Dear Sheru,

The news on the COVID-19 pandemic front remains positive, with the count of active cases being the lowest and the recovery rate being the highest since March 2020. Moreover, according to the Union Health Ministry, nearly 80% of India's eligible adult population has been administered the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine while 38% has been fully vaccinated. In Sharekhan, as of today, more than 2,300 staff are fully vaccinated and over 1,250 staff have taken the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine. We encourage the rest of the Sherus to get vaccinated at the earliest.

We cautiously reopened our head office (HO) last month and the reopening experience has been smooth so far. Considering the dipping COVID-19 graph and the improving vaccination status of our staff, we are now looking forward to the next phase of the HO unlocking plan and you will hear about it soon. For now, let us take a quick look at the highlights of the last month and our business performance.

• We registered an 8% growth in brokerage in October this year.
• We added 2,000 more new clients in October compared with September this year.
• Our market share in commodities grew by 20% MoM in the same period.
• Last month, our trailing 12-month active client count reached 753K, a new high for the metric.
• We reactivated close to 11K branch-mapped broking clients as part of the FFP in the last month.
• Our EMF business grew by 14% MoM in October this year.
• Our Branch Network contributed almost 67% of the total exchange margin funding last month.
• Our LAS book grew by 18% MoM in October this year.
• Total disbursements in LAS surged by 35% MoM in the same month.
• We celebrated Diversity and Inclusion Week in October this year.

After continuing its upward journey in the first half of October, the Indian stock market went downhill in the second half but closed marginally higher month on month (MoM). Even as the stock market sweltered in the October heat, our broking business kept its cool. Our client base expanded by 9% as we added 2,000 more new clients during the month compared with the previous month. The average daily client activity also grew by 13% MoM in the same period. In spite of the volatility in the stock market, we maintained our market share in the cash and futures & options segments. What’s more, we gained a 20% share in the commodity market in October compared with the previous month. Well, on the back of mainly the market share gain and an 11% month-on-month growth in market turnover, our average daily broking revenue grew by 14% MoM in the last month. I congratulate you all for the performance. We are nearing the end of 2021, let us now intensify our efforts to achieve our targets and close the year on a high note.

The 24-month growth streak of Front Foot Programme (FFP) continued in October this year as the trailing 12-month (TTM) active client count touched 753K in the month. The FFP facilitated the reactivation of almost 11K branch-mapped clients during the month. What’s more, the efforts of the Business Partners resulted in the reactivation of another 4.5K clients in the same period. The trend remains that reactivations are also good for revenue growth. Close to 3.74% of the clients who got reactivated in October have also traded in futures & options already. Also, a large proportion of the reactivations have continued beyond just one or two transactions. Almost 42% of the reactivations that took place in October have conducted three or more transactions already.

I am happy to note that the TTM active client count has crossed 750K for the first time ever in Sharekhan’s history. My best wishes to the entire front-line team as well as our Business Partners for the continued success. Let’s aim and plan to take this programme to greater heights.

Our mutual fund (MF) assets under management (AUM) rose marginally in October this year and ended the month at Rs.6,086 crore, reflecting the tepid performance of the equity market during the same period. Inflows into Systematic Investment Plans (SIPs) declined during the month to Rs.58.12 crore compared with Rs.58.71 crore in September this year. The slowdown in momentum was also reflected in the gross and net collections. The gross collection dropped to Rs.182 crore in October from Rs.223 crore in the previous month. Similarly, the net collection fell to a net outflow of Rs.2 crore in October compared with a net inflow of about Rs.26 crore in the previous month. We still have a month and a half left of 2021 and we have already had a great start in November. I am sure we will go from strength to strength in this business as we have already surpassed our ambitions for 2021.

The Exchange Margin Funding (EMF) business recorded a decent growth of about 14% MoM in October this year, ending the month with AUM of Rs.870 crore. The peak funding for the month touched Rs.877 crore. The EMF book rebounded strongly in September and October after remaining flat in August this year. Our Branch Network contributed almost 67% of the total funding with the rest coming from the Business Partners. We expect the double-digit growth to continue, what with the front-line team using EMF well as a tool to exploit the existing market opportunities.

On the back of a whopping 35% month-on-month growth in the total disbursements, our Loan Against Securities (LAS) book grew by 18% MoM in October this year. The total disbursements stood at Rs.253.74 crore at the end of the month. In terms of channels, the Direct Channel, Branch Network, Business Partners and Employee Stock Ownership Plans accounted for Rs.36.77crore, Rs.98.38 crore, Rs.9.88 crore and Rs.7.34 crore of the total disbursements respectively. The August breather surely did the business good. Good work, everyone involved. Congratulations to all!

Sharekhan along with the rest of the BNP Paribas entities in India celebrated diversity and inclusion (D&I) by participating in various online activities jointly organised by the D&I teams of the entities between October 11 and October 29, 2021. Nearly 500 Sherus participated in the online events that covered three focus areas of the BNP Paribas Group, including Gender, Disability and LGBTQ. Besides taking part in events like panel discussions, training sessions, workshops and quiz, Sherus shared their views on the D&I culture of Sharekhan by taking the BNP Paribas Pulse Survey – Conduct and Diversity & Inclusion. The survey saw a 69% response rate in Sharekhan. Overall, the D&I week was a great opportunity to highlight the importance of diversity and inclusion in a business organisation and raise awareness about how to be more diverse and inclusive to make Sharekhan a great workplace.

Even though the COVID-19 statistics continue to show improvement and, according to experts, the epidemic has transitioned into the endemic phase in our country, we have not reached the end of COVID-19 yet. New cases are still being reported and under the circumstances we continue to advise you to follow all COVID-19 protocols whether you work from office or home. So continue to maintain social distancing; wear a mask; stay indoors as much as possible; wash your hands frequently; keep rooms well-ventilated; and cough away from others into your elbow to stay safe.

If you still have not received your COVID-19 shots, we encourage you to get yourself vaccinated as soon as possible, as vaccination can help protect you from getting the disease. Besides, some state governments have already mandated that only fully vaccinated staff should be allowed to work from office and that each staff must submit his/her final COVID-19 vaccination certificate to his/her employer. The Human Resources (HR) team will communicate on this mandatory requirement and the method of collection of the certificate. So get in touch with the HR team in case you need any help in obtaining the vaccine or claiming reimbursement for the vaccine cost for you and your eligible dependants. Continue to take care of yourself and your loved ones, stay safe.

Thank you.

Best regards,
Jaideep Arora