|In: Technology|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Established in 2014, Forward – Goldmine’s digital arm, has won the Social Media mandate in a multi-agency pitch and will service Bank of Baroda, India’s second largest public sector bank for another 3 years starting April 2019 across creative, media and ORM-led services.

Forward has launched the bank’s various digital platforms in 2016 and has helped Bank of Baroda connect with a new audience and push its new digital banking products. The agency has also assisted the bank leverage its partnerships with multiple events across the country.

Commenting on this development, O K Kaul, General Manager, Marketing, Corporate Communications & WMS of Bank of Baroda said

We are delighted to extend our association with Goldmine as our social media partner. Thanks to their strategic insights, digital expertise, in-depth knowledge of the category, our visibility online is very strong today. The campaigns they have created and executed have helped us establish a good digital footprint within the banking sector.

Being a technologically strong Bank, we particularly appreciate that Forward has deployed QuickMetrix, a strong social analytics and management software that supports all digital activities with relevant data.

To this, Aastha Singla, Co-founder, Forward, Goldmine said

Servicing Bank of Baroda has always been a learning experience for us. Given the current dynamics, the next three years seem crucial especially with the three way amalgamation of Bank of Baroda, Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank, making it a financial powerhouse. With a positive outlook, we look forward to the challenges and opportunities that come in the near future.

From the onset, Forward deployed QuickMetrix [India’s leading Social Media Listening and ORM software] for a strong technology platform to manage the Bank’s online presence across social platforms.

Pleased with this extension, Surendra S. Baliga, Co-founder – QuickMetrix, said

It is a matter of great pride for us that Bank of Baroda has deployed QuickMetrix since 2016 and has chosen to do so for the next three years. We have learnt a lot from Bank of Baroda and QuickMetrix will continue to evolve to serve India’s second largest Public Sector Bank.

QuickMetrix is integrated with the Bank’s internal systems to build a seamless experience for its customers’ service requests originating from social media.

|In: Finance|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

What is Small Cap Mutual Funds?

Small cap mutual funds are equity schemes which are required to invest a minimum of 65% of their total assets in the equity of small cap companies. Small cap companies are the 251st company downwards in terms of market capitalization. A company’s market capitalization is the market value of its outstanding shares. Aggressive investors with a high appetite for risk can invest in small cap funds in order to maximize their wealth.

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Advantages of investing in small cap funds

  • Higher growth potential – Small cap funds typically have the highest growth potential since the underlying companies are young and seek to expand aggressively. These companies have the ability to grow at a greater scale than larger companies.
  • Undervalued investments – Usually small cap companies have very little analyst coverage because they are under-reported and undiscovered. As a result, there is a large probability of these companies being undervalued and thus, can be a great investment opportunity.
  • Diversification benefits – When considering your overall portfolio, adding small cap funds helps you to balance the risk-return trade-off and diversify, thereby reducing overall risk.
  • Merger and acquisition possibility – There is a great likelihood that small cap companies may get acquired by their larger counterparts to grow inorganically and this could cause a significant upside in the share price of smaller companies eventually adding value to small cap funds.
  • Low liquidity – Small cap companies tend to be thinly traded and though this is viewed as a drawback by some, it could prove to be advantageous for investors who could foresee the potential of the company. As the company’s earnings and revenue become visible, investors start chasing the shares of such companies and since there are a limited number of shares available publicly, the share price rises rapidly.

Disadvantages of investing in small cap funds

  • Risky – In the event of an economic or business downturn, many small cap companies are not able to survive among their more competent larger counterparts and as a result, value of investment in small cap funds can go down drastically. Therefore, they are not a suitable investment for risk-averse investors.
  • Highly volatile – Whenever market sentiment turns weak, stocks of small cap companies are punished harshly causing great volatility in their share prices. This can cause small cap schemes to bleed.
  • Do not pay dividends – Since most small cap companies are young and need to reinvest their earnings in order to grow their business, they are unable to pay dividends. Thus, you cannot rely on dividend payments as a source of income.

Though Small Cap Mutual Funds have their own set of problems, as pointed out above, the biggest upside of investing in small cap funds is the significant growth potential, which cannot be matched by their larger counterparts. When chosen correctly, small cap funds can improve the performance of your overall portfolio without adding a great degree of risk. Therefore, it is not advisable to avoid investing in them completely as you may miss out on their potential to generate high returns. At the same time, you should exercise due diligence in selecting the right type of mutual fund investment with a proven track record and trustworthy management.

|In: Finance|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

A working spouse always gets the spotlight mainly due to the promising career and the respect that is earned due to hard work. However, a non-working spouse should never be overshadowed. The non-working spouse rarely gets any credit for meeting the household responsibilities. It is essential to understand that a non-working spouse complements her better half by undertaking the duties towards the household that too, on a 24*7 basis.

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Roles of a non-working spouse

Let us understand the various roles of a non-working spouse in the family.

  • Managing the house

While one spouse is working, the other has to manage the entire house and this is not an easy task. Right from keeping the house clean to washing clothes and utensils, there are endless chores. It is physically demanding and one has to put in a certain number of hours daily.

  • Cooking

A cook in a decent neighborhood located in top metro cities like Mumbai will not charge anything less than Rs. 5,000 per month. The non-working spouse cooks daily that too free of cost.

  • Looking after the children

The non-working spouse also spends a lot of time with children and ensures that they receive proper nourishment. This is an exhaustive and laborious task.

  • Teaching children

The job of a non-working spouse does not end at looking after the children; it goes much beyond that. A non-working spouse will ensure that the children perform their best in school and hence she takes a deep interest in their studies.

  • Taking children around

Every day a child in India will spend about two to three hours pursuing extracurricular activities. This includes football coaching, tuition, and other classes. The non-working spouse ensures dropping the child off and fetching the child from the school and from these activity centers.

Benefits of buying term insurance for a non-working spouse

A non-working spouse has the responsibility of an entire household. From being a cook to a teacher, driver, caretaker, and a mother, she manages it all. It is a full-time job, which does not offer any salary, promotions, bonus, or perquisites. In reality, a non-working spouse works much more as compared to an employed spouse. Most importantly, there are no holidays, weekends, or day offs in the life of a non-working spouse. Most of the times, the non-working spouse is a woman.

When it comes to buying insurance in her name, it is often overlooked and many do not understand the importance of a term plan for non-working spouse. When a term plan is purchased in the name of a non-working spouse, it will ensure the financial protection of the working spouse.

One can never account for the emotional damage or the financial implications of the job she performs on an everyday basis. One of the biggest term insurance benefits is to help tide over the financial damages that occur in her absence. Even if you set aside a specific amount for her services annually, it will not suffice.

Certain services cannot be measured in monetary terms. Instead, you can get a term insurance cover for her life at a low insurance premium. This will be beneficial to take care of the financial obligations such a paying a cook and looking after the expenses of your children’s caretaker when the non-working spouse is not around.

Buy online term insurance for the ‘always working’ spouse so that you are financially covered in her absence.

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Ultra Rich Match, one of the most trusted exclusive matrimony brand for the elite class, launched its mobile app on iOS & Android, to further facilitate their beau monde clientele to monitor their prospective matches anytime, anywhere.

The most notable feature of this App is that profiles are visible only to the verified users! Once you download the App, their Relationship Manager shall call to verify your eligibility. After completing registration and payment, they do complete background verification and also send a team to personally visit every clientele within India before giving access to the App. Also there is no contact information available on the App. Their Relationship Managers take your interest & give feedback’s via calls/emails only.

This is, infact, more of a tracking Application rather than an interactive application, for their Ultra Rich members.

  • Keep track of all matching profiles in one place
  •  Review each profile at your own pace
  •  Keep check on your current status with any profile
  •  Shortlist the ones you like
  •  View 100% verified prospects only
  •  Keep your details discreet and confidential
  •  Get connected to people across the globe

Saurabh Goswami, Director of Ultra Rich Weddings Pvt Ltd, said

Ours is a unique App for a unique clientele. It stresses on Confidentiality, Exclusivity, Simplicity and Security, which are also our company values. With this App, we see ourselves reaching out to each and every Ultra Rich family across globe, who are looking out for their perfect partner.

The Ultra Rich Match app for Android & iOS can be downloaded from here & here respectively.

About Ultra Rich Match

Ultra Rich Match is a brand of Ultra Rich Weddings Private Ltd, an ISO 9001:2015 certified company. Ultra Rich Match specializes in catering to the business Families / top notch professionals across many countries, communities & ages. While, their Business clientele comprises of Industrialists, Manufacturers, Celebrities, Listed Company Owners etc, they also offer exclusive services to the ‘Young Achievers’. This segment includes bright minds from the premier colleges with highest salaries amongst their peer. The ‘Young Achiever’ members also include young entrepreneurs, upcoming media personalities, sportspersons, doctors, and lawyers, IAS and IPS Officers, Politicians etc.

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Zendesk, Inc. announced it acquired Smooch Technologies Holdings ULC, the Montreal-based company behind Smooch, a platform connecting businesses with customers to power more personalized and human conversations. The acquisition marks Zendesk’s next step in delivering the best omnichannel experiences by connecting conversations between businesses and customers on any messaging channel – from websites and mobile apps to the world’s leading messaging apps like WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger.

Mikkel Svane, Zendesk founder, CEO & Chairman, said

We live in a messaging-centric world, and customers expect the convenience and interactivity of messaging to be part of their experiences. As long-time partners with Smooch, we know first hand how much they have advanced the conversational experience to bring together all forms of messaging and create a continuous conversation between customers and businesses.

More than 75 percent [Source] of all smartphone users now use messaging apps such as WhatsApp. Smooch is one of the largest providers of WhatsApp Business integration, and through Zendesk’s early access program, companies can now reach WhatsApp’s 1.5 billion users to manage service interactions and engage with customers directly through Zendesk Chat. This marks the continued expansion of Zendesk’s integration with the WhatsApp Business API into The Zendesk Suite.

Create a consistent conversational experience

Businesses struggle to manage the rapidly increasing number of customer inquiries across a variety of disparate channels. Smooch is the only messaging solution pulling in all customer conversations across web, mobile, and social messaging into a cohesive interface no matter what the channel is. As an API and SDK-based development platform built on AWS, Smooch’s acquisition furthers Zendesk’s commitment to an open, flexible CRM that businesses can harness to build and offer differentiated customer experiences.

Warren Levitan, Co-founder & CEO of Smooch, said

With their launch of Sunshine last year, Zendesk took the bold and disruptive step required to compete for and win the future of CRM. The decision to combine forces with Zendesk and help further their CRM strategy will allow us to supercharge our existing mission for building the best customer experiences. We are thrilled to be joining the entire Zendesk team, so many of whom we have had the pleasure to work with over the past three-and-a-half years.

Together, Zendesk and Smooch will drive the next wave of connected conversations on a variety of messaging channels, including WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, LINE, WeChat, Telegram, Twitter DM, Viber, Kakao Talk, SMS text, RCS and through native web iOS and Android apps. For example, with these expanded capabilities, an online retailer could seamlessly manage an issue with an incorrect shipment or return that starts on social messaging like WhatsApp and shifts to its own native messaging experience in one continuous, informed thread within Zendesk.

In addition to product enhancements, Zendesk announced a Conversation Solutions Team, which will support businesses seeking to leverage Smooch’s best-in-class conversation platform to craft personalized messaging experiences. This team can deliver customized messaging applications such as a global hotel brand that provides customers with a premium, omnichannel guest experience through the ability to message hotel staff on property in real-time for any needs across a range of messaging platforms.

Empower a collaborative, cross-functional team

Businesses know that the need to connect and collaborate in real-time is critical, and Slack is the preferred communications channel for business. To provide the best experience and service, customer-facing employees need the ability to pull in subject matter experts quickly and easily. Zendesk announced the general availability of Side Conversations for Slack.

Side Conversations empowers teams to work seamlessly together with other departments or partners outside the company without leaving Zendesk. This is especially critical for sales and support who frequently work together to solve and prioritize customer issues. With Zendesk Sell and Support integration, service and sales teams can quickly partner to develop joint solutions with full customer context.

Suite expansion with new integrations

To make great customer experience accessible to everyone, Zendesk launched The Suite in 2018, and it quickly became the company’s most successful product launch ever, driving a 400 percent increase in our customers adopting omnichannel solutions. A core part of The Suite’s success is its robust and growing Zendesk Marketplace, which is expanding with the addition of new Suite Ready partners including Atlassian, Lessonly, Maestro, Stella, Tymeshift, Geckoboard, Statuspage and Ada. These integrations help businesses improve their customer experience [CX] operations in a variety of ways, including training and managing their workforce, tracking KPIs and goals, and monitoring their tickets for quality assurance.

|In: Finance|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Equity Linked Saving Scheme [ELSS] is one of the top tax saving investments available to investors. Apart from providing tax exemption under Section 80C, ELSS also provides healthy long term returns by investing equities. ELSS are diversified mutual funds with minimum 80% of the investment in equity and equity related securities with a lock-in period of 3 years.

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Once you have decided to invest in ELSS. There are a few tips to select the best ELSS schemes as per your need.

Consistent Performers – While selecting an ELSS Mutual Fund to invest in, don’t just blindly invest in the scheme providing the highest returns. Instead, look for schemes which have consistently performed well over the past 5~7 years. It is always better to opt for a scheme that has been among the top performers over the last 5~7 years rather than for one which is the most recent ‘winner’. Such consistent performers have successfully weathered different cycles in the market and have a higher probability of providing decent returns in the future as well.

Fund Manager – Before investing, read about the fund manager associated with the fund. Study the performance of the fund manager over the past few years in all the funds that he/she has managed. Analyze the investment style of the fund manager and whether it is in sync with your investment goals. The period of association of the fund manager with the scheme is also an important factor. i.e. if the fund is being managed by the same fund manager since inception or the fund manager has changed recently.

Portfolio of ELSS Scheme – ELSS schemes of different AMCs can be very different in terms of asset allocation. One scheme could be heavily investing in large-cap stocks while the other may have a multi-cap approach. One needs to identify the scheme suitable to his/her risk profile and investment goals. For example, a high risk-taking investor might choose to opt for a scheme where the investment is concentrated in small and mid-cap stocks. Similarly, an investor with a lesser risk appetite may opt for a scheme allocating its funds across market capitalization from large cap to small cap stocks. It all depends on the investment goal and risk profile of the investor.

Mode of investment – Like any other mutual fund scheme, this tax saver mutual fund scheme is also available in both Lump sum and SIP. When investors invest one single amount in the mutual fund it is called lump sum.

SIP [Systematic Investment Plan] – SIP is a method to invest a fixed amount in a mutual fund on a regular periodic basis. Investments can be done on a daily, monthly or quarterly basis on a fixed date. The investor has the flexibility to choose the mode of investment.  If the investor is investing towards the end of the fiscal year, for example in January, then it might be better to opt for a lump sum investment to take benefit of the total exemption limit. If the investor is able to schedule his/her investments at the start of the fiscal year, then it may be better to opt for an SIP.

|In: Funding|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

KaHa, a Singapore-based end-to-end IoT platform startup for smart wearables, has raised US$6.2 million in Series B funding to accelerate its growth in Asia. The funding round was led by ICT Fund, a specialized deep-tech venture capital fund and an existing strategic investor from Europe.

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The funds raised in this round will enable the company to boost its research and development and scale its operations in the Asia Pacific region. APAC is the world’s fastest growing smart wearables market, outperforming Europe, the Americas, and Africa.

KaHa will be expanding its presence in Singapore as well as play a more significant role in the country’s IoT ecosystem. This year, the firm launched the COVE R2C IoT Innovation Lab, a multi-partite IoT innovation and research lab in one-north technology hub. In close collaboration with public and private partners, KaHa is currently developing innovative use cases on smart wearables. Valuable partners across the IoT development value chain include Singapore research institute A*STAR SIMTech, Bridgestone, Curtis Australia, MHA Manufacture de Haute Accessoirie Partners, Tex Line, and Titan.

Pawan Gandhi, Founder & CEO of KaHa, said

As a company with a mission to create a better and safer environment, it is important to us to bring innovative and relevant technologies into a consumer’s everyday life. Apart from helping us expand our product line, this new round of funding will allow KaHa to discover more breakthrough products that can support the health and wellness, sports and fitness, safety and digital payments needs, as well as increase the COVE platform’s availability internationally and improve our accessibility and affordability. With the continued support of our existing strategic investor and new partner ICT Fund, we are strategically positioned to make our mission possible.

Brijesh Pande, Managing Partner of ICT Fund said

We are delighted to partner with KaHa, which is well placed to capitalize on the fast-growing market opportunity in smart wearables. Consumer product brands will increasingly need to offer ‘smart’ products to maintain leadership and KaHa, with its innovative end-to-end platform, is a perfect partner for global brands.

Andy Raswork, Board member of existing strategic investor, said

We are very pleased with KaHa’s progress and track record and it’s been clear that its platform can be scaled across various brands.  We are excited about increasing our investment in KaHa on this next phase as it continues to drive scale and growth in the wearable tech and IoT space.

Incorporated in Singapore in 2015, KaHa is one of the few companies in the world to have an end-to-end IoT platform for smart wearables including electronics design, printed circuit board assembly, application framework for iOS and Android, cloud services, data analytics and smart after-sales service tool. The platform enables partners and customers to incorporate the latest technology without prohibitive financial costs and speed up their go-to-market time for smart products including smart bands, smartwatches, smart accessories and smart apparel.

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Intraday trading is one of the popular trading strategies that helps traders earn handsome returns. However, it requires proper knowledge, skills and discipline to earn from an intraday trade.

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To be a successful trader, it is essential for you to know how the stock selection is done for intraday trading. Since there are numerous companies listed on the BSE and NSE, it becomes very difficult to select stocks for intraday trading. To ease your task of stock selection, we will walk you through the golden rules that you must follow while picking stocks for intraday trading.

Tips for Picking Stocks for Intraday Trading

Follow the Trend

Intraday traders must follow the trend of the market and never trade against it. Like for example, if the market is going up then trade should be taken in stocks that have the potential to rise. Similarly, when the market is falling down then trade should be taken in stocks that can fall further from the current levels.

Trade In Liquid Stocks

Since intraday trading involves squaring off the positions on the same day, you must trade in liquid stocks. Liquid stocks are those stocks which have higher volumes. The traders can easily find buyers and sellers for the respective quantities in liquid stocks and close the trade by the end of the day.

Technical Analysis

It is advisable to take an intraday trade position after conducting technical analysis of the stock. Technical analysis involves reading and understanding the charts of the stock and accordingly taking a position in it. Technical analysis helps an intraday trader in predicting the future price movement.

Trade On News

You can pick an intraday stock on the basis of news flow. The stocks that are in news show big price movement. Furthermore, on the basis of news, it is easy to predict the direction of price movement. Like for example, if the news is positive for the stock, the stock price will go up. Similarly, if the news is negative for the stock, the price will come down.

Resistance Level

You can select a stock for intraday trade when it breaks its resistance levels. The resistance level of a stock is that level where the stock resists to move further. But, once the resistance level of any stock is broken, the stock price moves very quickly. Thus, monitoring the stocks near the resistance levels helps in picking the right stock for intraday trade.

Weekly Movement

You can pick a stock for intraday trade after tracking its weekly price movement. Weekly price movement signifies the trend of the stock and suggests which side the movement of the stock is highly probable. This approach must be put into intraday trade after a good study.

Trade on Sectoral Movements

There are days in the market when stocks of only a particular sector show good momentum. On days like these, picking the stock from such sectors to trade can prove to be a fruitful strategy. When there is a sectoral rise in the stock price, the price movement is fast and good profits can be made.

The above mentioned are few of the tips for picking the right stocks for intraday trading. You can even take the help of your broker or financial advisor for intraday trading. Kotak Securities is one of the leading brokers in India who is known for providing the most accurate intraday trading stock picks. All you need to do is get in touch and open a demat account with Kotak Securities.