India Infoline

Almost exactly about five years ago on May 17, 2004, we had seen the
 worst day on the stock market when stock markets were frozen at the
 lower circuit after falling by more than 10 per cent at the opening.
 
 Again, about 10 years ago, when we launched our website on May 11,
 1999, we were riding the internet crest that was followed by a bust and
 then a gradual recovery.
 
 The bottomline is that we live in volatile times. The market
 sentiments, views on the economy, stocks, commodity prices and
 inflation can change most unexpectedly, making a mockery of pundits.
 
 However, despite this reality, certain things in life remain constant.
 Especially things that extend beyond money - like a purpose, a set of
 values. Fittingly, the theme for this Annual Report ‘Things beyond
 money’is the theme of our new branding campaign as well as our drive to
 define organisational purpose and values more clearly.
 
 Let me discuss both separately.
 
 Our brand was associated with the ‘It’s all about money, honey!’tagline
 since inception. When we launched our website www.indiainfoline.com ten
 years ago, this catch phrase succinctly captured the essence of our
 business, which revolved around advising and managing money. While
 there has been amazing recall of the unique catch phrase along with the
 brand, we felt that the positioning did not capture the emotional
 aspects of why we make money, need to manage it and make it grow.
 
 This recognition led us to an evolved brand positioning. Therefore our
 new branding campaign with a series of creatives (some reproduced in
 this report) highlights that there are many things in life beyond
 money. More often than not, they all cost money. We all know that money
 can help us buy happiness, peace of mind and security for our loved
 ones. Money can help us pursue our passion with freedom. And when it is
 well earned with legitimate means, it stands testimony to our hard
 earned success, our talent, our creativity and our achievement.
 
 Money is necessary, although not sufficient condition, for peace of
 mind and happiness. George Bernard Shaw put it more dramatically when
 he said that lack of money was the root of all evils and crime. Then
 why the hypocrisy about the need for making and growing money?
 Therefore, our new campaign is not a contradiction of our original
 positioning, but a logical extension. We are proud to be in the
 business of helping people make more money or manage the risk of
 losses. We possess a proven competence, expertise and infrastructure to
 research and evaluate asset classes on the one hand and advise
 customers on how to maximise returns for risks one is willing and able
 to take on the other.
 
 Defining our organisation’s values and culture is a different subject
 and it is a coincidence that we use the same theme to drive home the
 strong set of values.  Internally, we use the acronym GIFT to define
 our core values of Governance, Integrity, Fairness and Transparency.
 They govern our response to society, customers, employees and
 shareholders respectively. The successful pursuit of these values, so
 vital for advising or managing other people’s money, requires us to
 think beyond making immediate money for ourselves.
 
 The first core value is Governance. We are in a highly regulated
 business with the added responsibilities associated with being a listed
 company. We make no compromise on compliance and law- of-the-land,
 whatever the cost. Being a leading industry player, we have the duty of
 leading by example. The Company has a fiduciary responsibility to
 customers and management has the same to the shareholders.
 
 The second is Integrity. The customer expects and deserves unbiased
 advice and an honest execution of trades. Many a time, this may
 conflict with the broker’s immediate earnings. We train our people not
 to let commission or short-term profits to ever conflict with their
 advice. There are also times when the customer is swayed by markets and
 takes risk disproportionate to his capacity. Conversely, in a gloomy
 market, the customer may be too frightened to seize the opportunity.
 Our executives are trained for character and competence; they sit with
 the customer as a friend, advisor and sounding board to help them take
 informed decisions.
 
 The third of our core values is Fairness.  There are thousands of
 people who work with the Company and thousands more who indirectly
 depend on the Company for their livelihood. Our success depends solely
 on the quality and motivation of our people. In the face of competition
 from large established players, we have been able to grow rapidly and
 profitably but if I have to single out one factor that sustains high
 morale, it is fair treatment.  We work hard to build a culture so that
 at all levels and at all times, we do not let systems or any individual
 deviate from our core value of fairness.
 
 Last - but not the least - is Transparency. We practise the highest
 standards of disclosures and share valuable information with our
 stakeholders. We may not be able to please our shareholders with every
 quarter’s performance, but will never disappoint them with misleading
 information or a picture that is not ‘true and fair’.
 
 In the last ten years, we have made rapid strides starting from
 scratch, climbing to a leadership position in broking and other
 financial services. All this would not have happened without the
 support of all our stakeholders, namely customers, employees,
 shareholders and also exchanges and regulators. They have supported,
 guided and stood by us through the ups and downs of the market and the
 organisation; we are grateful to them all.  We have also received
 excellent support from our bankers and vendors.
 
 We are now more confident than ever before, of not just emerging as the
 leading player but achieving our vision of being the most respected
 player in the financial services space. And this will happen when we
 stick to our purpose and values, aptly encapsulated in the tagline
 Things beyond money.
 
                                                           Nirmal Jain
                                        Chairman and Managing Director