Academic and professional Qualifications

• Graduate in Commerce from St. Xaviers College, Kolkata - 1993
• Associate member of the Institute of Cost and Works Accountants of India Was Ranked all India 17th in the Intermediate examination of the said Institute.
• Post Graduate Diploma in Equity Research and Analysis from the Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India
• AMFI Registered Mutual Fund Advisor

Basant brings with him 14 years of experience in financial analysis out of which the last 5 years have been spent on Equity Research and Analysis. He occasionally invests in high growth, non- tech businesses operating in niche environments. Broadly a top down player his investment calls are essentially long term in nature and are based on some structural change visiting the industry in which that company operates. He has a history of having made some very profitable investments into the Indian retailing, mobile telephony and media companies.

Work Experience:

• Joined "Kashmir Gypsum Ltd" (a company engaged in the mining of gypsum within the State of Jammu & Kashmir) in 1995. Due to political and security reasons this company was closed down Basant resigned from this company in 2001 to start up something of his own.
• In 2001 the part time interest in stock markets grew into a full time profession and he started focusing on the capital markets on a full time basis
• Along with stocks Basant also started a private tutorial center for graduate and postgraduate students and presently tutors over 50 students in Corporate Accountancy, Financial management and Cost & Management accountancy.
• Apart from teaching Basant also conducts workshops on stock markets and advises clients on making investment through mutual funds. He is an AMFI certified Mutual fund Advisor.
• He writes as a free lancer for a few financial websites. The general theme extends across economies, commodities, sectors, stocks and investor psychology. Some of the notable papers written can be accessed from the link "Thoughts and articles". Out of these the paper titled "India is shining but is the sun setting in the West" was also put up at the website of Businessworld while the essay titled "The dividing line between hope and hype" was put up on the home page of Kotak Securities. The two are the leading print media and brokerage companies of India .
  • Economy: " India is shining but is the sun setting in the West"
    The paper tries to capture the reckless manner in which the US Govt. is managing its finances. Their ballooning budgetary deficit and high debt to GDP ratio is creating an asset bubble, which is ticking away hopelessly towards economic destruction. The Fed by decreasing interest rates had made it easier for people to borrow. An increase in interest rates would inevitably lead to a lesser demand for housing loans. Housing assets would be the first casualty on way to a deep recession.
  
  
  • Sectors: "Is there a Wal Mart on Dalal Street ?"
    Emerging economies like India throw up relentless number of opportunities on way to development. The trick is to take a top down approach rather then go bottom In the late 90's it was software, in the early 2000 it was telecom. Here Basant argues that Retail would be the next big thing and just by holding on to the two listed retail stocks investors can make tons of money. Wall Mart went up some 1200 times between 1971 to 1991. The trick was to hold on to the stocks as prices doubled and trebled rather then to book profits at each rise. The same strategy was advised for the Indian retail stocks Trent and Pantaloon.
  
  
  • Commodities: "Crude Facts"
    China today consumes 1.7 barrels of oil per person and looking at the way the economic superpower of the 21 st century is adding to its demand for energy guzzling goods this figure is bound to go up many fold in the next decade and half. The car population in China is now twice of what it was in 2002 and up tenfold since 1994! India has a per capita oil consumption of only 0.7 barrels. By comparison Mexico consumes annually about 7 barrels of oil per capita and the entire Latin American continent around 4.5 barrels. In 1965 South Koreans used one barrel of oil per person by 1990, they scaled it up to 16 barrels per person. From 1950 to 1970, Japan went from 1 barrel to 17 barrels per person. And from 1900 to 1970, the U.S. went from one barrel to 28 barrels per person. Even if India and China were to come anywhere near these per capita oil consumption figures the business channels will have much to report and the oil consumers as much to regret.
  
  
  • Investor Psychology: "The dividing line between Hope and Hype"

Other interests

Apart from stock investing, equity research and tutoring Basant is one of the leading graphologists from India . He has been covered by CNBC TV - 18, NDTV, The Telegraph, Statesman and the Hindustan Times. His website www.yoursignaturespeaks.com is listed among the best sites on the subject. A search at goggle or yahoo under the category "Graphology + India" lists the site at the number 1 position.

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