WF: How do you read this market correction and what are you advising your clients to do now?

Janak Shah: Well, I think the markets have corrected from 17500, to current levels of 16200, after having tried a bottom of about 15800. The general feeling is there is room for a little more correction. But I don't see too much correction - I mean I don't think we will see the levels of 14000 to 14500. I will be comfortable telling my clients to start putting in money between 15200 and 15500. The correction is more due to global factors - we went up also with global markets, we are now having a correction with them - this is a healthy correction and good for us to get in.

WF: Are your clients nervous about markets? Are they looking at investing or redeeming?

Janak Shah: No, I think they have been waiting to put back their money into markets. In fact, a lot of them are going through the STP route, instead of going directly. That is what we are advising them also, to invest using the STP route rather than trying to be brave and act on one shot and stuff like that.

WF: What are you recommending to your clients on the fixed income side?

Janak Shah: On the debt side, we are fairly comfortable now - we are telling clients to look at income funds. The 10 year is in the range of 7.80% -7.90% and we feel that it will probably not go beyond 8.25%. We feel that investing in income funds with a one year view may be a better idea than an FMP with double indexation when there is no clarity on the direct tax code.

WF: In terms of your own business model, what changes have you made post Aug 09? Any new lines of business, new client segments, new pricing strategy?

Janak Shah: No changes - we are very focused on what we want to do. We are not running away from the fact that yes, there is less money to be made. But I think eventually the aim is to bring in more assets and we are clearly targeting to do that. If we work towards building our assets, money will come - though it will take some time. We are not looking at the money part now - we are focused on assets.

We have been focused on the HNI and institutional segments, with a small retail business. We will continue to focus on our two primary segments.

We have a terminal for equity transactions - but right now, its more an execution service rather than an advisory based service.

Mutual funds is 95% of our business and it will continue to remain that way. That's a business we understand, that's a business we want to continue focusing on. We are doing some insurance - but MFs will remain the central focus for us. Like I mentioned, we would rather lay emphasis on building assets to compensate for lower income - rather than venturing into multiple product lines and diffusing focus.

WF: Are you considering using the stock broking terminal for executing your mutual fund trades as well?

Janak Shah: No. Basically we are not a direct broker or a member of any exchange, here it has to be routed through a broker. Why should I let my clients to be known to others?

WF: Within equity funds, which are the ones you are most comfortable recommending?

Janak Shah: We are sticking to tried and tested products from fund houses that have a strong track record - like HDFC, Reliance, DSP Blackrock and Sundaram. For more experienced clients who understand markets, have the acumen and willing to take calls, we are open to recommending newer funds like the AIG India Equity Fund.

WF: In the fixed income space and MIPs, which are ones you are comfortable recommending?

Janak Shah: In MIPs, we are recommending HDFC, Reliance and Birla. In income funds, our primary recommendations are Birla and HDFC.

WF: Now that you have new partners - Amit Bivalkar and Rahul Khandekar - in Sapient, what are the new initiatives that we can look forward to from your firm?

Janak Shah: We will stick to our core advisory business. Now, with my new partners in Sapient, we will look at setting up a family office service for our ultra high net worth clients. This will involve the entire gamut of services from investment advisory, to estate planning, to wills, to transfer of assets to the next generation etc. That's the concept we want to bring in to our business.

We will probably create alliances with providers of some specialist services to ensure that we offer a comprehensive family office service to our clients.