Corporate Advisory & Investment Banking, PMS, NBFC, Currency & Commodities Trading and Online Trading services launched $2 billion raised for Indian corporates during 2005-2008 Evolved into a full-service financial services company, catering to retail investors, HNIs, and corporate & institutional clients

2010s Introduced Trader's Edge Indices, an NSE-approved algorithmic trading product Launched PL Academy, an Education & Awareness initiative High-quality research acknowledged with awards from Asiamoney and Thomson Reuters Awarded Best Equity Research Firm (India) 2016 by Wealth & Finance International Chosen as one of Asia's Most Admired Brands for 2017 and 2018

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Products and services

Innovation and differentiation

The Capital Market business is segmented into Institutional Business, Wealth Management and Retail Business. Among the leading institutional brokers in the country, Prabhudas Lilladher serves over 150 leading domestic and international institutional investors in equity markets, with a strong global outreach. Clients include prominent Mutual Funds, Hedge Funds and Bank Treasuries in India, UK, Europe, the US, Hong Kong and Singapore.

At the core of all business activities lies painstaking, diligent and award-winning research. All offerings and operations are supported by sound technical infrastructure. This stems from the belief that technology has not only the power to simplify transacting but also the potential to increase the penetration of financial services in our country.

The company provides cutting-edge Investment Banking and Corporate Advisory services to corporate clients in India and abroad. On the retail front, its portfolio includes Equity, Commodity, Currency & Derivative Trading (online and offline), Mutual Funds, InvestActive, IPOs, Real Estate, Home Loans, NRI Services, Bonds, Fixed Deposits and Alternative Investment Funds. Its Portfolio Management Services have delivered a CAGR of 25% since 2013. The fund-based business provides Margin Funding and loans (against shares, property and insurance) through its NBFC arm PLFS.

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Ongoing innovation, ease of doing business and customer satisfaction are the other key parameters by which Prabhudas Lilladher sets itself apart.

Innovative conferences on Banking (2003) and Power Equipment (2005) led to a four-fold to fivefold appreciation in those stocks. Launched in 2013, InvestActive brings discipline and balance to investor's portfolios. Prabhudas Lilladher was the first financial services company to adopt WhatsApp for business when it was launched in 2018.

With an eye on enhancing customer interaction, a chatbot has been introduced on the company's website to guide customers through the multitude of products and services on offer. A quant-based digital

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KNOW YOUR LEADER Amisha Vora An Equity expert, Amisha Vora is a Chartered Accountant with 27 years of experience in financial services. Zee Business Market Analyst Awards has honoured her with the Editor's Choice Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Equity Markets. Recognised by Business Today as one of The 10 Powerful Women-Rising Stars, she was identified as the Best Sales Person of the Year by Asiamoney for three years running.

Other honours include membership of the CII National Committee on Capital Markets for 2015-2016 and of the Advisory Committee (SME) of the National Stock Exchange of India. Her views on investment strategies and the markets are sought by the Print media (including the New York Times) and TV channels. She can be often seen on CNBC TV 18, NDTV Profit, Zee Business, ET NOW and Bloomberg TV.

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FACTORS THAT MAKE A DIFFERENCE With an understanding that lends perspective

asset management service is also in the pipeline.

“We believe in making investing and trading easier for customers. To this end, we have introduced pathbreaking products such as an algorithm-based advisory Trader's Edge, the fully-loaded PL mobile app, and paperless client onboarding,” says Joint Managing Director Amisha Vora.

Currently, Prabhudas Lilladher is pioneering Algorithmic Trading in India with a dedicated Algo Desk, providing hitherto unavailable AI & Machine Learning-based solutions to clients for trading profitably. Many other research-driven innovative products under development are expected to be the first of their kind. This initiative is part of the company's ongoing effort to be their clients' partner of choice in their journey of wealth-creation.

Impact of the pandemic and the road ahead The current pandemic has thrown the finance industry into a state of disruption. But Prabhudas Lilladher views this as an opportunity to embrace the new normal and raise the bar in terms of product offering and customer experience. “Leveraging technology and going digital is the only way out.

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Much before the onset of this crisis, we set ourselves the task of becoming digitally-ready in all respects.

This push is bearing dividends now. During the current situation, we are not only functional but also growing and able to service clients without the slightest compromise,” says Amisha.

Productisation, digitisation and diversification sum up the company's approach. India is poised for tremendous growth in financial assets in the next ten years as per capita income rises. This is expected create many opportunities in the areas of Wealth Management, Asset Management and Funding.

Amisha's message for new-age entrepreneurs “Identifying the problem is key, and that applies to all aspects of life including business. Know where your organisation stands, understand its core strengths and play on them. We all face the temptation to do multiple things. Before rushing headlong into a situation, evaluate it thoroughly, else precious organisational effort, time and resources will be wasted,” she says.

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We don't close sales, we open relationships!

We are a brand who have the authenticity, trust and integrity in its roots.

Mr. Keyur Mehta Chairman & CIO

MEHTA WEALTH EMPOWERING WEALTH OF PEOPLE

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ealth management is a branch of finances that helps people with affluent management of their investments. Wealth management companies discuss with their clients their needs and goals about the investments and financial needs. These services can be tailored to the specific needs of the client. Wealth Management helps people manage their finances swiftly, and opens up new investment opportunities to them, thus expanding the horizon.

Helping people manage their wealth efficiently and embark on the journey of learned investments is Mehta Wealth formerly known as Mehta Fincon Services Ltd, a company that is committed to empowering the wealth of people.

also global NRI Investors. Mehta Wealth is the first company in India to organize these conferences and give people a new perspective from the experts' point of view.

While the pandemic has affected many industries in many different ways, the Mehta Wealth team has taken advantage of the situation. They have become much more proactive and reactive. They have been working more efficiently since the pandemic has had the outbreak. Thanks to the technology, it has helped the team to reach their clients and prospects which would not have been possible physically.

With the clients' faith and trust in their services, not much has changed.

We believe in being Unique because being unique makes us the “Only One”

The Company“We don't close sales, we open relationships! We are a brand who have the authenticity, trust and integrity in its roots.”

Among a wide portfolio of services, Mehta Wealth is a company that pioneers in Portfolio Management Services.

Vision

Mehta Wealth Services is a seasoned wealth management company located in Surat, Gujrat. Their services cater to the HNIs and the Ultra HNIs and have a diverse client base of the domestic, NRI and institutional clients.

The company started out as a financial planning firm, where they helped people make informed decisions about their finances and investments. As their expertise in the field grew, they shifted to specializing in providing services to the HNIs. Today the company has earned a well reputation for handling the HNIs. The wealth management sector is quite volatile, what with a significant number of players playing. It has become exceedingly challenging to provide tailored services to the clients with the increasing number of HNIs outside tier 1 cities. But with technology playing a major role in the service sector, the clients are looking for services that are on time, comprehensive and backed by appropriate technology.

Founded in the year 2005, Mehta Wealth is a company that is contributing to the Wealth Management Sector. The company provides a range of services that are backed by user-friendly technology and a team that is driven by excellence, dedication and professionalism.

The company has been organizing GLOBAL INVESTOR CONFERENCE annually since 2017 and the INDIA INVESTORS SUMMIT since 2019 exclusively for the HNIs and Ultra HNIs. Both of these conferences are addressed by Veterans from Policy Makers to Industry Leaders and are participated not only by the Domestic but

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“Our vision lies in the enhancement of our clients where we are determined to become the Most Promising Wealth Management Company in India by upholding the highest standards of conducts and services in all our dealings.”

Mission “Our mission lies in empowering the wealth of people. To fulfill our mission we elevate our client's wealth by giving them finest wealth management solutions and associating them with the finest Asset Management Companies / Fund Managers of Industry.”

The Products and ServicesMehta Wealth's tailored services have helped them gain a diverse clientele. Their services includePortfolio Management ServicesMehta Wealth's Portfolio Management Service (PMS) is a professional- tailor made service intended to accommodate the investment objectives of different class of investors.

The Investment solutions provided by them cater to a niche segment of clients- Individuals or Institutions with high net worth Alternative Investment FundEvery High Net Investor wants to have one part of their asset allocation to be Alternative Investment Fund for it is an asset that is not one of the conventional investment types, of which are held by institutional investors.

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Mr. Keyur Mehta (Chairman &CIO) | Mr. Krunal Mehta (MD & CEO) | Kinjal Mehta (Director & COO)

Private Equity

Real Estate Fund

Private equity consists of investing in an unlisted company at different stages of their development, in order to support their growth, create value, and then ultimately, resell them with the goal of obtaining a significant capital gain.

Private real estate offerings come in a variety of strategies, goals, and structures and a private investor must become good at understanding and assessing the specifics of each offering to be effective. At Mehta Wealth, the team can help you to start considering how this type of investment might fit in your portfolio, and the key areas to consider as you are evaluating new opportunities.

Global FundsMehta Wealth supports your local Indian investments as well as guides you to make international investments hence providing additional opportunities and yet diversifying your risks.

Additionally, they pay attention to your needs for global funds based on factors such as International exposure, education or travel.

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Key Points that signifies the companyŸ

The company specializes and focuses majorly on the HNIs and Ultra HNIs.

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The Mehta Wealth team is a pioneer in Portfolio Management Services in South Gujarat.

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The Company stands unique in organizing bringing together various policy makers and industry veterans on the same platform meeting the investors.

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With the advancement of technology, the company has moved forward with 100% digital implementation.

They make the best use of technology for clients as well as the team like Mobile App, Chatbot, CRM, etc.

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The team does not stick to the traditional norms of a 9 to 6 work system. Their work system is flexible and the employees are required to work only 40 hours a week; which can be accomplished during any time and any day of the week.

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The company also provides its employees with a permanent remote work option.

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The company is likewise trendsetter of our industry as various companies have followed their work style as well as have always appreciated their work and setup.

professionals. His amassed leadership skills way back since his primary education and now to having established himself as the chairman and CIO of Mehta Wealth formerly known as Mehta Fincon Services Ltd, a company that has pioneered in Portfolio Management Services (PMS) for High Net Investors in South Gujarat.

Mr. Krunal Mehta- (MD & CEO) Mr. Krunal Mehta is dedicated to help customers and loves to help clients find the right strategy to develop their business. Mr. Krunal Mehta's presentations were extraordinary in every regard! His background and experiences are significant, and his willingness to enlighten others commendable!

Mr. Krunal Mehta is an authentic speaker and teacher. He inspires the next generation of leaders enrolled in the Centre for Higher Ambition Leadership in a way that inspires everybody. A seasoned CEO, Mr. Krunal Mehta brings proven leadership knowledge and experience to the business challenges facing participants.

About the Work Culture-

Kinjal Mehta- (Director and COO)

The company has a flexible but system oriented work culture where everyone is responsible for their role. The team believes in giving their employees a work-life balance. They follow the concept of “40 hours work week” where the employees don't need to follow the typical 9 hours a day work system and come to office as per their convenience and fulfill the 40 hours of the week any day.

Mrs. Kinjal Mehta, a business trailblazer is the primary interface between the business and its operations at Mehta Wealth to provide advice on people matters. She is a firm leader who is responsible for ensuring effective delivery of the firm's engagement agenda. With countless milestones behind the success of Mehta Wealth, Mrs Kinjal Mehta is at the forefront of leadership prowess in the company. Her forte lies in escalating the efficiency of the business. Along with which she holds an unwavering position in the company and strategies the operational realms.

“We follow the motto of PPP - People , Planet and Profit ideology.”

Though it is a family owned business, the system is managed very much professionally.

About the leadership style of Key Officials

Under the leadership of experienced professionals and the array of services that they provide, Mehta Wealth is an established name for wealth management, and with constant research and innovations, they wish to provide their customers with better services that will benefit them.

Key Leaders in the company believe in Delegation of Work and always give the team new opportunities to explore their skills and capabilities. They are constant motivators and up lifters. They believe in Ethics, Transparency and Values. Learning is something they always put on priority for self as well as team.

Mr. Keyur Mehta- (Chairman & CIO) With a career spanning more than 24 years in the field of financial services, Mr. Keyur Mehta with his unwavering dedication, traversed from a miniscule infrastructure of 150 square feet to a sprawling 3600 square feet of corporate and IT driven wealth management space with 15

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Marwah Financial Services is a customer-focused financial services firm which offers personalized services. WE aim to be a trusted advisor for its clients personal on a platform of transparency and performance.

Abhishek Marwah Founder and CEO

MARWAH FINANCIAL Delivering Best-in-class Financial Services

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n this interview, Abhishek Marwah is the Founder and CEO of Marwah Financial takes us through an interesting journey with his company.

1. Brief us about the Company journey of rich experience – origin, inception, early issues, success stories, and major milestones, to name a few.

Marwah Financial provides premium services from Mutual Funds Distribution to Real Estate Advisory. We are driven by a passion for touching lives and not just managing the client's wealth. We believe that this would happen only if we are able to disengage our clients from the arduous task of managing their wealth.

My journey from developing interest in the financial markets to setting up my own company has been very satisfying yet extremely challenging. Any new business goes through a lot of challenges from arranging finances to having the right people on board to creating a niche and acceptance for the products and services. But in fact all these challenges and overcoming these challenges is what makes the whole experience extremely satisfying. During my journey, I have formed important partnerships, created a qualified and competent team of people; I have set up the required systems and procedures in my organization to make it customer-centric and operationally efficient. Right now my biggest challenge is to build a team of passionate and capable people to take the business on to the aggressive expansion path.

Driven by an entirely investor-centric approach, the organization today is a suitable mix of investment expertise, resource bandwidth and process orientation.

Marwah Financial endeavors to simplify its investor's journey to meet their financial goals, and give a good investment experience through innovation, consistency and sustained risk-adjusted performance. Core to our any services is our customer needs and requirements which separates us from other firms who believe in just selling financial products. We follow due diligence after knowing our customer expectation and after understanding their risk appetite we blend different financial instruments for maximum wealth creation with minimal risk.

We have over 1000 marquee clients. We have both domestic and NRI clients. Furthermore, we deliver our services primarily from Delhi/NCR. We focus on

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Our Mission To provide our esteemed clients with affordable, workable, useful, beneficial and authentic investment advices executives working in the corporate sector as they understand and value the importance of professional financial advice as proper financial planning is intertwined with all our future lifetime family & personal goals.

We are a one-stop solution for all financial needs, services across different asset classes like Mutual Funds, Corporate & Government Bonds, Equity, Real Estate Advisory etc.

2. Brief us about the CEO/Founder of the Company.

Abhishek Marwah is the Founder and CEO at Marwah Financial Services. Abhishek has done many professional certifications in financial markets in equities, derivatives, commodities, financial advisory and more. He is also a certified professional financial advisor (CPFA), NSE certified market professional (NCMP) and AMFI certified mutual fund advisor.

During his graduation days, he noticed that the financial service sector was the sector prone to hard selling and miss-selling, a service which everyone needs from a service class employee to a high net-worth investor (HNI).

Being from a middle class family and having his father from a banking background, Abhishek immediately spotted an opportunity to create a customer-focused and serviceoriented firm in the sector. Hence, he founded Marwah Financial in 2008 to offer affordable and authentic investment advice. The industry which then set off late has started to move from a sales oriented to advisory oriented industry. Still now, the importance of financial planning cannot be ignored by the founder in these times of volatile markets and economic instability.

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3. Kindly talk about the exclusive products or services offered by the Company, How does it distinguish you from your competitors?

than lakhs worth of advertising. Good service leads to multiple sales. If you take good care of your customers, they will open doors you could never open by yourself.

Marwah Financial ® is a customer-focused financial services firm offering personalized services. We aim to be a trusted service provider for our clients personally on a platform of transparency and performance.

7. How do you portray the future of the Company in the next decade?

Specialized Services we offer are: Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ

Equities Mutual Funds Real Estate Bonds

We are working towards two fronts. First to diversify the geographic base of the clients, nationally and internationally. We are looking at setting a branch in Dubai to tap the broader NRI market. Secondly, we are working on providing the best tech-based customer interface to our clients, by doing the relevant tie-ups with different tech firms.

Our USP has been to 'deliver' more value than asked for, understand needs in detail, understand risk & provide active portfolio management.

8. With respect to your distinctive products and services, how have you helped bring positive developments in the Finance industry?

While you may find many in the market who deliver a similar set of services like we do, it will be tough to find similar levels of commitment.

The main benefit, I would describe, is that the clients are assured of trust, which is extremely important in a fiduciary relationship. The main idea of having an advisor is the understanding that the customers can focus on their core work/job/business and leaving the money management to experts, who are carefully watching and scanning the dynamic investment environment.

4. What is the vision and mission of the Company?

To provide our esteemed clients with affordable, workable, useful, beneficial and authentic investment services.

5. What is the present scenario of the financial sector?

How are you contributing to making it better?

Driven by an entirely investor-centric approach, the organization today is a suitable mix of investment expertise, resource bandwidth and process orientation.

Marwah Financial endeavors to simplify its investor's journey to meet their financial goals, and give a good investment experience through innovation, consistency and sustained risk adjusted performance. Core to our any services is our customer needs and requirements which separates us from other firms who believe in just selling financial products. We follow due diligence after knowing our customer return expectation and after understanding their risk appetite we blend different financial instruments for maximum wealth creation with minimal risk.

9. What advice would you give to the upcoming entrepreneurs and professionals?

Believe in your idea and in your dream. There is nothing more satisfying in the world to see your idea, your dream becomes a reality. The biggest challenge is to find competent people who can mirror the kind of enthusiasm and motivation you have about your venture.

6. What are the marketing strategies adopted by the Company?

One customer, well taken care of, could be more valuable

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Marwah Financial Services is a customer-focused financial services firm which offers personalized services. WE aim to be a trusted advisor for its clients personal on a platform of transparency and performance.

Nikhil Vora Founder and CEO

SIXTH SENSE Success in the Venture World

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n this interview, Nikhil Vora is the Founder and CEO of Sixth Sense Ventures Advisors LLP takes us through an interesting journey with his company.

Q. Brief us about the Company journey of rich experience – origin, inception, early issues, success stories, and major milestones, to name a few.

Sixth Sense Ventures is India's first domestic, consumer-focused venture fund that is investing in the Consumer of Tomorrow…Today!

Sixth Sense Ventures backs first generation entrepreneurs and invests in the consumer of tomorrow. Most importantly, Sixth Sense has become the preferred partner for consumer-focused businesses.

The core of Sixth Sense lies in the belief that the next big wave of dysfunctional growth will be led by players who are going to be driven by completely different skill sets / capabilities and not necessarily capital. Three pillars defined the founding of Sixth Sense: (a) leverage our knowledge of the consumer centric spaces to help first generation entrepreneurs in disrupting traditional categories (b) bring our entire ecosystem onto an organized platform which in turn would help our investees (c) extend the validation achieved in the angel portfolio, to identify the right founders who are building products/services for the consumer of tomorrow.

Sixth Sense was launched in Feb 2014 as India's first consumer venture fund, with a single objective to be the most credible venture fund in India, investing in the Consumer of Tomorrow…Today! Seven years on, and it's been an incredible journey. As we look back, it's very humbling to reminisce our interestingly 7 milestones: 1. First venture fund to return capital back within 2.5 years 2. Youngest fund to raise capital from Ministry of Commerce 3. First fund to offer a 0% management fee option 4. Best Fundraiser of 2018 – raised over 2X the target corpus 5. Highest VC Exit by IRR 2019 6. Best Early-Stage VC 2020 and Most Outstanding VC Fund 2021 7. One of the best performing AIFs in India – SSIO I outperformed peers by 3X, and SSIO II outperformed peers by 4X (CRISIL) Q. Brief us about the CEO/Founder of the Company.

Nikhil Vora is a Consumer & Finance industry veteran with over 28 years of experience. Nikhil is the Founder and CEO of Sixth Sense Ventures Advisors LLP – India's first domestic consumer venture fund. Sixth Sense backs first generation entrepreneurs and invests in the consumer of tomorrow…today! Most importantly, Sixth Sense has become the preferred partner for

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consumer-focused businesses, as Nikhil and Sixth Sense would want its DNA to be that of founders-first (and how they would run their business), and less as investors.

Nikhil was earlier the Managing Director & Head of Research at IDFC Securities and has been regarded as one of the strongest analytical minds in the country. Nikhil has been invited by Nestle Global, Unilever, Aditya Birla Group, Marico, Godrej etc. to evolve a strategic roadmap for their businesses. He excels in identifying emerging consumer trends and his research has been accredited by some of the largest global funds like Capital, Fidelity, Alliance Bernstein, Putnam, Schroder's etc. Some of his work includes differentiated presentations on Food Security, Changing DNA (of organizations) and If I Were (based on strategies consumer companies should adopt).

In the Asia Money polls 2012, Nikhil was voted as India's No.1 analyst. He also has the rare distinction of being voted Asia's Best Analyst by the Wall Street Journal in the same year.

A post-graduate in Management, Nikhil is an alumni Future Leaders Program at the Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, London. He was also bestowed with the 'Thought Leadership' award by IDFC Ltd. Along with advising clients, he also has been an angel investor and on the board of a few of his investee companies. Some of the Venture Investments made by Nikhil includes – One97 (Paytm), Vini Cosmetics (Fogg), Parag Milk Foods (Go), Kangaroo Kids, BVG, Techfront, Purplle, InCred, Bewakoof, Saucery, ENpower, Pariksha, Expertrons, Lido, and Fintso.

Q. Kindly talk about the exclusive products or services offered by the Company, How does it distinguish you from your competitors?

The first fund, Sixth Sense India Opportunities I (SSIO I), a 2016 vintage, invested the entire corpus of Rs.118Cr. in 10 companies across the consumer value chain. SSIO I is already at 2.5X, and Sixth Sense has achieved a rare feat of possibly being the first VC fund in India to return capital back to its investors within 2.5 years of closing the fund, that too from just 4 exits (7 exits total).

SSIO II, our second fund closed at Rs.515Cr., more than double our target corpus of Rs.250Cr. on the back of enthusiastic investor interest. Sixth Sense achieved this feat in a record 9 months, despite the volatility in the markets. SSIO II, a Dec 2018 vintage, has invested in 14 companies, out of which 10 have raised the next round.

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Q. What is the vision and mission of the Company?

Vision: Be the first call for founders disrupting the consumer landscape, and partner with them to build the future together.

Mission” Sixth Sense Ventures was founded on the back of a single core belief – to create the most credible consumer fund in the country.

Credibility has to percolate in everything that we do – be it our investment philosophy, our business model or our investments.

Anywhere in the world, if a business doesn't deliver, it doesn't make money – but fund management is the only business where you make money even if you do a mediocre job. To break this norm, we launched, for the first time in India, a 0% management fee fund, in an industry where the 2-20 structure has been a norm for decades. You only pay for performance – hopefully, that's how the next-generation of funds will operate. Also, in fund management, a 25-30% is an acceptable hit ratio but not for us, our target is almost 100%.

Q. What is the present scenario of the financial sector? How are you contributing to making it better?

The listed space is either dying or will be dead soon, those companies will probably not create value.

That's pretty ironic, I (Nikhil Vora) keep thinking about this. I have spent almost 90% of my working life in listed market, was 25 years in listed market and yet when I look at the market, I feel that India is at the zone where listed businesses are pretty much businesses which are mature and lived their life cycle. The ability to innovate and disrupt existing businesses is found to be wanting. I don't see them playing the disruptor role, which is so critical in a market like India, where disruption is seen as an apt thing to do. I keep reflecting this, if I look at Fortune 500 and I have talked about this often. I see 90 percent of them die or become irrelevant over a period of time. I see listed market in India pretty much symbolic of Fortune 500 companies. They die or become irrelevant over a decade in cycle.

The market behavior that one has seen over the last three to four years, while it pains all of us, our investors also, but it doesn't really surprise me so much. This is something which was just waiting to happen. It happened faster than what one should have envisaged, but I don't see that changing drastically. I am not implying market momentum, but I think businesses slowly will erode unless and until they change and disrupt. I don't see the ability to disrupt existing leadership to be of a very high order or it's in a very few spaces, but I see that happening at a galloping space in private companies, private entrepreneurs, first generation entrepreneurs who are really taking this opportunity to disrupt market leaders. That's the reason why Sixth Sense was formed.

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We thought we will invest in disruptors in consumer space.

Existing players, existing listed companies even if they are leaders, their ability to maintain leadership and sustain value that leadership is going to be extremely challenging. You will have exceptions, but I believe exceptions don't make the rule.

It may well be that the current set of examples that we are seeing in the listed space are not doing so because being listed is not a pre- requisite to not be disruptive. At some point of time over next 2-4 years even large listed companies could probably throw out a niche or two could be disruptive and change the model.

There will be exceptions. But when I look at broader businesses in our country right now, look at banking. You have a dominant leader in State Bank of India or HDFC Bank, but the disruption in financial services is not being led by an SBI and HDFC It is being led by players outside that context. It's being led by a new age consumer finance company let's say Bajaj, which has evolved in last 7- 8 years, or Paytm in some form or lot of other fintech companies as we look at it. Disruption in financial services, which should ideally have been led by existing leaders is not being done by them.

Disruption in consumer businesses, which is close to my heart, is not being led by Unilevers of the world or ITCs or the Colgates of the world, its being led by new age businesses who are doing it in spaces which they are very comfortable in, but the more they get comfortable in particular niche, the ability to do scale becomes more apparent. So, a Unilever is not disrupting the space or ITC is not doing it. You see newer players, a Veeba is doing it in some form. You start to see it in Bira for instance, I am being biased because we own stakes in these companies. Bira is doing it in alcoholic liquor space and Parag is doing it in milk and so on. These are all relatively new age businesses which have evolved, and you will see lot many develop.

My fear and this true in a lot of industries, look at print for example, I have looked at that space not a single print player and we are talking about large existing players like the Bennett Group, Times. Look at HT for example, Jagran, so the top 3-4 players and not a single player and I am being critical of them.

Not a single player has innovated and disrupted how print should be in India for the next 10 years, how Indian consumers will consume print over next 10 years. They are not going to consume print by reading a newspaper any more or that is becoming slightly irrelevant over a period of time. You have seen players evolve in that category. So, Inshorts has evolved whereas the leaders have not really done the development.

Look at auto, very interesting example. In world where top 3 auto companies actually lose money, the GMs, the Fords and the Chryslers of the world actually lose money. You have it in India where the largest players the Tata's, Mahindra, Maruti for instance have done practically zero innovation or zero disruption in the category. Auto is a space which is getting disrupted almost completely with the advent of the Olas and the Ubers of the world. Ironically, I remember, Mr. Mahindra at some stage talking about the fact that they will have consumption issues

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because the sharing capability of Ola and Uber will increase and thereby people will not own cars. I fail to understand why a forward looking corporate like Mahindra could have not created an Ola in India.

The Great Indian Consumption Story is crystallising rapidly and in India, consumption has been outperforming all other sectors.

While all other firms are either sector-agnostic or technologyfocused, Sixth Sense has stayed true to its cause of being a consumer fund, not getting swayed by trends. Thus, giving us an unfair advantage over trend investing.

Depth in the Indian consumer market was missing for the last 5-6 decades. The market has been symbolized by a duopoly, even though there is no IP attached. This has happened because of the fear of taking on the distribution of FMCG giants. Not anymore, with ecommerce, innovations in distribution, and digitization – new brands are now able to take on leaders. Leaders of tomorrow are getting born today. As buying habits and brand preferences change – a great measure will be to foresee changes in consumer behavior patterns over the next 5-10 years. Businesses will need to evolve to become relevant for the consumer of tomorrow, today.

There are large consumer categories that already exist and thus offer a strong opportunity. Leaders of yesterday will NOT be the leaders of tomorrow. We believe challengers will shake the leaders in these spaces to carve out market share. Our intent is to identify and partner with such disruptors, operating in the largest and most sticky consumer categories in India.

Today, brand awareness is at the highest while brand loyalty is at the lowest in our country. Moreover, India is the most overretailed yet the most under-penetrated brand market in the world.

Disruption in modes of distribution and marketing, the two core pillars of brand- building, is further supplementing this. The result – businesses are being able to walk a longer mile with a far more efficient use of capital. Consumer brands are clearly in a sweet-spot!

Sixth Sense invests in first-generation entrepreneurs who are disrupting large, sticky consumer categories and carving a niche for themselves. There are two types of businesses – innovators and disruptors. Innovation in India is a challenging task as the environment is not very conducive. We like to invest in disruption – there is a market that has already been created and an opportunity that already exists – all one has to do is shake the leaders. We may not participate in businesses just because we might get a great value – values are very transient. We want to invest in founders with whom we can create great value with!

Business lifecycles are turning shorter – successful business cycles have reduced from 30 years to 15 years. Hence, we want to invest in businesses that have a longer lifecycle of their own.

What we invest in today, will not be the same 3-5 years down the line. Hence, it is extremely important to invest in the right founders, who are just 6-12 months ahead of the curve. If we get

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that line of sight, we're on the right track.

Q. What are the marketing strategies adopted by Company?

SSIO-II, our second fund closed at Rs.515Cr., more than double our target corpus of Rs.250Cr. on the back of enthusiastic investor interest. Furthermore, while other funds struggled to raise capital, Sixth Sense achieved this feat in a record 9 months, despite the volatility in the markets. This demonstrates the pressing need in the market for an alternative investment product with a unique approach.

While it took almost 10 years for the first 4 unicorns to get created in India, the next 20 unicorns have been created in less than 5 years! The venture space is clearly coming-of-age and our ethos of “investing in the consumers of tomorrow” is helping us lead the charge in the consumption space through a focussed approach. This has resulted in the Ministry of Commerce (through its investing arm, SIDBI) investing in Sixth Sense. It was heartening to see The Ministry of Commerce come in as an anchor investor, furthermore for a young fund such as ours. They had invested in the first fund, and on the back of Sixth Sense's exemplary performance, they invested 5X in the second fund.

Furthermore, leading family offices, top corporate leaders and eminent personalities in the country have invested in the fund, along with HNIs. Q. How do you portray the future of the Company in the next decade?

The most preferred partner for consumer startups and companies and India's best performing fund.

Q. With respect to your distinctive products and services, how have you helped bring positive developments in the Finance industry?

Sixth Sense invests in first-generation entrepreneurs who are disrupting large, sticky consumer categories and carving a niche for themselves. There are two types of businesses – innovators and disruptors. Innovation in India is a challenging task as the environment is not very conducive. We like to invest in disruption – there is a market that has already been created and an opportunity that already exists – all one has to do is shake the leaders. We may not participate in businesses just because we might get a great value – values are very transient. We want to invest in founders with whom we can create great value with!

Q. What advice would you give to the upcoming entrepreneurs and professionals?

Businesses struggle when they don't have demand, here, ironically, we have all leaders who are struggling because they could not cope with the relevant supply that the consumer was wanting. They have demand. A banking channel has demand that's why you are talking about unbanked bank, microfinance and tertiary banking and so on. Auto has it, Ola and Uber are

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proving that. Incumbents have not gone where the consumers are going. Even if it means pure tech or significantly tech enabled, there is no reason why leaders could not do that, and you had startups doing that role. I think the failure in India as of now is about leaders' inability to take the risk of disrupting their own existing businesses and the fear of disrupting their own business and thereby losing where they are at today, to the obvious risk of actually losing the entire business tomorrow. I think that I very ominous to them and I frankly hope, but I don't have too much belief while I hope of that, but I don't have too much of belief that leaders have ability to change. It is very tough; it requires someone to take that ownership. Professionals very rarely will take that ownership, it must be the entrepreneurs, the promoters who must take that call and hope some of them do.

In the listed space, the only pocket where valuations are still held out despite trends starting to come off is consumers. India has never or very rarely let me say that has been a value market. India has been a growth market. All of us somewhere get trapped in believing that value is what we want to protect, and we are good at capturing the value. Our failure is when we don't catch growth along with that value and to me Indian market is symbolic of that form. We think that because markets have collapsed the values are becoming very enticing. I think that is not really the case. It's about saying whether the values are falling, the growth is still sustaining. We don't have that happening right now.

If I look at consumer businesses or frankly any business for that matter, while everything around us has possibly collapsed by 50 percent if not more over the last 3 years, we have invested in two listed companies in the same period. We have made 7 times and 10 times the money in two listed companies in the same period.

Not saying we did something earth shattering, but the fact is that there are pockets of businesses and sponsors which we think are playing the disruptions which the leaders are not able to do, and they can't participate in that disruption. So, for instance we invested in contracting, that was a big thing because consumer contracting has become very large.

We believe that the leaders will struggle to grow beyond where they are. They will not grow meaningfully. If they don't grow meaningfully then they have to let go of what is tertiary to them because they have to grow and keep sustaining their brands and so on. They will protect their 60 percent ROI business which is brands and let great opportunity we thought will happen. We have invested in company called Hindustan Foods which has now become possibly the largest consumer contracting company in India in 3 years. We have invested in JHS, we sold that at 7 times, but we have invested in it which is largest oral care manufacturing company in India. They control 15 percent of oral care. I think it was about opportunity in businesses. Whereas the largest players in the businesses will get disrupted or are not changing too much for their own good, we thought there is still an opportunity.

which is getting created because of mayhem. And in every point in time, someone's loss is someone's gain. I think there is opportunity in crises, there is crises in listed market, but there is opportunity in listed may be rare, may be few. But there is significant opportunity in guys who are disrupting the listed guys which are which is in private.

Companies should fan out all the alternative brands and invest in new age category because that's where the Indian consumer space is growing, and we are not capturing that. It takes me a decade back – if you remember when the HUL started talking about the master brand, super brand strategy getting only 30 brands in the portfolio instead of 110 that they had, and they literally course corrected in three years to get that done. May be the time is right to actually say that 30 is not good for India. What makes any consumer company think that 30 is great for India? India is a 130 crore population market, it's a market where the consumers are experimenting, where consumer have a choice and want a choice.

Disruption is happening in distribution, so it's no longer the funnel which is becoming critical. It's no longer the HUL stranglehold, for example. HUL, ITC or Colgate, I think they control the distribution and thereby they thought that the product that they have put through the distribution funnel was all that the consumer wanted. That's not true. The distribution was only an enabler, they didn't push the brand, they didn't push product categories, they did not innovate. Because it's tough to innovate when you do well for yourself, you can't disrupt yourself. I think that is changing as distribution channels change you will see lot more evolution of brands happens and there by the costumer choice.

Look at what Nykaa and Purplle have done in the beauty space.

Unheard of. They were not brands, they were selling HUL, P&G and L'Oréal brands, they were selling products created by the leaders. Today their platform has become the brand. So, Nykaa is the brand which sells let's say Rs 2,000 crore of produce. A Purplle is a brand which sells Rs 500 crore of produce. They have become the brand and they will get value because the platform has become the brand. I can't believe why a Lakme could not have done the same, or why L'Oréal should not have done it. You are killing your own brand by still targeting traditional ways of consumption and distribution because the consumer is no longer traditional. He has changed, and I think brands have not.

So, I think what investors, all of us need to really look at which is while there can mayhem in listed space, there is opportunity

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TOP 4 TRENDS RESHAPING THE

CONSULTING INDUSTRY IN THE POST-PANDEMIC WORLD 30 | MARCH 2021

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he trends of the consul ng industry will en rely be molded by the impacts and influences of the COVID-19 pandemic. The global management consul ng industry is expected to experience a dras c downfall by 14% as a result of the upcoming global recession in 2020.

In 2021, the disrup on caused by the novel coronavirus will impact the industry, with a shi towards value-based performance, virtualiza on, and digital disrup on. Here are some of the instances of exis ng trends, which are expected to witness a momentous rise in the coming year: 1. Accelera on of Digital Disrup on The ceaseless technological advancements and digi za on are expected to reimagine and reshape the consul ng industry en rely.

Boston Consul ng Group has observed that digital disrup on is going to be the most significant factor for business resilience in near future. They observed that

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the businesses that are vulnerable to financial risks should consider inves ng in digital resilience as soon as possible. As per this model, consultancy firms will develop digitally trained teams, and analy cs teams will be analyzing the data.

Digital disrup on is expected to be one of the most important trend for the industry in 2021.

2. Remote Process of Consul ng Working remotely is nothing new for consultants. Even before the pandemic hit the world, they were already offering their services working virtually or online.

S ll, the consul ng firms will require to adapt to a totally new approach as businesses are also shi ing towards the work from home culture.

3. Quan fiable Results Many businesses are looking forward to consultants a er the devasta on caused by the pandemic. In this catastrophic scenario, clients will seek for costeffec ve solu ons from the consultants and hence, they should refrain from

priori zing expensive analysis. Businesses should be assured that the strategies are lined up with their opera onal reali es, which will lead to quan fiable results.

4. Strategic Partnerships and Joint Ventures These are the mes of uncertainty and businesses are in need of strategic planning more than ever.

Most of the clients will invest in consultants for proper emergency planning, new business strategy, or scenario planning. However, many businesses are taking the risk of change programs by ge ng into partnerships with consultants and developing mul -year collabora on so as to develop deeper perspec ve and enable transforma on.

LevaData's recent strategic partnership with Bain & Company to deliver nextgenera on supply management technology to manufacturers is one such instance.

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