Smart People

SMART EYE

A die-hard football fan and a Britisher, that's Andrew Holland, chief administrative officer and executive vice-president (research), DSP Merrill Lynch.

Holland, who hails from Manchester, has over 20 years of experience in the broking industry and analyses the Indian financial markets. He would have been a basist with a rock band had he not decided to get into the financial world.

"I grew up listening to classic rock," reminisces the Deep Purple fan. Holland along with his friends had formed a band and spotted music as a career option. But destiny had the stock markets waiting for him.

Holland's first tryst with equities was in 1977 when he joined Halliday Simpsons, a private stock broking house, where he advised clients as well as research companies.

By the time he moved to County NatWest, a leading investment bank in London in 1984, he was hailed as one of the best mid-cap analysts in the field. The year 1988 saw him at Barclays and after four years he moved to track emerging markets in Korea.

Two years later Holland was off to Tokyo to join Credit Suisse First Boston (CSFB) where he covered the Japanese markets. A year later (in 1995) he shifted back to Barclays. By then, his itineraries were well-defined.

"I liked tracking emerging markets," he quips. Finally, in 1997, Holland joined Merrill Lynch and has since been spent considerable time with DSP Merrill Lynch in India, not to mention briefs stints in Thailand and Malaysia. Holland likes India - the weather, food and the people.

Holland's weakness for soccer kept him up late in mornings during Euro 2004. He was in Japan for the World Cup in 2002, supporting England.

What does he think of the markets here? Holland feels that India is back to its stock-picking story in the short term. "The growth story will continue apace in the long term," he adds. And what about Mumbai?

According to him, staying in Cuffe Parade has its own advantages as he doesn't have to encounter the horrid Mumbai traffic. Traffic or no traffic, Holland can sure create a noise in Indian markets.

Ajay Bagga is probably the youngest CEO (chief executive officer) around in the fund industry. At 36, he heads one of the premier private sector mutual funds, Kotak Mutual Fund, where he joined four months ago.

With 14 years of experience in the financial sector, Bagga sure has what it takes to lead a fund house. Kotak Mutual Fund launched the fund of fund scheme - an open-ended fund which invests in diversified equity funds from various fund houses - soon after Bagga joined it.

Bagga began his career with Citibank from where he moved to Pioneer ITI Asset Management as national head (sales, distribution and business development).

Pioneer holds a lot of significance to Bagga since he formed his foundation for investing after reading Art of Speculation by Philip Carret who set up Pioneer Mutual Fund.

After a two-year stint at Pioneer, Bagga joined SBI Cards where he led the marketing team for another two years. But finance seemed like an unlikely field for a committed Marxist.

"I learnt German to read Karl Marx," he remarks. So is he happy to see the Left at the Centre? "Marxism was for college days, things are different now," he quips.

Bagga holds a degree in political science from the Delhi University and a management degree from Xavier's Labour Research Institute (XLRI). Far from the socially-conscious world of communism, his reading is now dominated by books on investment and management.

Bagga is optimistic about Indian stock markets. "I think there is too much pessimism in the markets now. So we are in for a positive surprise," he says, adding that there will be a good earnings season and a good monsoon.

When he is not managing funds, Bagga organises Art of Living courses along with his wife Rajita who is training director (Asia Pacific) with Citibank's Citifinancial.

Bagga is also interested in classic rock (Bob Dylan and Jimi Hendrix figure among his favourites). His role, as he puts it, is to work towards eliminating 'mass financial illiteracy'. One expects him to launch an 'art of investing' course in the near future!