Three years ago, SBI MF and Wealth Forum instituted the Emerging Advisor Awards to recognize new talent in the IFA world. Every business and every profession needs young blood to infuse new life and new vigour in the profession, to challenge status quo, to raise the bar, to nudge the profession to scale new highs. The Wealth Forum Emerging Advisor Awards is a humble attempt by SBI MF and Wealth Forum to catalyse just this, by putting a spotlight on emerging talent in the IFA space, and recognize rising stars who are making a mark in the profession within a short span of setting up their practice.

In the 2015 edition of these awards, SBI Mutual Fund and Wealth Forum recognized 5 such IFA firms from different parts of the country - some from the big metros and some from much smaller markets. The awards were given by SBI MF's top management, including Mr. Dinesh Khara, CEO, Mr. NavneetMunot, CIO and Mr.D.P.Singh, CMO, in a special session at the 6th annual Wealth Forum Platinum Circle Advisors Conference, which was held in Mumbai on July 17th and 18th, 2015.

The winners:

Prasad Karanth, Bagalkot (Karnataka)

Our first rising star operates in a small town called Bagalkot in Northern Karnataka with a population of only 285,000 people. He started his IFA practice in Bagalkot less than 3 years ago, after successful stints at HDFC Bank and Karvy. In the last 2 years, he has built up, in this small town, an impressive client base of over 350 families and has gathered an AuM of over Rs.20 crores, largely in equity funds. He has built an SIP book of Rs.20 lakh in a short span of 2 years, in a market as small as Bagalkot.

L-R: D.P.Singh, Dinesh Khara, NavneetMunot, Prasad Karanth, Vijay Venkatram (WF)

Deepesh Arora, Silverline Wealth, Ahmedabad

Our second rising star is a 31 year old who started his IFA practice 2 years ago in Ahmedabad, after a successful stint at Kotak Life Insurance. In these 2 years, he has already built up an AuM of over Rs.80 crores, with HNIs accounting for over 75% of his business. Of his 80 crAuM, about 10 cr is in liquid funds, 15 crs is in equity funds and about 55 crs is in long term accrual funds. Besides mutual funds, he is among the largest providers of term insurance in the city, with an annual throughput of over Rs.1000 crs of sum assured, all in only term plans.

L to R: D.P. Singh, Dinesh Khara, NavneetMunot, Deepesh Arora, Vijay Venkatram

Vineet Nanda, Sift Capital, Delhi

Many would say that our third rising star should now be counted among the leaders and not the emerging leaders in the capital city of Delhi - such has been his meteoric rise. He set up his IFA practice in Delhi a little over 5 years ago, after a successful stint at Citibank. He focuses on professionals with investible assets between 50 lakhs to 5 crores. Many of his clients are senior and middle management professionals in financial services, including banks, who have chosen to use his advisory services rather than their in-house wealth management services. In the last 3 years, he has doubled his business each year - from 50 crAuM in Apr 13 to 110 crAuM in Apr 14 and over 250 crAuM in Apr 15.

L to R: D.P. Singh, Dinesh Khara, Vineet Nanda, NavneetMunot, Vijay Venkatram

Ark Primary Advisors, Jaipur

Our fourth rising star is a firm set up by 2 partners - Hemant Beniwal and Vikas Agarwal - in Jaipur around 5 years ago. They created a very engaging educational blog called "The Financial Literates" http://www.tflguide.com/, which now has a subscriber base of over 20,000 investors - not just from Jaipur, but from across the country and NRIs from across the globe as well. They have taken up the SEBI license for Investment Advisors, and have set up an exclusive advisory vertical within their company. The company serves over 175 families with assets under advice in excess of Rs.60 crores - most of which comes from metro cities and NRIs.

L to R: D.P. Singh, Dinesh Khara, Vikas Agarwal, NavneetMunot, Vijay Venkatram

Client Alley, Dehradun

Two bankers - Nitin Avasthy and Achin Jain - quit their jobs a year ago to set up an advisory practice in the city of Dehradun in Uttarakhand. Despite the rather small size of the market, they have successfully ramped up their business very handsomely in the last one year, and already have an AuM in excess of Rs.50 crores. The duo are now looking to expand beyond Dehradun, and are setting up base in 2 more cities. Their goal for the second year: to close at an AuM of Rs.150 crores!

L to R: Nitin Avasthy, D.P.Singh, Dinesh Khara, Achin Jain, NavneetMunot, Vijay Venkatram

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