ambit insight 2013

7/23/2019 Ambit Insight 2013

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ins

ght.... Jan

2013

The Coming Together of Oxford and Harvard

Road to Healthy Living

Adding a dash of Fun to work

An IT Smart Organisation

A Minute to Win it


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F

ROM

THE

EDIT

ORIA

LCOUNC I L

Hello Friends,

We are pleased to present the next edition of Ambit's own INSIGHT magazine!

In the last six months, different business lines within Ambit witnessed some great

developments and there were some good corporate initiatives. The Fun@work

council also came into action! This period was also marked by two key celebratory

events - the Founder's Day & the Diwali Party!! We have tried to capture all this in this

edition.

We hope you will enjoy reading this edition. We thank you for your support to our

efforts. Special thanks to all those who took out valuable time to contribute to this

edition. We always look forward to your feedback on current content and new ideas

for INSIGHT. You can always reach us at

All the very best wishes for a very happy new year 2013 !

Cheers,

Editorial Council

[email protected].

Team Members: Gautam Gupte, Nirmesh Prakash,

Suhail Sheikh,

Special Thanks to for helping us with the designing of InsightSajid Merchant

Chhavi Agarwal, Christine Dmello, Priyanka Jain,

Rashmi Agarwal, Romolina Charatkar, Simmy Pawar &

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It has been a tough 2012 for the world, for financial services industry and for ourbusiness. Having said that, it is in times like this that the real mettle of an organisationand the character of its leadership team is shown.

Our Institutional Equities team has been voted as the most improved Brokerage House in India by AsiaMoney. In addition, we have increased our market share quarter over quarter. Despite these achievements,

we need to continue working hard since the commission pools have reduced considerably. I think we havea unique opportunity to significantly enhance our position in this business, given the recent developmentsin the industry. We remain committed to making necessary investments to take advantage of the currentsituation.

Our Investment Advisory business has delivered the best results ever, in the current year. A return of 75%,

even in a bull market is an outstanding performance. Based on this we are preparing to launch a fund

under newly announced Alternative Investment Fund scheme. Having demonstrated our Investment

capability, IA needs to focus on raising additional AUM using the distribution capability of our Partners,

Nikko and QInvest and using the domestic distribution capability of the Private Wealth Business.

Across all our peer group companies Private Wealth business has been the most affected, due to the

withdrawal of retail investors from equity markets coupled with regulatory changes. PW has had to

innovate and re allocate their resources to pursue small equity and debt raising deals for the PW Clients,

without compromising on effort to raise additional AUM. Despite outstanding performance by our NDPMS

and DPMS funds, which have delivered superior results in comparison to most of our peers, we continue to

make slow progress in convincing clients to invest in equity products. This business will continue to operate

in a challenging economic environment for some time. We will have to develop new and transformational

strategies to be successful despite the weak environment.

Ambit Finvest continues to deliver yield in excess of 15.5% on capital invested. Many of you may recollectthat the growth in this business is critical to achieving our 2016 vision. We have to raise additional capital

and we have to leverage our networth to deliver sustainable and scalable business model. The CEO's office

is working on multiple strategies and by the time the next issue of Insight is published some of the results

would have been delivered and we will have greater visibility on the progress in this business.

Our Investment Banking business has performed well, relative to the market and we should close the year

relatively high (1-3 on deal number and 5-10 on deal value) on the Bloomberg league deal table. We

added an ECM team in the current year and hopefully we will make an appearance on the ECM league

tables in the near future. The market environment continues to be challenging but we would need better

ideas and greater coverage if we wish to sustain our leadership position in this business.

I would like to take this opportunity to welcome Mr. Tamim-Al-Kawari, CEO of QInvest, as our new Board

member. The Board, in its meeting held earlier this month, discussed the need to have a comprehensive

review of our strategy for each business and this will be discussed in detail at the next Board Meeting in

February.

As we continue to chart our growth to remain competitive and meaningful, we will have to be cognizant of

the changing environment. Our ambitions have to be moderated to match the reality of the environment in

which we live, largely volatile and certainly uncertain. We have the strength and character of an

organisation that can reflect upon this reality and yet develop winning strategies that will help us build a

leadership position.

Wishing you and your family the best of 2013.

Regards,Ashok

CEO Speaks


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Nothing is permanent but change wrote the Greek philosopher Heraclitus, and unsurprisingly thedealing room has taken this saying to heart by implementing sea changes over the past two years.These changes have borne fruit. The result: the efficiency of our dealers has increased, with minimalexecution errors, even after volumes have quadrupled in the past two years.

In our journey to achieve the best and in keeping with Ambit's values and vision, first, we changed ourtrading platform. Nearly two years ago, we shifted from a neat plus (NSE) and bolt (BSE) based tradingterminal to the Omnesys platform. Any change, even a change for the better, is always accompanied bydrawbacks and discomforts. But, we were able to forge through our apprehensions, which proved to beextremely rewarding. Through the Omnesys platform, a dealer can now execute trades over various

exchanges (including the F&O segment) through a single terminal only. Moreover, the platform gave usthe option to introduce robust risk management system (RMS). It also helped us to differentiate betweenthe terminals of a sales trader from that of a dealer, which led to better monitoring of trades. Forinstance, a sales trader can now see all his clients' trades that are being executed at different terminalson his terminal. Furthermore, the platform provided a base for moving towards an electronic orderrouting system and algorithmic trades.

To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often. Thus, the adoption of the new platform wasonly the first step. Next, we upgraded Omnesys. We began with Omnesys version 73.4 and upgraded itto the current 98.2 version. This constant upgradation helped us to improve our execution capabilitiestremendously. Through fix connectivity, order routing through Bloomberg/Reuters can now be donedirectly over the trading terminal. Clients can discreetly route their orders from their Bloomberg

terminal without making any phone calls or any floor shouting and the order will directly reach thedesignated trader. Orders then can be assigned to dealers for execution. As the trades are executed, thefields will be updated on the clients' Bloomberg automatically. There is no need for a trader to updatethe client repeatedly.

Moreover, the latest version of Omnesys supports algorithmic trades. Algorithms are prewrittenexecution codes that are offered to clients. While routing their orders from Bloomberg/Reuters, theclients can choose algorithms from their dropdown list. Depending on the chosen algorithm, the trade

will automatically be executed on designated trader's terminal.

Omnesys has also helped us in more efficient execution. For instance, if orders are routed through thefixed option then the order quantity and rate can never be breached. In addition, a buy and a sell can

never be executed on opposite sides even by mistake. These were common errors in manual executionearlier. The Omnesys RMS helps in setting risk parameters to cover risk in trading. We can limit the order

value per client and per order. We can also limit the price over and below the CMP until the order isaccepted. All trades are continuously monitored and any exceptions (such as rejection) are immediatelyescalated to the RMS terminal..The Omnesys platform requires robust IT infrastructure (support and monitoring). We have to upgradethe hardware continuously in line with increasing volumes. System downtime has to be near zeroduring trading hours, because algorithmic trades cannot be interrupted. An IT person is always presentin the dealing room to monitor the systems. However, we still have some distance to cover until we moveto an upgraded IT infrastructure in the dealing room.

Overall, large volumes are now executed over the Omnesys platform . We execute nearly 80-85% of thevolumes every month over algorithms sent from client terminals.

Change brings opportunity. And, we look forward to many more opportunities to change not onlyourselves but also our work.

Jaideep Anand

VP - Sales Trading

Quite abig deal!ig deal!The developments in the Institutional Equities Sales trading desk over the past two years

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Director - Sales Trading

Prabhas Dhanuka

1. Share a memorable experience of your

childhood

2 . A c ol le ge m emo ry y ou d is ti nc tl y remember/cherish

3. Describe yourself as a teenager and a habit

you would not want the world to know then...

4. An interesting anecdote from your first job

5. A word that best describes you

7. Your motivation mantra

Cannot point out one instance in particular but canconfidently say that I wasn't half as smart as mydaughter or any other child that I know of today

his was during my S.Y. B.Com days; there was thisprofessor of ours who everybody used to trouble alot but much to our frustration he wouldn't react atall. One day while he was teaching, my friend and Igot up from our seats, walked up to him and turnedhis table upside down!! Unfortunately, the principal

saw us, he stormed into the classroom, caught meby the collar and gave one across myface. I was verylucky neither to be suspended nor were my parents

summoned

As a teenager I was a carefree person I still don'twant the world to know as those habits die hard

My first large deal (tiny by today's standard) Iremember it was a cross of 100,000 LML. I felt I hadreached the moon and I remember telling my senior,small step for you but a giant's leap for me

Two words; FUN LOVING

There is just one thing better than money and that isMORE money. But make it in a clean andtransparent way

People who criticise you are actually giving you anopportunity to improve

T

.

6. Philosophy of Life

In TheSpotlight

8. A failure you learnt fromThis happened in one of my earlier firms. Due to

some miscommunication we had to take someshares off a client in our books, my boss askedme to knock it off immediately as the extent of

loss was known at that point of time. The marketswere in full swing and greed got better of me andI didn't sell it. Despite the market going up, the

stock kept tanking and eventually when I sold itthe loss was almost 3 times higher. My boss firedme left, right and centre and I learnt two thingsthat day: (a) en error trade has to be sorted outimmediately as nobody would give you a medal ifthe stock moves in your favour and you make a

profit but if the loss increases you are gone, (b)draw a line to your greed.

Family, friends and if I can sneak out of thehouse, the bartender in ourclub

Hindi: Amitabh Bachchan and Nutan. English:Charlton Heston, Harrison Ford and Julie

Andrews

None

This space is too short to answer this (maybe thatis why we are still happily married)

Better than I imagined. A very professional setup and I am in the midst of some excellent people

who are willing to put 5 times the effort of theirpeers even if it means getting 1/5th of their peer'sbusiness.

9. Weekends are for...

10. Favourite Actor/Actress?

11. Superstitions, if any

12. Things that you and your spouse don'tagree on

13. Experience so far in Ambit


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Founders DayWe are 15 now!

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I would like to take you on a journey through thechanges in trading technologies and regulations overthe years and explain how algorithmic trading ishelping us to take advantage of these changes. Goneare the days of manual trading; after online tradingthrough computers, algorithmic trading emerged.Algorithmic trading, also known as AutomatedTrading, Black-box Trading, or Algo Trading, is the useof electronic platforms to enter trading ordersthrough an algorithm, which executes pre-

programmed trading instructions whose variablesmay include timing, price, and quantity, andin many cases, initiates the order without human intervention.

Algo trading is the new trading paradigm that has emerged from the structural shifts in the business oftrading. Today, the buy-side clients are driving algo trading. Algo trading is widely used by investment banks,pension funds, mutual funds, and other buy-side (investor-driven) institutional traders, to divide large tradesinto several smaller trades to manage market impact and risk. Equity markets have entered an era wheremachines are rapidly replacing humans. Programme-driven trades account for around 70% of equitytrading in the US and for 40% in Europe. India is not far behind, with one-third of trades in both cash andderivative segments of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) being driven by such programmed orders.

How do these algorithms work? Some programmes slice a large order and place them through the tradingsession at the right time and rate so that the price is not unduly affected by the order. Another type ofalgorithm identifies price anomalies between price of an asset over different platforms or deviations from a

typical statistical relationship between assets and executes trades to exploit these differences. Theseprogrammes act as conventional arbitrageurs. There are again algos that follow a set of technicalparameters to buy and sell. The above are the more innocuous of algos. Some rogue programmes sniff theoutstanding orders in other systems and take advantage of them. There are algos that make bluff trades sothat other programmes reveal their intended trades. They then go on to cancel these bluff trades. Thefascinating aspect is that these algos are constantly mutating to trump their peers.

As regulators struggle to keep up with programmed trades, investors have to learn to make the best of it.After all, this could turn out to be the natural process of evolution for equity trading from trading rings toonline trading to computer-driven trading.

We partnered with our Institutional Equities (IE) business to provide an algo trading service to their clients.We selected the Omnesys NEST GATE platform, because it had a faster time to market, was extremely

customised, and was integrated with our existing Omnesys NEST Order Management System (OMS) forextremely fast execution. Now we can also create our own customised Algos. We currently offer five Algos toour clients. We launched Smart Order Routing (SOR), After Market Orders (AMO) and New Algos for SORservices for IE clients. The SOR engine routes your order to the exchange where the best price is available forthe required quantity. We then integrated our Omnesys Algos with one key FII client's OMS, therebybecoming their only Indian broker using Omnesys to do so. We implemented FIX connectivity for two moreFII clients, and Secondary and Tertiary dealer ID mapping to avoid missing FIX orders. To implement theabove changes, we had to upgrade the version of the Omnesys application to the latest available. These newservice offerings have put our IE business ahead in the league of our competitors and have helped us to getmore empanelments on the buy-side. We are also using Algo Trading for one of our Private Wealth EquityTrading client.These are some of the key initiatives we have implemented for IE in our journey towards an 'IT Smart'organisation. IT is your business partner and we will continue to similarly partner with all our other

businesses to enable them to achieve Ambit's Vision FY16. We continue in our journey undeterred by thechallenges ahead, after all 'A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step'.

The journey continues towards

an IT Smart organisation!n IT Smart organisation!Vijaykumar Talreja

Director - Information Technology


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9

Although here in India we are delighted with the performance of the stockmarket so far this year, itmasks the negative sentiment that India (particularly with respect to political and economic events)

received overseas. Indeed, a large part of discussions with our Nikko colleagues focused around these

relevant issues.

But as we all know, things on the ground can change very quickly in India. So how do we communicate

this to sales/marketing people around the world, given the enormous amount of emails everyone

receives daily, whilst also competing with news from other markets??

Well, first of all, we had to think of frequency of update, a month seemed too long and a weekly maybe

too much info. Our thinking though moved towards a weekly if we could make it a product which

updated you on major India events without too much work from the readers end. Then, what should be

the focus of the weeklywell that was fairly easyMacro, Politics and Markets.

Cutting a long story short, it was decided that the weekly should land in your email

-ready to read

-take no more than One-Minute to read

-have links to reports/articles so the reader can access more info if desired

Ok that was the easy part. Next was to tell Romolina the vision and then have her create a template

which fitted all of the above. Despite never having created a template before she delivered (taught

herself) the first template within a week and after providing various options we narrowed down to one.

Next was test marketing within the Nikko world and the response was extremely positive withcomments like This is excellent. I really like the format with the overview that allows you to get to the

reports with a good variety of sources and Thanks, this looks extremely informative, I like your

approach in getting India into the consciousness of our colleagues.

We went live on the 22nd November and the aim is to add our own views and thoughts going

forward.but that's an early 2013 project. The great part about the product is that every team member

helps in its production through highlighting relevant news during the week, but more importantly (in

Romolinas case) shows how one can stretch themselves outside of their normal comfort zone.

If anyone in Ambit would like to see the product or be added to the mailing list please contact Romolina.

Andrew HollandCEO - Investment Advisory

AMinute to Win it

S

udo

ku

For solution, refer page 26


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Born into an agricultural laborer family and belonging to one of India's 250most backward districts, Mahbubnagar, is Renuka. Renuka, the eldestdaughter of Lalappa and Ananthamma is a bright child, hailing from aneconomically deprived family, with an annual income below Rs. 15,000/-.The increasing cost of education has been a constant source of worry forRenuka and her family. Coupled with these economic troubles is the poorenvironment they live in where the average literacy rate in Mahbubnagar is

merely 56.06% and female literacy is aslow as 45.65%. Also plaguing this districtare issues like child labor, malnutrition and anemia in the children.Moreover many schools do not have proper furniture, basic infrastructure,

and a proper educational atmosphere. This is the story of not just one, butseveral girls like Renuka who in spite of harsh circumstances, strive to bringabout a change in their lives and the community around them.

Profiled in the year 2009, Renuka started receiving support under theumbrella of Project Nanhi Kali. Renuka is fortunate to be one of the 112girls who are currently being supported by Ambit Capital as a part of theDiwali Promotion that they ran in November 2012, supporting ProjectNanhi Kali and the cause of Girl child Education. As part of the Nanhi kaliprogram she receives support in the form of a material kit which comprisesof uniforms, a school bag, shoes, socks, hygiene material etc. to enable herto go to school with dignity. Apart from this, she receives academic support

through a 1-2 hour class conducted before or after school hours called theAcademic Support Centre, where concepts in Maths, Science andLanguage are taught to bridge the gaps in learning and enablechildren to attain grade specific competency levels. The teachingmethodology includes the extensive use of innovative teaching toolsand activities such as storytelling, group games etc which makelearning not only meaningful but also fun. The Nanhi Kali team also

works with the parents and community to sensitize them on not onlygender equity but also issues related to adolescent health & hygiene.

Post this intervention, it was observed that Renuka's performance andconfidence accelerated a great deal. Before becoming a Nanhi Kali,

Renuka was an above average student scoring 65%. However, afterbeing enrolled into the program she started scoring as high as 89%. She did her level best in the 9 gradeexams and came out with flying colors by securing the 1 rank (89%) in her class. Her parents are proud oftheir daughter's achievement and would like her to further pursue higher education!

The importance of Girl Child Education cannot be stressed more.Education enhances lives. It ends the generational cycles of povertyand provides the means for sustainable development. A high qualitybasic education will better equip girls with knowledge and skillsneeded to adopt healthy lifestyles, and to take an active role insocial, economic, and political decision-making as they transition toadolescence and adulthood. We believe education will also radicallychange the perception towards girl children from being consideredas a burden today, to becoming potential leaders and buildingblocks of the society tomorrow.

th

st

Nanhi KaliA Corporate Communications initiativeKC Mahindra TrustAakriti Sethi


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CSR Council

Giving Back

AchievementS im ra n P ha ta k ( 11 ), d au gh te r o f

Amarendra Phatak, is a Rhythmic Gymnast.

She is a national player since 2008.

In 2012 she represented Maharashtra at

both, the School Nationals & the National

tournaments conducted by the All India

Federation of Rhythmic Gymnastics. She

won 2 Gold Medals. 2 Silver Medals & 1

Bronze in these tournaments

The council was formed in 2009 under the name Ambit Oditi Foundation. Since then we have carried out

different activities like blood donation camps, clothes collection drives and voluntary activities forMuktangan (a school for underprivileged children).

The Ambit Oditi Foundation was granted the 80G certification in April this year. We commenced fund

collection in May 2012 with around 10% employees. By July 2012, 88% employees were contributing 0.25%

of their annual CTC, which is being deducted from their salary on a monthly basis. The total monthly

collections are matched by Ambit.

Primarily the funds are being utilized to support our office boys / housekeeping staff / security guards. For

them, the two main causes we support are:

- Education for their children: We reimburse their school fees and vocational training cost

- Medical reimbursements for their parents / family members

Till date we have reimbursed school fees for 13 children and provided medical assistance to 1.

We also have made significant contributions to Magic Bus a non-profit organization, founded in 1999, that

works with 200,000 children every week from marginalized communities in India. The primary objective of

the NGO being to aid children in helping them living a better quality life through specialized mentoring and

coaching initiatives.

This is the 2nd consecutive year where, Ambit employees have volunteered to teach at Muktangan a school

for underprivileged children. 4 employees go twice in a week to teach mathematics and English to class 9

students.

We organized a clothes, toys and books collection drive in November. The collections were donated to

GOONJ - a non-profit organization initiated in 1998, GOONJ provides clothes & other basic amenities to

millions in the far-flung villages and they send out 80 to 100 tonnes of material every month, across 21

states of India.

This has been an important year for Ambit CSR, where virtually every employee in the organization has very

literally contributed to the initiative! We look forward to your continued support through both higher

contribution to the fund and active participation in the volunteering activities for Muktangan and for Magic

Bus (will commencebased on employee interest) in the coming year.

11


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When I joined Ambit little did I know that I would be part of a team which is like "A List" where eachmember of the team comes from different banks and different skill sets and forms a part of the sameteam under the leadership of Sutapa Banerjee.

Ina short span of two and a half years, we have created a platform of private bankwhich is "bespoke" forclients wherein each client is catered with personalised solutions depending on individual needs ratherthan "one size fits all", which is still not so easily available in a country like ours where you have verylarge players operating in a similar space with a "me too" attitude.

When Asia money polls was conducted at the beginning of this year to identify the best private bank inIndia, our clients willingly participated in the polls. Conducting of such polls is fool proof as each of therespondents is called back and then asked to verify the answers which they have given in the survey

either online or via an email.

All the players operating in India participated which includes the likes of Citibank, RBS coots, KotakPrivate Bank, Barclays, Morgan Stanley, etc. To our surprise, we were positioned as The 3rd Best PrivateBank in India. This is a laudable achievement as we covered huge grounds in terms of service andproduct identification and offerings to our clients.

I would like to share a snapshot of the survey with you with respect to Ambit:

3rd Best private bank in India (Over all)2nd in Discretionary portfolio management services

3rd in quality of advice3rd in holistic approach addressing advise3rd in quality and diversity of products3rd in client relation management and service3rd advisory portfolio management3rd in structured products and derivatives3rd in alternative investments3rd in issue of confidentiality and security.

We still have a lot of ground to cover and ensure that we do not rest on our laurels but continue to striveto reach and stay at the top in the coming years.

Mohammed Suhail SheikhVP - Private Wealth

Grand Recognition !

AchievementParesh Kapadias son, Spandans first stage performance since he

started to learn the guitar. He is 7 years old and he played the tunes

of "National Anthem" & "We shall overcome".

ASiA MONEY


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Director - Corporate Finance

Premal Doshi

1. Share a memorable experience of yourchildhood

2 . A c ol le ge m em or y y ou d is ti nc tl y remember/cherish

3. Describe yourself as a teenager and a habityou would not want the world to know then...




Amitabh Bachchan coming to my school for theshooting of Amar Akbar Anthony.

During my 12th std, I was part of a group thatengaged in organizing Dandiya events. I

remember working tirelessly for organising theseevents from scratch to end, including sponsorships,financing, budgeting, logistics, ground levelling,decorations, catering, security, etc. I also won theBest Dancer prize making me one of the popularones in the college.

I was hardworking and independent as a teenagerand did all kinds of jobs like taking tuitions, doingfield surveys for companies, setting up an ice

cream parlour, running stalls for card and othergames at fairs. No negative habit as such.

Started working in CIFCO post qualifying as CA in1991. Six months into the job, the Harshad Mehtascam got exposed engulfing CIFCO, leading to CBIraids and the firm closing down. At that point intime, many people including family and friendstold me to take up CA practice or join a corporateas a career move as this was more stable thanfinancial services. However, my fiance (now my

wife, Nipa) encouraged me to pursue my passionand this landed me a job in Jardine Fleming (nowJP Morgan) where I ended up for about10 years.

Happy go lucky

Every moment is precious, make the best of it as themoment gone will never come again.


8. A failure you learnt from






If you think negative, only negative will happen inyour life. Always think that you can do it, only thenyou can do it. Be optimistic.

This was during college, after having cleared theICWA Inter (Costing exam), being over confident Iappeared for the C.A. entrance exam without anypreparation whatsoever and did not clear. Afterthis, I learnt not to take things for grantedwhichis reflected by the fact that ICWA Final, CA Interand Final levels (all groups) were cleared in firstattempt.

Family and Children

Akshay Kumar and Dimple Kapadia

None

Well, it is a long list, difficult to fit in here. However,over the last 20 years have adjusted to most of it

except when it comes to eating sweets

Its been great so far. It is motivating to comeacross such high calibre individuals and such a

vibrant and professional setup that drives one toperform to his/her optimum capability. Moreover,the people are friendly, having access to peopleacross different verticals/ businesses is enrichingcoupled with the presence of an open door culture

In TheSpotlight

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Praveen MaheshwariAVP - Corporate Finance

The Coming Togetherof Oxford and Harvardf Oxford and Harvard

Ambit advised on back-to-back transactions in the Educational Book

Publishing Sector in India. While on one hand, private equity firm

Everstone picked up significant minority stake in SChand, on the other

hand SChand simultaneously acquired 100% stake in Vikas Publishing.

Ambit was the financial advisor for both the transactions, albeit, on the

opposite sides!!!

If by now, you are confused as to what is the connect between the heading of the article and the deals

being talked about......let me ease your confusion. Everstone-SChand deal was codenamed "Oxford"

and SChand-Vikas Publishing deal was codenamed "Harvard", hence the title Coming Together ofOxford and Harvard. Sometimes an investment banker's jargon of using codenames for projects can

really result into some interesting situations!

Wellthe journey started sometime in Aug 2011, when SChand promoters expressed a desire to

raise private equity money into the company and grow the business inorganically and chose Ambit to

help them achieve the same. As we started speaking to the private equity investors, we witnessed a

strong interest in the transaction, as the company had all the right ingredients required for a private

equity deal. But a big question to which no one had an answer was..what does the company do with

the funds so raised!!! Is there a target available readily where the monies so raised can be invested from

day one?

At this juncture, started a quest from all parties involved to search for a suitable target for SChand.

Ambit too reached out to some publishing companies to check if there was an interest for a

transaction.and finally Ambit's search ended in the name of Vikas Publishing, which was just the right

target for SChand. There was already an existing relationship between Ambit and the promoters of

Vikas Publishing, which helped us a lot in convincing them to consider a deal with SChand.

With the deal contours in place now, there began a long journey through the transaction process. As is

the case with all corporate finance transactions, the journey was full of challenges. There was a lot to be

done at all ends: group restructuring involving a series of mergers and de-mergers in SChand,

countless meetings with private equity investors, financial and legal vendor due diligence of both

SChand and Vikas Publishing, early completion of audit of accounts for FY 12, confirmatory duediligence by the buyers and not to forget, signing of heavily negotiated term sheets for both

transactions. However, with Sanjay Bansal leading the transaction team, there were some unique

solutions to every such challenge.

With most of the above done by May 2012, we were now up against the most challenging task of final

negotiations on pricing and agreements for both the deals. There was endless number crunching and

analysis for final pricing and countless day long meetings on the agreements with the lawyers giving

their best performance on their argumentative skills. There seemed to be no end to the discussions on

the agreements as every time a meeting called to finalize the agreements would end up in few new

issues to be resolved, thus resulting in a circle of issues (and this continued for several weeks!!!). On a

lighter side, this of course included opportunity for good professional bonding between all the parties

during free time and some good lunches and dinners followed by the special Yamu's paan from

Connaught Place, Delhi which the SChand promoter would himself bring for us every night we sat


15/32

Nevertheless.all is well that ends well. Finally both the transactions got signed and sealed by the end

of Aug 2012 and post that achieved a quick (which was unexpected and surprising given the speed of

transactions so far!!!) simultaneous financial closure in early Oct 2012. A long journey through the

transaction process came to an end with happy faces all across (which was well celebrated by some

important stakeholders at German Beer Festival and in Bangkok)

As I look back at the transactions, its a different feeling altogether of having grown up studyingboth SChand and Vikas Publishing books (or may be sitting at the back benches and making paper

airplanes out of them) during my school / college days and years down the line applying a part of

the same learning to put together a transaction for both these companies (this time.of course

flying through the real airplanes between Mumbai Delhi !!!). As it is rightly said..certain things

do come back in life.though in different forms..

We look forward to many more back-to-back transactions for Ambit.

Ever heard of the phrase, 'Health is not valued until sickness comes'? With the kind of life one leads

today, clubbed with strenuous schedules and mounting stress levels, it becomes challenging to take out

time for oneself. In such a scenario, where would one visit a doctor to check if one is actually healthy. Thevisit to the doctor gets restricted to when one is really sick. Not surprisingly, most of us think we are in

good health as long as we feel fine. In fact, many small ailments which do not have any clear symptoms

are often overlooked by us and may later take the form of a major illness. These can however be treated

properly if detected well in time.

With this in mind , we felt the need to take a step towards the wellness of our people, and set out to

identify a partner who could manage this for us. We met four companies and identified Vidal as the

partner for their Healthex Program.

The program aims to make our employees aware of their current health status and work towards

improving their health through a structured nutrition, exercise and awareness programs. Thecomponents included - a risk assessment tool to know about the lifestyle, habits through a detailed

questionnaire, a master health check up comprising of comprehensive medical tests, nutrition camps

and awareness talks, daily heath tips, 24X7 helpline for medical advice, e mail facility for stress queries

and on-line access to health knowledge bank.

We are currently in the third phase of the Program. We have had 91% participation to the Program with

95% providing positive feedback on the satisfaction with the Program. The first two phases helped us

determine Ambit's Health score, which stands at 81.43 which is rated really high. Our highest risk has

been identified as 'High Cholesterol' as the dietary habits of our staff need to improve. The planned

personalised nutrition camp, followed by nutrition awareness talks should help our employees follow a

better dietary regime.

We wish you a healthy living!

Employee Health & Wellness

Program through Vidal HealthexContributed by Team HR

15


16/32

Diwali 2012

The Ustads of the Utsav

Celebrating Happiness

Yeh duniya mein agar jannathai to yehi hai ..yehi hai, yehi hai

Kanoon ke haath bahutlambe hote hai

I didn't know you couldstoop so low!!

I told you it has to be 9

Five Big Bosses One at Office rest at home

Card will be yours but ruleswill be minebolo manzur hai!!


17/32

Firecracker time

Diwali 2012

17

De Tally 6.5

Policy - Glass or Bottle?

Please call back, Ashok isin a Board Meeting

Liquidity

"Boss I am a professional.. I startedgambling when you were this young

Pathi, Patni aur woh ..Blackberry!!!!!!

Dad have you changed thepassword??


18/32

VP - Corporate FinanceKashyap Choksi

1. Share a memorable experience ofyour childhoodA: During our summer holidays, we used to go toour Nana's (Maternal Grandfather) place in

Ahmedabad. I always admired my Nana for hisbusiness acumen and he was my role model.During one of the summer holidays, Nana offeredme whether I would like to stay at home and play

with other cousins or accompany him to ourJewellery shop. My Nana had 4 Jewellery shops in

Ahmedabad.

I quickly grabbed the opportunity as I would get tospend more time with Nana and understand hisstyle. Consequently, most part of the summerholidays I had spent going along with Nana to theJewellery shop, observing him, having lunch withhim and also assist in the sales in the showroom.Since I was small, I was placed in the Pendant andEarrings counter. I was fast at learning the tricks ofthe trade.

At the end of the vacation, Nana offered mestipend and said how much do you want as yourstipend for the hard work put in by you for theperiod of 2 months.

I found it very difficult to ask money from Nana..so.as a token of appreciation, I requestedNana whether I can get a sweet looking pendant asa gift for my sister. During those days castingpendants (pendants molded in a pre-designed

particular shape) were a novelty. He smiled andasked me which one do you want. I pointed to asmall sweet looking pendant .to which Nanaagreed and readily packed it in a gift wrap box. Thesmile on my Nana's face is still very fresh in mymemory. It's not that I could not have bought thependant for my sister but the token of love (from myfirst stipend) was something that is very special tome.

When I came back to Mumbai, I gave the pendantgift in the same way as was packed by Nana - to

my sister. She was completely overwhelmed and sowere my parents. The smile and happiness on theirface isstill very fresh in my memory and as a mark

of appreciation, my sister, amongst variousother pendants, adorably wears that sweetsmall pendant.

This one incident relates to the day when my CAFoundation results were announced. I was inNM College attending lectures. During thebreak, few of my friends came andcongratulated me for not only clearing the CAFoundation exams but also coming in All IndiaLevel rank.

This was double news to me as I was not awarethat1) the results were announced and

2) that I had scored a rank All India Rank

I was not willing to believe the news and askedthem how did they come to know about myresults and about my rank which is when theyrevealed the secret of star mark (*) besides thename and its relevance. All my friends startedasking for Party and as news started spreading,even acquaintances started wishing me.but I

was not willing to accept this mentally till I saw itwith my own eyes.

Not willing to believe them, I went to the CAInstitute at Cuffe Parade to check out the resultson my own, praying to God while my eyes weresearching my name on the small Notice Boardand somewhat torn list pasted in one corner.Finally, I saw my name in the Results List andyes.also saw the star mark (*) besides myname.

Still unable to understand the relevance of thestar mark and not willing to believe the truth, I

went to the Enquiry Office of the CA Institute and

asked the gentleman sitting at the counter therelevance of the star mark.

2. A college memory you would like to

share

In TheSpotlight


19/32

When he came back, we just informed him thatFriend, this assignment is done and these are therelevant papers for you to take charge of it. Nosign of any favour done or special effortsundertaken.not by any single team member senior or junior.

This incident strengthened the bonding amongstus and we still share a very good rapport even

when all of us are in different organisations.as ifjust a phone call away and ready to help.

Calm and Composed

Live and Let Live

Believe in God and When the Going GetsTough..the Tough Gets Going!!

Keep your Personal Relations and Money Mattersseparate. If you mix the two, you will have to loseone. I learnt this the hard way.

Family and catching up on pending sleep

Actor: Different Actors in Different Genres ..butif I have to select one name in the current breed of

Actors it has to be Amitabh BachchanActress: Can be different.but one actress thatlooks good on screen and I like watching her Katrina Kaif ;)

None

During Vacations, she prefers to spend more timein exploring Shopping Places, Fashion Trends etc

while I prefer to explore the place and the scenicbeauty around it

Ambit was my second job when I had joined thisorganization in 2002..at that time Ambit wasrelatively small and we had our office in DalamalTowers. I was here till 2009 and had a good time.Moved out for a brief period of 3 years, learnt

some new things and am back here.Don't think, anything more needs to be said aboutthe experience in Ambit and that this is like comingback to my own Home






10. Favorite Actor/Actress?


12. Things that you and your spouse don't

agree on

13. Experience for far in Ambit

I saw a spark in the person's eyes and he said with abig smile . Congratulations my boy, you havescored a Rank. He asked my roll number, entered itin his system and said that you have scored 35thRank. This was a big surprise for me.

I was jumping in my mind and left the CA Institute

happily..and started humming a song of themovie that had just released- the song from SanjayLeel a B han sal i' s Kham os hi . Aaj M ei nU p a r . . A a a s m a n N i c h e . a a j m e i naage.zamana hai pichchein Singing,Humming, Dancing, Jumping I would have walkedmore than half way from CA Institute to Churchgatestation.which is a decent distance. when Irealised that my legs started screaming and then Itook a cab to station.

A bright student with clear focus on studies first andeverything else later.

As regards habits not known to world, these secretsare better kept to myself

This was in SBI Capital Markets, my first exposure toInvestment Banking. This place gave me theexposure to the world of Investment Banking,introduced me to some good colleagues / seniors

whom I still regard in high respects and maintaingood relations.

One of our Team Members was to appear for hisexams to get admission for MBA in one of theforeign university. He had therefore proceeded onleave which I came to know when I casually askedmy senior about his absence. Now as luck wouldhave it, he was working on a transaction the detailsof which were known only to him. I or other Team

Members did not have any clue about the deal.Suddenly, the transaction became live and theclient wanted to open the Issue. Consequently, theregulatory filings were to be done in a short span oftime with loads of pending issues. My senior saidthat we need to complete this as the firm'sreputation is at risk. Without uttering a single word,all other Team Members joined up and completedthe transaction .ofcourse it took a toll on us as wehad to get to the depth in a short time withoutcompromising on the quality. We consciously didnot disturb our colleague friend as we had decided

that we should not disturb him during his importantstudies.



19


20/32

As in the last issue of Insight, I had thought I would write about something that would be relevant in Ambit'scontext, but the new Editorial Council felt sharing of something personal is more apt....so here I am,sharing another of my travels......this time the road trip from South of France to Zurich via Italy.

My yearly trip to Provence was different this year as I visited all my favourite places, the quaint villages that Itruly find fascinating with my daughter. What I thought she would like the most she found quite averageand the places that I thought were rather moderate she found them fabulously exciting. The realisationstruck that she has grown into a young lady with a mind of her own and any influencing is futile :-). Thehighlight was also a dinner that we hosted for friends in our apartment in Cannes.

After nearly a week in Cote de Azur, we began our road trip from Cannes to Lucca. We drove through thebeautiful ocean road. Left very early in the morning as we were very keen to reach Lucca by evening so that

we could watch the Quarter Finals of the Football world cup being played between Italy and England at alocal pub in Lucca. So to meet this objective we shunned the ocean road after lunch and took the highwayand crossed numerous tunnels. Lucca is a delightful little walled town....much smaller than Florence andjust exquisite. We witnessed the passion that Italians have for both food and football, over our first eveningat Lucca at a local pub.....the celebrations on the road after Italy's win were similar to the ones we haveafter a Cricket win by India.

The road trip in Italy continued to Pisa, Chianti, Florence. On the way to Cinque Terra, we got caught by thepolice for driving on the no entry bus lane. The very aware Italian police officers took all their frustration ofthe two sailors who had been placed in the jail in India, by harassing us for nearly an hour and also

slapping a Euro 108 fine on us! From then on for the rest of the journey our daughter got an additional taskof watching for road signs and we did not depend purely on the GPS.

Amongst all the gorgeous places we visited, Lucca remains myfavourite. Some memories that remain of Italy are - after theperfectly shaped (by the grace of God and the Doctor) women inSouth of France it was good to see normal sized women(definitely made us feel comfortable with our size:-). Thefabulous infrastructure that has been built for tourism, the

Expressways connecteach historical siteand you enter and exit

e ac h t hr ou gh a nautomated toll as youenter a world of charm. The number of steps (highest being 206 steps) weclimbed at each church to view the city from the top of the 'Duomo''. The site and sound of an Italian woman, in an obscuregarden, playing the harp and singing Krishna bhajan. The

warmth, passion and sense of style of the Italians. And, of coursethe wine and the food......

Another European

Road Tripoad TripMD - HR & Corporate Communications

Shalini Kamath

View from the top of the Dome

Fresco on the Ceiling of the Dome


21/32

After an enchanting 10 days in Italy we drove through Milantowards Zurich via De Stelvio pass at a height of 9050 feetthrough the Alps. We crossed 60 hair pin bends through the

Alps to crossover to Switzerland. This route is rated amongstthe top 3 motorways by BBC Topgear. The villages with theirEuropean style cottages, bright colour flower pots on the

windows, snowcapped Alps in the back ground and rivers

flowing through were just 'picture perfect'. No wonder therehave been so many famous artists in Europe. Who wouldn't getinspired by such beauty that nature has bestowed?!

After a 16 hour drive we reached Zurich and the first homecooked Indian meal in 3 weeks was just purely satiating. Next morning, as we travelled through thestreets of Zurich we found the restaurant where many years ago we had fed bread to the Swans anddanced to live music. What happiness living old memories,provides to the human soul! It drizzled right through while wetravelled with our friends to a nearby village the next day.Finally I was not voted out and got to listen to Hindi music inthe car as now we were 3 (our friends and I) against 2 (my

husband and daughter). The combination of great company,good music and rain made the last part of the trip trulymemorable. And then it was time to say goodbye and headhome.

Three countries over 3+ weeks by road, just reinforced ourfaith in our road journeys -for the flexibility it provides to stopat any place anytime, follow any route one desires to take and

witness the changing landscapes as one meanders from place to place.

The Alps

Outside The Zurich RestaurantReliving golden memories

Money Talks !21


22/32

Ever heard of a phrase Prevention is better than cure? Quite often, would be your answer. You would be

surprised to hear that at least 80% of all heart diseases, diabetes and stroke, and over 40% of cancer canbe prevented by making those minor adjustments in our lifestyle and behavior.

- You are responsible for your health and

hence, you are the one who has to act

- Write down and place the benefits of

healthy living in a place where you can

see them quite often such as bedroom

mirror, bathroom, wallet, etc

- Aim for a realistic goal such as reducing

weight by about 10%- Monitor and compare your efforts

against your set goals by making journal

entries

- Have a balanced nutritious diet spread throughout the day in smaller quantities; remember, moderation is

the key

- Consume foods rich in fibers and whole grains, and replace saturated fatty foods with unsaturated ones

- Daily diet should consist of about 5 portions of vegetables and fruits; one portion is the amount one can fit

in their palm

- Learn how to read and compare food labels that will help you choose the right options

- Aim for at least 30 minutes a day for 5 days a week of brisk walking, running, swimming, etc

- Invest in a pedometer and try walking

10,000 steps a day by walking to your

office, taking stairs instead of elevators

- Warm up and cool down before and

after exercising

- Keep yourself adequately hydrated by

drinking fluids in between exercises and

whenever possible

- For any current illness, visit your doctor

regularly and stick to your doctor's advice

- Contact your doctor and get immunized for flu, hepatitis, tetanus, typhoid, etc.

- Maintain adequate oral health brush your teeth at least twice daily, floss at least once a day and see

your dentist at least once a year

- Quit smoking write down why you want to quit, make non-smoking friends, reduce your cravings by

avoiding the triggers

- Mind controls the body, and hence, you have to be emotionally sound to be physically fit- Set priorities at work and at home and act accordingly

- Go to bed early and get at least 6-8 hours of sound sleep

- Make a note of things that stress you and try to avoid or overcome them in a positive way

1.Accept the change

2. Healthy diet

3. Regular physical activity

4. Good Health behavior

5. Emotional health

Road to Healthy Livingealthy Living

Healthy Living

Not just the absence of illness, but to embrace wellness

A way of living that promotes productivity and longevity of life

Enables you to feel and be well physically, mentally and socially

Not just a one-time affair, but a long-term commitment

Makes your today and tomorrow healthier than yesterday

Making those specific/right choices that takes you close to

absolute wellbeing

Made up of 5 key elements

Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realisticand Timely goals

Take one step at a time, break in to smallermilestones

Monitor your progress to know where you are andwhat needs to be done

On achieving smaller milestones, reward

yourself to keep you motivated

Set SMART goals

Start small

Track it

Reward yourself

Dr. Smitha Samdariya

Vidal Healthex


23/32

Long Term Service Awardservice AwardsHarsh GuptaIt is great to have been a part of the firm's growth over allthese years. Not only the milestone provides a sense of prideand satisfaction, it also provides renewed vigour to set newer

goals and make aggressive efforts to achieve them

Today, I complete 5 years of my journey at this company. 5years of a journey filled with stories of struggles, success,fights, fun and joy. This journey is made even morememorable because of the larger effort that each one of youput in here at work during your personal individual tenureshere. I take pride in THANKING each and every one of youhere for the support.

Journey in Ambit has been one of happiest & extremely satisfying moments of my life. Not only I have gainedprofessionally but have made some of the best friends for life. Thebest part of working in Ambit is that Respect& Appreciation flows right from senior management to my colleagues.

Cherish all the time spent here and hope Ambit will keepinspiring and keep giving me lots of opportunity to excel

It is just the beginning of a new journey with plenty ofexperiencein these five years

The last near 6 years with Ambit have been tremendouslysatisfying. Initially in partnering with Ashok in hiringbusiness and function heads and then partnering withthem to hire, manage and develop a highly talentedworkforce for Ambit to deliver on its Vision.

The trust and independence bestowed by the organisation to design all processes and programs in-house incollaboration with the businesses, will always be cherished by me.

Ambit also provided me with an opportunity to learn corporate communications - beginning right with thefoundation of identifying our brand identity through to developing all the marketing collaterals.

Overall it has been an ardous but a very exciting journey!

Angela Fernandes

Dinesh Mengwal

Manoj Batra

Shalini Kamath

Rehan ShaikhMy precious milestone!

Being a recipient of the prestigious award for 5 years' longassociation with the Ambit family, I am overwhelmed andhave immense gratitude for acknowledging my sincere effortsand consistent performance and this, moreover, gives me animpetus to strive and encourages me each day to make adifference in the company.

Being a part of this Ambit family gives me a sense of pride andsatisfaction that I shall cherish always.

23


24/32

Nilesh OzaToday, on this occasion, I would like to take thisopportunity to talk about my journey at Ambit. It has beena long and memorable journey filled with stories ofstruggle, success, fun and joy. It is the combined effort ofmy colleagues and consistent support of my seniors,specially Mr Ashok Wadhwa who motivated me to

continue in this organisation for all these years. I take thisopportunity to thank one and all at Ambit who has made itpossible for me to reach this position.

I have had the privilege of serving our great organisationwith honor, commitment, vision & spirit that all of us valueso much. I am also privileged to be part of the team thathas successfully implemented many projects andsurpassed many major milestones and achievements.

There are many people, both in past & in present, who have helped make my time here pleasant,enjoyable, worthwhile and I've enjoyed every moment of it here at Ambit. It was not easy for me to movefrom Finance & Accounts to HR and for that I must make a special mention of the enormous support given

by Mrs Shalini Kamath & rest of my teamwithout whom, none of this would have been possible.

It is a dream come true for me to be working at Ambit, the journey is still on & I feel proud to be a partof Ambit. I personally wish to see our organisation grow & achieve many more success.

Invictus

Contributed by Sujal Patwardhan

In a conversation on the big screen with Francois Pienaar (Matt Damon, the captainof South Africas rugby team), Mandela (Morgan Freeman) shared with Pienaar thatduring his darkest moments in prison, his spirit was lifted and sustained by the poemInvictus by William Ernest Henley, and that he would not have made it through prison

if not for the words of this English poet who lived from 1849 to 1903

Out of the night that covers me,Black as the Pit from pole to pole,

I thank whatever gods may be

For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance

I have not winced nor cried aloud.

Under the bludgeonings of chance

My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears

Looms but the Horror of the shade,

And yet the menace of the years

Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,

How charged with punishments the scroll.

I am the master of my fate:

I am the captain of my soul.


25/32

25

Apart from the standard products like promoter funding, margin

financing, loan against securities, IPO financing etc., Ambit

Finvest also offers a tailor made solution which is specifically

designed to meet the client's requirements under its structured

financing product. The loan facility under this product is

specially structured / designed to enable the client to take

advantage of a special situation or an investment objective

keeping in view the constraints faced by the client. Special situations in which Ambit Finvest undertakes

financing includes Buyback, Delisting offers, Open offers, Rights issues, Creeping acquisitions,

Acquisition financing, Working Capital and projects bridge financing, PE drawdown financing, Bidding

financing and PE cash outs.

As a process, Ambit Finvest understands the client's requirements/objectives along with the constraints

in detail, checks for the legal and the regulatory aspect related to the transaction and then designs a

mutually accepted deal structure best suited to client's requirements and compliant with all the

regulations. Post the agreement on the deal structure and commercial terms, the documents specific to

the deal are prepared and executed along with security creation by client. After the disbursal of the

funds to the client, Ambit Finvest continuously monitors the transaction flow so that the same complies

with designed structure till the final settlement of the transaction.

Ambit Finvest's niche lies in providing lending solutions to the client with value added services like

helping the client in overcoming the constraints, guidance on legal and statutory compliances etc. at

attractive terms and conditions.

Sanjay Dhoka

COO - NBFC

Structured

Financing

LittleAngels

Daughter of Simmy Pawar(Assistant Manager - Corporate Communications)

HRITHIKAHRITHIKADaughter of Avril Ruzario

(Secretary)

ARAINAARAINA


26/32

A fun workplace is a happier and more productive workplace and therein lies the genesis of the fun @ work

council (F@W). F@W which has taken over activities that celebrate occasions, achievements of colleagues

across businesses and all activities that generally create a positive buzz at the workplace had its first

meeting on the 18th September 2012.

The council championed by Vinod Wadhwani includes Rupesh Kolwalkar, Isha Dalal Rana, Pramod

Menon, Dipti Mehta, Sumit Narang, Poonam Kataria, Siddharth Kharbanda, Shachi Seksaria & Niyati

Khanna Motishah as its members.

One of the first initiatives by F@W has been to celebrate employee birthdays falling in the same sun sign

across the group. Posters indicating the names and birthday of employees, a select list of famous

personalities sharing the sun-sign as well as the traits of the sun-signs are put up on all the floors including

the cafeteria. The birthday celebration culminates in the "Super Friday", typically the last Friday in the sun-

sign where all the birthday employees are presented with a small birthday present and a cake is cut. The

Super Friday also provides a social setting for employees across all businesses to interact and bond over

beers and snacks outside of their work. So far F@W has organised two Super Fridays

- For Libran's we celebrated the - Beer and Cake Super Friday

- For Scorpions We celebrated the Beer & Vodka Pani Puri Super Friday

The response to these initial events organised by F@W has been very encouraging and the effort and

organisation of these events by F@W team has been appreciated. We also received several suggestions for

improvement which were where practicable implemented. We would also like to take this opportunity toplace on record our sincere appreciation for all the help and support provided to us by the Admin as well as

the IT teams.

As the F@W team continues to debate and discuss various ideas during the meetings, we hope that the

energy and fun at these meeting translates into bringing more interesting events to ensure that Ambit

becomes a place people enjoy and look forward to work at.

Till the next "Super Friday" Have Fun!!

Adding a dash of

Fun to Workun to WorkFun@Work Council

Sudoku Solution


27/32

Ambit and Nikko announced in December 2011 that they had entered into a Joint Venture Agreementfor providing investment management and advisory services. Both parties agreed that the dedicatedIndia funds of both partners now and in the future will be managed and advised by the JV. At that time,

Ambit was advising two funds in Mauritius viz Ambit Frontier Fund and Ambit Sharia Fund. On theother hand, Nikko was managing a BRICS fund that also had AUMs of approx US$150 million in Indianequities that would, henceforth, be advised or managed by the JV.

The JV became operational effective 1 August 2012 when Andrew Holland and his team moved into anew legal entity Ambit Investment Advisors Pvt Ltd ( AIA ) and Ambit and Nikko jointly owning AIA and

Ambit's FII in Mauritius. Andrew is the CEO and Bill Wilder, President & CIO of Nikko is the Chairman.

The IA team is very excited that the JV has the ability to tap into Nikko's product developmentcapabilities and extensive network of distributors.

Already, the IA and BSG teams are putting together the contours of a new fund under the new SEBI rulesfor AIF. The new fund will leapfrog the IA team's excellent track record created for proprietaryinvestments. Based on meetings with investors so far, the feedback is certainly positive and the interestis encouraging, prompting us to move rapidly. The formation of the new fund has all the internalapprovals to go full steam ahead and put together the prerequisites for SEBI approval. The fund isexpected to be raised in the first quarter of 2013. Our PW team will also be involved in distribution ofthe fund to investors.

st

The Ambit Nikko Tie-upCOO

Saif Attar

Desi Daaru!Sukkerrr or (Means sugar cane in Danish) Or Vodgun

A Vodka based desi cock-tail!

- Vodka 120 ml (Plain or vanilla flavored)- Sugarcane juice 250 ml- Lemon Juice 2 tbsp- Lemon wedges / Mint leaves to Garnish- Ginger juice 2 tbsp- Crushed Ice one full martini glass- 3 splash Grenadine- 2 Martini Glass Kept in freezer for an hour

Fill the two martini glasses with crushed ice. Mix 120 ml of vodka, 250 ml of sugar cane juice, 2 splash ofGrenadine and 2 tbsp ginger juice and shake it well. Divide one splash of Grenadine between the twoglasses and pour the mixture equally on both the glasses. Add one tbsp of lemon juice in each of theglasses and garnish with lemon rind and fresh mint leaves.

Ingredients:

Contributed by Sujal Patwardhan

27


28/32

VP - Business Process & OperationsHimanshu Damania

1.

2.



Share a memorable experience of yourchildhood

A college memo ry you distinctlyremember/cherish


Tour to Kashmir with my parents when I was 10 yrsold. Few of most memorable experiences werestaying in houseboat,Sledge car ride , beautiful rose gardens (must say iplucked lot of different color of roses for my Mom)and shikara in Dal lake.

We were 10-12 friends in the group and use tocelebrate birthday of each person in the group withdifferent theme. I would like share Few of themeslike dress color code, beach party , traditional

wear, Street food party etc. The best part was thatall expenses were shared by all friends.

Always ready to have fun. No unknown habits.

My first job was with Action financial services, Istarted as trainee in 1995. In those days, Stockmarket had settlement cycle of 15 days. On thesettlement day, brokers get physical certificatedelivery of securities and all employees includingsenior management work over night to delivershares on the next day to customers. I was alwaysamazed to see team energy reaching at highestlevel while working over night on such settlementday.

Flexible









Taking action in present keeping mind futureyou want to create.

Do not stop by any breakdown and findalternate possibilities to meet the goals.

Nothing significant to share.

Spending time with my wife & kids

- Jim Carrey- Jean Claude van Damme

No purchases on inauspicious days

My wife likes going out on Sunday evening and Idon't.

I am really impressed with organization'sphilosophy of caring about employees. Ambit'ssenior management team members are veryhumble and easy to access. On the whole, theentire team is very talented and focus ondelivering what is expected of them.

In TheSpotlight


29/32

Throwing some Prakash on Dogmas!

Statistics aroundblindness in India can be stunningly sad.- On an average, 3 persons amongst every 100 Indians are blind

- India is the nation with the highest number of blind children in the whole world

- In rural areas, the average ratio of population to a qualified ophthalmologist can go as high as 500,000 to

1, severely affecting detection and treatment of blindness

- A child born blind has a less than 50% chance of survival beyond five years, a less than 10% chance of

getting formal education and a less than 1% chance of securing a regular livelihood -- leading to potentially

massive socio-economic consequences.

The list can go on, and on, but will not be complete without the most significant (and perhaps the most

disturbing) fact - around 40% of all instances of blindness in India are either preventable or curable! This is

one of the key failings of our public health system.

While many people talk about this, some actually make significant contribution towards alleviation of this

bane. One such person is Dr Pawan Sinha. No, he is not a medical practioner as his title and the context of this

article may suggest! Pawan holds a doctoral degree in Computer Science from the famed Massachusetts

Institute of Technology (MIT), Boston. His undergraduate and master's degrees were also in the field of

Computer Science! He is currently a professor at MIT and his research includes using computational

modelling techniques to understand how human brain learns to recognize objects through visual experience.

Pawan has published a number of research papers in the field of cognitive science and has earned a variety of

academic and industry honors, including very recently, the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and

Engineers, 2012 given by President Obama.

All children are born nearly blind. Immediately after birth, with the help of visual inputs which their eyesprovide to the brain, they 'develop' vision. Traditional scientific knowledge holds that if a child is born with an

eye disorder (eg. an opaque retina) which prevents the brain from receiving visual inputs, then the child is

unlikely to recover vision even if the physical defect in the eye is corrected at a later stage. This conventional

dogma, that visual system cannot regain functionality if children do not see during their first years of life, is

borne out of research including the work of some past Nobel award winners.

A part of Pawan's research is focused on challenging this age old belief! Pawan has launched Project Prakash

in India, about 10 years ago, with the objective of marrying scientific opportunity with a humanitarian

mission. Under Project Prakash, thousands of blind children in India are screened to identify cases of treatable

blindness. Identified cases are provided free medical help and guidance for visual rehabilitation. This

humanitarian effort has created a large, identifiable population of children who are just learning to see.Monitoring this group through studies, complemented with use of modern medical equipment like MRI

scanners, has provided valuable insights into the process of visual learning and recognition. This research has

also helped establish that human brain retains an ability to perform visual tasks even after an extended period

of congenital blindness - something which should spur efforts in treating & rehabilitating children born blind

andassumed to be 'lost cases' as per the extant scientific beliefs.

I met Pawan recently at our graduation batch reunion. Personally I was amazed at the way he has bridged the

divide between two seemingly very divergent streams of knowledge - computer science and neuro-science, in

the process opening up the possibility of vision for many Indian underprivileged children. One of the key

challenges for Project Prakash is scalability, given the mammoth size of the problem in India. Today, Project

Prakash is active in some parts of India. Inspite of efforts from dedicated healthcare volunteers, only the

proverbial tip of the iceberg has been touched. In addition to financial support, the initiative needs awareness

among the people who can make a difference by contributing thought leadership and spread of the message

through word of mouth. More information at .http://web.mit.edu/bcs/sinha/prakash.html

Director - Corporate Finance

Gautam Gupte

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Jab Main

Chota Baccha Tha...hota Baccha Tha...

Milan SarvaiyaSr. Executive - Operations

Nishat VakilSr. Executive and Secretary

Sushant BhansaliAVP - CEOs Office

If you allow people to make withdrawals than deposits in your life, you will

be out of balance and in the negative. Know when to close the account.


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Did

You

Know

10% of with world's food supply is consumed by insects

Japanese people don't have middle names

Employees of the Vatican pay no income tax

The only thing that can destroy a diamond is intense heat

The ice cream cone was introduced in 1904

Green tea has 50% more vitamin C than black tea

The average person has over 1,460 dreams a year

Superman dates back to June 1938 (he first appeared in Action Comics No. 1)

The first crossword puzzle appeared in 1913

The dollar values on the board game Monopoly have been the same since 1935

The first taxi service began in New York in 1907

The elevator was invented in 1850

The first product to have a bar code was Wrigley's gum

It took Leonardo Da Vinci 10 years to paint Mona Lisa

Wine is sold in tinted bottles because it spoils when exposed to light

The youngest pope was 11 years old.

They have square watermelons in Japan - they stack better

Ancient Egyptians slept on pillows made of stone.

Thomas Edison, light bulb inventor, was afraid of the dark

The world's oldest piece of chewing gum is 9000 years old

The original name of Bank of America was Bank of Italy.

There is a Starbucks in Myungdong, South Korea that is five stories tall.

Ted Turner owns 5% of New Mexico

There are more 100 dollar bills in Russia currently than there are in the United States

A Boeing 767 airliner is made of 3,100,000 separate parts

Bill Gates began programming computers at the of age 13

Flies can react to an object it sees and change direction in less than 30 milliseconds

The first drug that was sold as a water soluble tablet was aspirin in 1900

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ambit insight 2013

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