AI, Big data analytics are going to be the game changers in the near future: Rohit Ambosta, CIO, Angel Broking

What have been some of the major initiatives taken in the past one year? Out of all the IT initiatives, which initiative has the most business impact?

The vision at Angel Broking has always been to provide real value to the investors. The sector that we operative in is extremely sensitive and highly regulated, and rightly so, since it’s the consumers hard earned money that you are dealing with. Consequently, we have taken an active part in our endeavour to lead the stock investing space on the fulcrum of technology. We have introduced multiple products and services in tandem with this keeping the consumers’ best interests in mind such as ARQ, D-KYC, DigiPitch, #CustomerService, Trade in One Hour etc. Many of our initiatives have actually changed the way Broking Industry operates in India. One of them is “Trade UP”.

Till July 2015, no one in the broking industry ever thought that Account Opening, Activation and customer striking his first trade can be done in less than 2- 3days. With “Trade-UP” we infused speed in the industry by bring down this whole process to just 4-hours and today we do it in less than 30 minutes. It has been our constant endeavor to make things faster for the consumers thereby enhancing their experience continuously. Similarly, when we deployed chat-bots to resolve customer queries through Social Media platforms like Twitter & Facebook, we redefined query resolution process by not just making it the fastest but also convenient and customer friendly. Even today, when many industry players are working towards launching Robo-advisory platforms, we have not just launched it a year back but have gone beyond and made ‘ARQ’ an hyper intelligent investment engine. ARQ powers all our platforms and benefits are available to all our customers (over 1 million).

How are emerging technologies impacting your sector?
There are 5 mega technological trends that we believe will disrupt the market, as you have mentioned above. India has already taken a hands-on approach on most of these technologies with new innovations being added to the gamut every passing hour, as we speak. Blockchain, digitization, automation, AI, Big data analytics are all going to be the game changers in the near future. The spectacle on blockchain technology is yet to completely sway India since we are yet to understand all the implications of this technology. Our foray into digitization occurred nearly 2 years ago. We have since then committed ourselves to provide a 360 degree digitized advisory and service competency to all our stakeholders, internally and externally alike.

Post the digital transformation kick-started in 2015, the daily turnover has surged up by more than 60% in the last two years itself. We are concentrating on automation and big data analytics. Almost all of our operations, internal and external are governed by automation and digitization. We have even committed ourselves to a 360 degree digitization approach, as I mentioned previously. Analytics are being used in various parameters. Case in point, we have introduced a FDS system nearly a year ago that tracks unusual login/trading behaviours and immediately alerts the user, before falling prey to fraudulent practises. We truly believe that technology will aid financial inclusion and that has been our vision for the country. Multiple products have been launched and are in pipeline in tandem with this principle.

How significant is ARQ for your firm?
ARQ is the wealth investment advisory engine by Angel Broking. Prior to this, investment ideas and advice was at the disposal of either HNI individuals or the brokers themselves. The retail investors were extremely vulnerable. We have committed ourselves to individual investors and will continue to innovate to provide the best of Investment Advisory and Digital Platforms for them. With this in mind and with the backing of technology we introduced ARQ, a system which uses algorithms and Nobel Prize winning Modern Portfolio theory to enable personalized investment advice based on individual’s financial goals and risk profile. We believe that with ARQ, we have taken our first step towards making superior investment advisory available at zero/minimal cost to every individual we hope to deal with in the future.

How it is affecting your business in terms of growth and also from customer’s perspective? Is it efficient enough to meet customer’s financial needs?
In August 2016, Angel Broking introduced to the market a revolutionary Mobile App, ARQ, a comprehensive and personalized investment advisory engine, strengthening our venture in cognitive technology. Within a year since its launch, ARQ mid-cap investment strategy has given more than 42% returns to its retail investors. Consumers pocketed profits worth more than 1700 crores. Today, more than 75 per cent of revenue comes through online platforms of which 60 per cent comes from the mobile app alone. In the last two years, investing activity through the mobile platform has increased 20x and the turnover has shot up by 10x. It is certainly most efficient enough to meet the consumers’ needs since it provides personalized information.

ARQ is a system which is backed by Deep Insights and Industry knowledge. The system relies on the information and predicts the future about the performance of the investment and possible returns that you may get. ARQ uses a model that assumes that for all efficient portfolios there has to be a mix of assets, and based on this it helps investors allocate to equity, debt, and gold.

Any upcoming plan or projects which can take Angel broking to next level?
There are multiple projects in the pipeline. We are looking at various projects to enhance consumer experience and make it as good for them as possible. We have plans for the sub-brokers and our FinTech start-ups as well. The aim is to lead a ‘Digital Revolution’ and we have committed ourselves to revamping us for all stakeholders involved. We will further enhance our powerful wealth investment advisory engine called ARQ that will make investor’s life much easy to meet their financial needs.