Pune practioners seminar on ‘Investing’ was organized by FLAME University and Indian Association of Investment Professionals (IAIP - CFA Society India) on the 7th October, 2017 at the FLAME University campus.
The seminar received overwhelming response from the investment community. Veterans of the investing world and members of the CFA Society like Sampath Reddy, Samit Vartak, Shreenivas Kunte and Umesh Kudalkar were speakers at the seminar.
Ms. Sonia Gandhi, Director at Indian Association of Investment Professionals (IAIP) – India CFA Society was the chief guest. Sonia is the first woman director on the Board of IAIP, and oversees the Programming and Continuing Education (PCE) Committee. Sonia is extremely passionate to train and mentor the next generation of finance professionals, especially women.
The event commenced with the introduction and felicitation of the first speaker, Mr. Sampath Reddy. Sampath Reddy is the Chief Investment Officer at Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance Company Limited. He is a CFA charter holder. He is an active member of the CFA community. Mr. Reddy’s talk was on, ‘Practioner Oriented Equity Valuation Methods’. He covered topics like the key drivers of valuations, sensitivity of accounting ratios to valuations, and business cycles and valuations.
Following him was Mr. Samit Vartak, also a CFA charter holder. He is the Co-Founder and Chief Investment Officer (CIO) at SageOne Investment Advisors LLP. His address was about ‘Valuations from an Equity Investor's Perspective’. He touched upon topics like mathematics behind valuation multiples, drivers of valuation multiples including sensitivity analysis and pockets of under valuation. He used various examples and case studies during this talk. He also discussed whether markets can be timed to generate superior returns.
Next was Mr. Shreenivas Kunte sharing his views on the topic, ‘Avoiding Shenanigans’. He is the Content Director at CFA Institute. He focused on the ‘Why’ and ‘How’ shenanigans related to investments are committed. He covered the ‘Why’ using behavioral forensics and the ‘How’ by using the shenanigans framework. He used various Indian and international examples to explain the same.
The lunch session that followed next proved to be a brain picking session between participants and speakers. Ideas were exchange between intelligent investing minds.
The last but most awaited speaker of the event was Mr. Umesh Kudalkar who spoke about, ‘Economic Moats’. He is a Director at Multi-Act Trade and Investments Pvt. Ltd. He explained, ‘Economic Moats’ refer to the sustainable advantages that protect a company against competitors—the way a moat protects a castle. Mr. Kudalkar talked about why one should invest in moats, what the strategy and relevance behind it is and when is the best time to invest in moats with a margin of safety in mind.
The seminar came to close with remarks from Mr. Prashant Shah, Co-Chair PCE Committee, who thanked all speakers and participants for coming and making it a successful event.
FLAME University’s flagship FLAME Investment Lab initiative strives to widen horizons, aiding to connect dots within seemingly disparate information. This was just one such event in this direction to help investors make sense of the dynamic investment world.