TradeBox, an ascendant fintech platform in India’s financial services sector, epitomizes excellence in delivering comprehensive financial market research and products. It functions as an aggregator of market intelligence, sourcing perspicacious insights from SEBI-registered analysts. By providing these analysts with a robust platform to disseminate their reports and opinions, TradeBox empowers investors and traders with the requisite tools for informed decision-making in market investments.
Furthermore, TradeBox extends its panoply of services to various financial market providers, thereby augmenting investors’ risk management capabilities and offering diversified investment avenues. These include Portfolio Management Services (PMS), Asset Management Companies (AMC), and other financial institutions. The platform aspires to engage a wide-ranging audience of investors, traders, and research analysts, thus fostering comprehensive market participation and presenting a meticulous assessment of investment prospects.
TradeBox envisions itself as a paragon of trust for both households and corporate entities, providing sagacious guidance in investment and risk management decisions. Its mission is to demystify and enhance the delivery of premier recommendations from erudite research analysts to investors and traders.
In an exclusive exchange with The Interview World, Ankur Kapoor, CEO & Founder of TradeBox, illuminated the distinctive offerings of his enterprise. He expounded on market responses and underscored the profound impact of advisories rendered by SEBI-registered analysts. Herein lie the pivotal insights from his interview.
Q; Could you explain what TradeBox is doing and how it differs from other media channels that offer similar services globally?
A: TradeBox is an innovative platform that amalgamates SEBI-registered entities, duly licensed and authorized to dispense their market insights and opinions while allowing them to charge for their expertise. Unlike the myopic purview of television, which foists upon us a select cadre of analysts, TradeBox emancipates the discerning investor from such restrictions.
With its inherent limitations, the televisual medium curtails our autonomy by mandating content consumption from preordained analysts. This imposition remains unaltered, even when their prognostications prove fallacious. The hapless viewer is left bereft of choice, compelled to endure the dictates of the TV channels.
In contrast, social media platforms such as YouTube, Instagram, and Telegram are rife with issues about the veracity of profiles. The proliferation of spurious accounts bearing semblances to legitimate ones engenders a labyrinthine dilemma for investors seeking genuine advice. Moreover, the digital realm is teeming with unlicensed advisors dispensing market counsel and extracting fees, in blatant contravention of SEBI’s edicts. This regulatory lacuna leaves investors in a quandary, unable to ascertain the bona fides of these purveyors of financial wisdom.
Despite its constraints, television retains a modicum of credibility by virtue of its accountability for the experts it endorses. Conversely, platforms like YouTube abdicate such responsibility, exacerbating the investor’s plight. TradeBox, however, distinguishes itself by assuming unequivocal ownership of its advisors’ profiles and the content they disseminate. Although nascent, this initiative heralds a paradigm shift in the realm of financial advisories.
Presently, in India, there exists a formidable cohort of over 2,000 SEBI-licensed analysts, eager to promulgate their advisory services to the multitudes of investors endowed with Demat accounts. TradeBox empowers these investors to judiciously select advisors whose investment philosophies resonate with their own predilections, thereby fostering an enlightened and autonomous investment milieu.
Q: What is the number of SEBI-registered analysts associated with TradeBox?
A: We find ourselves nascent in this domain, merely four months young. Yet, we proudly count 30 registered entities in our fold. Among them, one is a foreign bank and four are Portfolio Management Services (PMS), all mandated with SEBI licensure. Furthermore, we house over 14 SEBI-registered research analysts within our ranks.
Exclusively populated by SEBI-licensed entities, our platform hosts a cohort exceeding 30 stalwarts. Presently, we embark fervently on outreach initiatives. With our tech platform primed, our engagement efforts are underway with vigor.
Q: What reactions are you currently receiving from the market?
A: Before engaging customers, our priority lies in forging alliances with experts. This foundational step ensures our platform is robust and multifaceted. Upon readiness, our objective is to unveil these offerings to our audience. The response has been resoundingly positive. Our approach champions SEBI-licensed individuals who remain relatively obscure. We aspire to serve as their voice, their marketing agency, their dedicated platform.
Q: How do you envision the future of your business, particularly in terms of the impact of providing advice from SEBI-registered analysts through your platform?
A: Before the onset of COVID-19, our tally of Demat accounts stood at 4 crores. In just four years, that figure has surged to 14 crores—an exponential rise. Previously, it took over two decades to achieve the 4 crore mark, yet now, in a mere fraction of that time, we have more than tripled our numbers.
This remarkable growth underscores a burgeoning interest in investment. As Prime Minister Modi charts India’s course towards becoming the world’s third-largest economy, our current count of 14 crores is poised to exceed 30 crores imminently.
India’s thriving economic narrative and its burgeoning prospects are increasingly drawing retail investors. With this influx, the imperative for sound advisory services intensifies. Guidance must emanate from credible sources to ensure investors are equipped with reliable insights.
Our platform stands committed to meeting this demand, facilitating informed decision-making. Looking ahead, our objective remains steadfast: to bolster India’s evolving investment landscape and empower a burgeoning number of Indians to partake in the market’s prosperity.
Q: Are you using AI to create new services that enhance existing ones?
A: We are embarking on AI integration within our platform to navigate the vast expanse of investment opportunities adeptly. Individualized precision is paramount; not every option fits every investor. Upon visiting our platform, users anticipate bespoke recommendations. Should I, for instance, seek exposure to the chemical sector, I expect insights curated by domain experts. AI excels in pinpointing such specialized expertise to cater precisely to investor needs. The realm of investing teems with boundless prospects. AI’s role is to ensure that amidst this ocean of possibilities, investors seamlessly discover options tailored precisely to their discerning tastes.
