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INVESTOR BEHAVIOR IN THE STOCK MARKET RATIONAL AND IRRATIONAL PERSPECTIVES Submitted to: Dr. Hitesh Arora By: Rohit Bedi FMG 20 201132 FORE School of Management, New Delhi April May, 2012

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Page 1: Investor behavior in the stock market – Rational and Irrational perspectives

INVESTOR BEHAVIOR IN THE STOCK MARKET – RATIONAL AND IRRATIONAL

PERSPECTIVES

Submitted to:

Dr. Hitesh Arora

By:

Rohit Bedi

FMG 20

201132

FORE School of Management, New Delhi

April – May, 2012

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CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that Mr. Rohit Bedi, Roll No. 201132, has completed his summer internship at

Sharekhan Ltd (New Delhi) and has submitted this project report entitled Investor Behavior in the

Stock Market – Rational and Irrational Perspectives towards part fulfillment of the requirements for

the award of the Post Graduate Diploma in Management (FMG--20) 2011-2013.

This Report is the result of his own work and to the best of my knowledge no part of it has earlier

comprised any other report, monograph, dissertation or book. This project was carried out under

my supervision.

Date:

Place:

————————————-

Internal Faculty Guide

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

S.No. TOPIC Page. No.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 6

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 7

I INTRODUCTION 8

II LITERATURE REVIEW 11

III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 13

IV ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION 16

V CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 40

VI LIMITATIONS 42

APPENDIX I – REFERENCES 43

APPENDIX II – COMPANY PROFILE 45

APPENDIX III – QUESTIONNAIRE 51

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LIST OF FIGURES

S.No. NAME Page. No.

1 National Stock Exchange 8

2 Bombay Stock Exchange 8

3 Steps involved in market research 13

4 Gender of respondents 16

5 Education Level 16

6 Investors and Non-investors 17

7 Percentage of income invested 17

8 Risk Appetite 18

9 Investment Experience 18

10 Investment Objectives 19

11 Other investment options 19

12 Reasons for not investing 20

13 Average score per influence group 22

14 Scree Plot 31

15 Cluster Analysis: Gender and Influence Groups 37

16 Cluster Analysis: Education Level and Influence Groups 38

17 Cluster Analysis: Investor Experience and Influence Groups 39

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LIST OF TABLES

S.No. NAME Page. No.

1 Average score per factor 20

2 Average score per influence group 22

3 Gender v/s Risk Appetite 23

4 Investment Experience and Risk Appetite: Cross-tabulation 23

5 Chi-Square Test 1 24

6 Risk Appetite and Income Level: Cross-tabulation 24

7 Chi-Square Test 2 25

8 Correlation matrix for influence groups 26

9 Correlation matrix for influence groups 28

10 KMO and Barlett’s Test 28

11 Communalities 28

12 Total Variance Explained 29

13 Component Matrix 31

14 Rotated Component Matrix 33

15 Rotation Sums of Squared Loadings 34

16 Extracted Factors 34

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First and foremost, I would like to thank and express my gratitude to Sharekhan Ltd. which is a

leading organization in the Indian financial services market, for giving me an opportunity to work in

their esteemed organization. During my tenure, I undertook market research & selling and gained

hands on knowledge about the actual stock market scenario.

I would like to thank my faculty guide, Dr. Hitesh Arora, without whose guidance & support it would

not have been possible to complete the project.

I would also like to thank Mr. Vijay (Branch Manager) and Mr. Jaipal Singh (Assistant Manager) of

Sharekhan Ltd. for helping me and providing me useful & necessary information related to the

project. I would take this opportunity to thank all senior executives and associates of

Sharekhan Ltd. without whose cooperation I would not have been able to complete this project.

I am indebted to FORE School of Management and Sharekhan Ltd. for providing me this great

opportunity to gain exposure to corporate world.

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

An understanding of investor behavior in the stock market is important for the investing individual,

the companies listed in the stock market and the government of the country. For individual

investors, identifying the factors affecting investment decisions is important as it would affect their

future financial plans. Also, financial planners can benefit from it as they would be able to profile

their clients and create financial plans for them accordingly. For companies, it is important as it

would affect their future policies and strategies. Finally, for the government it is important as it would

affect the policies, legislations and additional procedures needed to satisfy the investors’ desires

and to support market efficiency.

Classical finance theory is based on the assumption that investors behave rationally i.e. their

investment decisions are based solely on market fundamentals. In such a case, two organizations

having similar financial profiles should have similar patterns of stock trading. But the actual manner

in which the market behaves cannot be completely explained by the rational investor model.

Behavioral Finance is a discipline which believes that while taking investment decisions, investors’

irrationality factors in. Therefore, they commit mistakes because of their perceptions and beliefs.

Much of the enthusiasm for developing a behavioral theory of finance is based on the observation

that extreme market movements occasionally deviate from “fair values,” and that such deviations

are the result of some investors, not all, making irrational choices. This may explain why markets

occasionally seem to overreact in both directions, up and down.

Investors might show irrational behavior because of a gamut of reasons. There is no all-

encompassing theory which accounts for all of these. On a broad basis, investors may be

influenced by two types of factors – Internal and External. Internal factors are related to the

emotions, sentiments and psychological biases which exist in the mind of the investors. External

factors exist in the society or environment which they are part of and with which they interact. To

date, most of the behavioral finance research on investor decision making has focused on investors’

emotions and psychology. But these emotions are the result of many social interactions which may

also directly affect investment decisions.

In this research I would be studying the buying and selling behavior of the Indian investor from both

rational and irrational perspectives. The research involves collection of primary data through a

questionnaire. The questionnaire has general questions related to investors’ preferences regarding

their investment decisions and questions related to the influence groups which affect their

investment behavior. These influence groups are covered in four parts as shown:

1. Social Incentive (Product affinity, ethics of the company, CSR activities by the company,

charisma of the leader and regional proximity)

2. Public Information (News about company stocks, comments of market analysts, frequency of

advertisements, government policy/regulation announcements and prevailing market

sentiments)

3. Social Interaction (Broker, parents, spouse, peers and friends)

4. Company Fundamentals (Revenue or profit earned by the company, dividend policy,

earnings per share, PE Ratio and future projects of the company)

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1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background

In general terms, investment means the use of money in the hope of making more money. In

finance, investment is defined as the purchase of a financial product or other item of value with the

expectation of earning favorable returns in the future. These returns may be used by the investors

as per their needs like wealth accrual, liquidity, safety in times of emergency, portfolio

diversification, retirement planning etc. There are many investment options available to the Indian

investor. Some of these are bank fixed deposits, public provident funds, real estate, insurance

policies, national savings certificate, mutual funds etc. One such investment option is investment in

the stock market.

The Stock Market

A stock market is a public market (a virtual environment, not a physical facility) for the trading of

company stocks and derivatives. These include securities listed on a stock exchange as well as

those only traded privately. A stock exchange is an organized market which provides services

for stock brokers and traders to trade stocks, bonds, and other securities. Market participants

include individual retail investors, institutional investors such as mutual funds, banks, insurance

companies and hedge funds, and also publicly traded corporations trading in their own shares. In

this research, we would be focusing on individual investors.

Indian Stock Exchanges

Most of the trading in the Indian stock market takes place on its two stock exchanges: the Bombay

Stock Exchange (BSE) and the National Stock Exchange (NSE). BSE is the oldest stock exchange

in Asia. The equity market capitalization of the companies listed on the BSE was US$1 trillion as of

December 2011, making it the 6th largest stock exchange in Asia and the 14th largest in the world.

It has the largest number of listed companies in the world. As of March 2012, there were over 5,133

listed Indian companies and over 8,196 scrips on the BSE. NSE is the 16th largest stock

exchange in the world by market capitalization and largest in India by daily turnover and number of

trades, for both equities and derivative trading. It has a market capitalization of

around US$985 billion and over 1,646 listings as of December 2011. Though many other

exchanges exist, BSE and the National Stock Exchange of India account for the majority of

the equity trading in India.

Fig 1 – National Stock Exchange Fig 2 – Bombay Stock Exchange

Unpredictability of the Stock Market

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The Indian stock market is unpredictable. Fluctuations in the stock prices can occur because of

many reasons. A smart portfolio positioned for long-term growth should include strong stocks from

different industries. Before investing in the stock market, one should be prepared to assume risk

equivalent to the sum invested in the market. Influenced by unanticipated turn of market events,

stock market to some extent cannot be considered as the safest investment options. However, to

accrue higher gains, an investor must update himself on the recent stock market news and events.

Efficient Market Hypothesis and Market Efficiency

Much economic theory is based on the belief that individuals behave in a rational manner and that

all existing information is embedded in the investment process. According to one interpretation of

the efficient-market hypothesis (EMH), only changes in fundamental factors, such as the outlook for

margins, profits or dividends, ought to affect share prices beyond the short term,

where random 'noise' in the system may prevail. But from experience we know that investors may

'temporarily' move financial prices away from their long term aggregate price 'trends'. Overreactions

may occur so that excessive optimism (euphoria) may drive prices unduly high or excessive

pessimism may drive prices unduly low. Economists continue to debate whether financial markets

are 'generally' efficient. This is where behavioral finance comes in.

Behavioral Finance

Behavioral Finance is the study of the influence of psychology on the behavior of financial analysts/

investors and the subsequent impact on the markets. This subject is of great importance and

interest as it helps us explain why and how the markets might be inefficient.

Noise Trader

A noise trader also known informally as idiot trader is described in the literature of financial research

as a stock trader whose decisions to buy, sell, or hold are irrational and erratic. The presence of

noise traders in financial markets can then cause prices and risk levels to diverge from expected

levels even if all other traders are rational.

What this research is about

This research is an attempt to understand the factors affecting the Indian Investor’s behavior in the

stock market and to estimate the relative importance of rational and irrational behavior. This study is

important for individual investors, investment advisors/financial planners, the government and the

companies listed on stock exchanges (NSE & BSE). This is because, till date, research in

behavioral finance has been limited. An understanding of investors’ behavioral processes is

essential for the individual investors as it would affect their future plans; for financial planners as

they would be better equipped to devise investment strategies for their clients; for listed companies

as they would plan their future policies & strategies accordingly and for the government as it would

be able to develop policies & legislations that would satisfy the needs of the investors.

1.2 Objectives of the Study

To estimate the relative importance of fundamental and non-fundamental factors affecting

investor behavior in the stock market.

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To study how rationality or irrationality varies with parameters like gender, education level

and investment experience.

To study the relationships between different general attributes of investors like risk appetite,

gender, investment experience etc.

1.3 Importance of the Study

Identifying the factors affecting investor behavior is important for the individual investors, financial

planners, companies participating in the stock market and the government in the following way:

For individual investors - It would affect their future financial plans.

For financial planners - They would be able to profile their clients and create financial plans

for them accordingly.

For companies - It would affect their future policies and strategies.

For the government - It would affect the policies, legislations and additional procedures

needed to satisfy the investors’ desires and to support market efficiency.

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2. LITERATURE REVIEW

There are a large no. of studies conducted in the past on the relationship between individual

investor behavior and various aspects of the stock market. This study is my attempt at examining

this relationship between individual investor trading decisions and returns. In this literature review, I

would be highlighting the empirical results of some studies conducted on individual investors’

behavior in the recent past.

Abhijeet Chandra and Ravinder Kumar (2011) carried out Univariate and Multivariate Analysis of the

data collected through their survey. Principal Components Analysis was primarily used for

multivariate analysis of the data. The results of the principal components reveal the five underlying

psychological axes that appear to drive the Indian individual investor behaviour. These five pertinent

axes on the basis of the underlying variables are named as prudence and precautious attitude,

conservatism, under confidence, informational asymmetry and financial addiction. The study

revealed that certain behavioural axes reported by the multivariate analysis such as prudence &

precautious attitude and informational asymmetry seem to be influencing individual investors’

trading behaviour in Indian stock market. These were not considered in any prior literature.

E. Bennet, Dr. M. Selvan (2011) in their study say that retail investors consider their investment

needs, goals, objectives and constraints in making investment decisions, but it is not possible to

make a successful investment decision at all times. Their attitude is influenced by various factors

such as dividend, get rich quickly strategy, stories of successful investors, online trading, investor

awareness programme, experience of other successful investors etc. The top five highly influential

factors were found to be investors’ tolerance for risk, strength of the Indian economy, media focus

on the stock market, political stability and finally government policy towards business. There were

four factors which were given the lowest priority namely, stories of successful investors, get rich

quick philosophy, information available on internet and cost cutting by companies.

Nik Maheran Nik Muhammad, Nurazleena Ismail (2008) conducted a study on the investor behavior

in the Malaysian stock market to determine if the investors behave rationally or irrationally. The

basis of the study was that most of the investors buy stocks on a whim or on the recommendation or

conviction of a stranger when they should buy stocks showing fundamental strength. Based on their

research findings, the authors indicate that economic condition and frame of references influence

investors’ decision-making behavior. Therefore, their study found that investors are partially rational

in taking their investment decisions.

John Ameriks, Tanja Wranik and Peter Salovey (2007) in their study evaluate the relationship

between investors’ emotional intelligence and their investment decisions. They conducted a survey

of Vanguard IRA and 401(k) investors, the authors show that we show that emotional intelligence

and other psychological characteristics have noteworthy relationships with various aspects of

financial decision making, including the frequency of transactional activity, the decision to invest in

stocks, and the use of actively managed mutual funds and index funds.

Hussein A. Hassan Al-Tamimi (2005) conducted an empirical study on the financial markets in UAE.

The questionnaire had thirty-four questions divided into five categories – self-image/firm-image

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coincidence, accounting information, neutral information, advocate recommendations and personal

finance needs. This study was unique in that it was the first time such a study was conducted for

UAE financial markets and also because it involved the inclusion of investors’ religious beliefs as a

factor influencing their behavior. This factor was an off-shoot of the nature of UAE’s culture which is

conservative, being primarily Moslem. In the study, the most influencing factors were found to be

expected corporate earnings, get rich quick, stock marketability, past performance of the firm’s

stock, government holdings and creation of organized financial markets. The least influencing

factors were found to be expected losses in other local investments, minimizing risks, expected

losses in international financial markets, family member opinions and gut feeling on the economy.

Massimo Massa, Andrei Simonov (2005) in their study focus on how investors react to previous

gains & losses and in particular to the familiarity bias. They also show the distinction between

behavioral theories and between behavioral & rational hypotheses. They provide evidence that

investors react to prior losses/gains on a yearly basis as postulated by the house-money effect. This

implies that previous gains increase investors’ risk taking and previous losses decrease it. They

also show that investor stock choice is primarily driven by the availability of information.

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3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

A Research Methodology defines the purpose of the research, how it proceeds, how to measure

progress and what constitutes success with respect to the objectives determined for carrying out the

research study.

Fig 3 – Steps involved in market research

3.1 Research Design

Research design is an arrangement of conditions for the collection and analysis of data in a manner

that aims to combine relevance to the research purpose with economy of procedure.

Types of research designs:

Descriptive

Causal

Exploratory

In this project, descriptive type of research design has been used.

3.2 Data Collection Methods

Data collected for the first time for generating fresh information are called primary data.

It is generated by four main methods:

1 • Formulation of objectives of the study.

2 • Designing methods for the data collection

3 • Select the sample size

4 • Collecting the data

5 • Processing and analysis of data

6 • Reporting the finding

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Observation

Experimentation

Interviewing

Estimation

Data collected for some other purpose, at an earlier point in time, are called secondary data.

The analyses and results in this research are based mainly on primary data. The primary data were

collected using a structured questionnaire for which we got responses through telephonic

interviews, face-to-face interviews, email surveys and by posting the questionnaire link on forums &

blogs. The sources/authors of any secondary data collected for the research have been credited in

the references section.

In the questionnaire, the respondent is asked for general information like name, gender, income

level, occupation and whether the respondent invests in the stock market. Then, the respondent is

presented with questions specific to stock market investments. These were based on time since

investing, objectives of investment, parameters for choosing a brokerage firm, risk appetite and

percentage of income invested. After this, the respondent is presented with questions meant for

judging the impact of their biases on their investment decisions. These are broadly divided into four

categories – personal bias, Public Influence, social bias and Company Fundamentals Influence.

Each bias is measured by five unique aspects. Respondents were asked to indicate their level of

agreement to every question on a Five Point Likert Scale.

3.3 Sampling

Sample Unit

The sample consists primarily of salaried professionals since they are capable of investing in the

stock market. It also includes b-school students, businessmen and retired people.

Sample Size

The survey covers 103 respondents out of which 66 said they invest in the stock market and 37 said

they didn’t.

Sample Area

The respondents belong to different parts of NCR.

Sampling Technique

For the survey, I used Quota Sampling Technique which is a form of Non-probability Sampling.

Non-probability Sampling is any sampling method where some elements of the population have no

chance of selection. The assumptions regarding the population of interest form the criteria for

selection of the sample. In Quota Sampling the population is divided into mutually exclusive

subgroups.

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For my survey, I divided the population into 2 parts:

Those who do invest in the stock market

Those who do not invest in the stock market

The reason for selecting non-investors was to determine why they don’t invest in the stock market

and which other investment options they prefer, if not the stock market.

3.4 Field Work

The field work had two parts:

Sales

We had to build an understanding about the company and the products & services it offers.

Then we had to identify people who could be potential customers for the company. This

included people who were capable of investing their savings in various instruments and

either had an account with some other brokerage firm or didn’t have a demat account. We

had to contact them on phone or visit them personally and tell them about the functioning of

the stock market, how they could earn money by investing and the benefits of opening a

demat account at Sharekhan. If the person needed more details, we would tell our industry

guide Mr. Jaipal Singh to contact him/her and give deeper details as required. Finally, if the

person concerned opened a demat account at Sharekhan, then this event would be termed a

‘conversion’ and we would get an incentive for it from the company.

Survey

As mentioned before, for understanding the individual investors’ behavior and their

psychological biases, I conducted a survey. For the questionnaire, I got responses through

telephonic interviews, face-to-face interviews, email surveys and by posting the questionnaire

link on forums & blogs.

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4. ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

4.1 Descriptive Statistics

Gender

As shown in the following pie chart, most of the respondents were male:

Fig 4 – Gender of respondents

One of the reasons for this difference could be the general difference in the inclination of the two

sexes towards investment. Another reason could be the difference between the nature of male and

female investors. While male investors are more aggressive, their female counterparts are more

conservative i.e. more risk averse.

What is your education level?

65, 63%

38, 37%

Male

Female

3

35

28

Education Level

Non-graduates

Graduates

Post graduates

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*Responses from 66 respondents who were stock market investors

Fig 5 – Education Level

Do you invest in the stock market?

*Responses by all 103 respondents

Fig 6 – Investors and Non-investors

What percentage of your income do you invest in the stock market?

*Responses by 66 respondents who were stock market investors

Fig 7 – Percentage of income invested

What is your risk appetite?

66

37

Yes

No

38 20

7

1

Percentage of income invested in stock market

Less than 10%

10-20%

20-30%

More than 30%

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*Responses by 66 respondents who were stock market investors

Fig 8 – Risk Appetite

Since when are you investing in the stock market?

*Responses by 66 respondents who were stock market investors

Fig 9 – Investment Experience

What objectives do you keep in mind while investing?

20

41

5

Risk Appetite

Low Risk

Medium Risk

High Risk

8

21

14

23

Investment Experience

Less than 3 months

3-6 months

12 months

More than 12 months

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*Responses by 66 respondents who were stock market investors

Fig 10 – Investment Objectives

Which other investment options do you prefer?

*Responses by all 103 respondents

*One respondent may answer with more than one option

Fig 11 – Other investment options

Kindly select the reason(s) for not investing in the stock market (for non-investors)

35

36

15

10

2

0 10 20 30 40

Capital Appreciation

Returns

Portfolio Diversification

Safety during emergencies

Others

Investment Objectives

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

72

21 25

47

33 24

9 6

Other investment options

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*Responses by 37 respondents who were non-traders

*One respondent may answer with more than one option

Fig 12 – Reasons for not investing

Average Score per factor

N Mean Std.

Deviation

News on company

stocks 66 3.48 1.167

Expert comments of

market analysts 66 3.38 1.200

Frequency of

advertisements 66 2.92 1.154

Government

announcements 66 3.80 1.112

Prevailing market

sentiments 66 3.70 1.067

0

5

10

15

20

25

13 10

25

16

2

Reasons for not investing in the stock market

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Broker 66 3.48 1.180

Parents 66 3.12 1.209

Spouse 66 2.67 1.244

Peers/Colleagues 66 3.38 1.147

Friends 66 3.29 1.064

Product affinity 66 3.03 1.277

Ethics of the company 66 3.38 1.200

CSR activities 66 3.06 1.122

Charisma of the

leader 66 3.62 1.049

Regional Proximity 66 3.11 1.111

Revenue/Profit

earned by the

company

66 3.97 1.081

EPS 66 4.11 1.010

Dividend policy 66 3.48 1.153

PE ratio 66 3.94 .959

Future projects 66 4.15 .864

Valid N (list wise) 66

Table 1 – Average score per factor

Average Score per Influence Group

As mentioned earlier, the questionnaire was divided into four influence groups:

Public Information

Social Interaction

Social Incentive

Company Fundamentals

Each influence group has 5 component factors which were rated by the respondents on a scale of 1

to 5, 1 for lowest level and 5 for highest level of influence.

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On adding up the individual scores for the components in each influencing factor, we get a single

series of scores for each of the four factors. Following are the average scores per influencing factor:

Fig 13 – Average score per influence group

Mean Std.

Deviation

N

Public Information 17.29 3.898 66

Social Interaction 15.94 3.961 66

Social Incentive 16.20 3.325 66

Company

Fundamentals 19.65 3.519 66

Table 2 – Average score per influence group

From the above data, it is clear that Company Fundamentals (19.65) influence investor behavior the

most followed by Public Information (17.29). Social Incentive (16.20) and Social Interaction (15.94)

come next.

In order to estimate the relative intensity with which these factors influence investors, a comparative

analysis is necessary which follows in the subsequent sections.

4.2 Crosstab Analysis

Gender and Risk Appetite

17.29

15.94

16.2

19.65

0 5 10 15 20 25

Public Information

Social Interaction

Social Incentive

Company Fundamentals

Score per Influence Group

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From the table below, we find that a higher percentage of male investors have high or medium risk

appetite and a lower percentage has low risk appetite. But in the case of female investors, the

percentage of investors having low risk appetite is much higher. This shows that female investors

are more risk averse than male investors (or male investors are more aggressive than female

investors).

GENDER RISK APPETITE

High Risk Medium Risk Low Risk

Male 5 (9.6% of make investors)

33 (63.5% of male investors)

14 (26.9% of male investors)

Female 0 8 (57.1% of female investors)

6 (42.9% of female investors)

*This table includes only investors i.e. 66 out of 103 respondents

Table 3 – Gender v/s Risk Appetite

4.3 Chi Square Test of Independence

Investment Experience and Risk Appetite

What is your risk appetite? Total

High Risk Low Risk Medium

Risk

Time since first

investment

12 months

Count 2 4 8 14

Expected

Count 1.1 4.2 8.7 14.0

3-6 months

Count 0 6 15 21

Expected

Count 1.6 6.4 13.0 21.0

Less than 3

months

Count 1 3 4 8

Expected

Count .6 2.4 5.0 8.0

More than 12

months

Count 2 7 14 23

Expected

Count 1.7 7.0 14.3 23.0

Total Count 5 20 41 66

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Expected

Count 5.0 20.0 41.0 66.0

Table 4 - Investment Experience and Risk Appetite: Cross-tabulation

Chi-Square Tests

Value df Asymp. Sig.

(2-sided)

Pearson Chi-

Square 3.432a 6 .753

Likelihood Ratio 4.798 6 .570

N of Valid Cases 66

a. 7 cells (58.3%) have expected count less

than 5. The minimum expected count is .61.

Table 5 – Chi-Square Test 1

Null Hypothesis: Investment Experience and Risk Appetite are independent

Alternative Hypothesis: Investment Experience and Risk Appetite are dependent

Using the above results of the chi square test of independence, we accept the null hypothesis. This

means that gaining more investment experience doesn’t change the risk appetite of investors.

Income Level and Risk Appetite

Income level Total

1,50,000 -

3,00,000

3,00,000 -

6,00,000

Above

6,00,000

Below

1,50,000

What is your risk

appetite?

High Risk

Count 0 2 3 0 5

Expected

Count .8 1.9 1.1 1.2 5.0

Low Risk Count 6 2 3 9 20

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Expected

Count 3.0 7.6 4.5 4.8 20.0

Medium

Risk

Count 4 21 9 7 41

Expected

Count 6.2 15.5 9.3 9.9 41.0

Total

Count 10 25 15 16 66

Expected

Count 10.0 25.0 15.0 16.0 66.0

Table 6 – Risk Appetite and Income Level: Cross-tabulation

Chi-Square Tests

Value df Asymp. Sig.

(2-sided)

Pearson Chi-

Square 19.721a 6 .003

Likelihood Ratio 21.171 6 .002

N of Valid Cases 66

a. 7 cells (58.3%) have expected count less than 5.

The minimum expected count is .76.

Table 7 – Chi-Square Test 2

Null Hypothesis: Income Level and Risk Appetite are independent

Alternative Hypothesis: Income Level and Risk Appetite are dependent

Using the above results of the chi square test of independence, we reject the null hypothesis. This

means that the risk appetite of investors increases with their income levels. This is probably

because they feel more financially secure with higher income levels and hence, find it more

comfortable to take risks.

4.4 Correlation Matrix for Influence Groups

Following is the correlation matrix between the four influence groups:

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Correlations

Public

Information

Social

Interaction

Social

Incentive

Company

Fundamental

s

Public Information

Pearson

Correlation 1 .231 -.022 .129

Sig. (2-tailed) .062 .859 .304

N 66 66 66 66

Social Interaction

Pearson

Correlation .231 1 .064 -.115

Sig. (2-tailed) .062 .610 .357

N 66 66 66 66

Social Incentive

Pearson

Correlation -.022 .064 1 .216

Sig. (2-tailed) .859 .610 .081

N 66 66 66 66

Company

Fundamentals

Pearson

Correlation .129 -.115 .216 1

Sig. (2-tailed) .304 .357 .081

N 66 66 66 66

Table 8 – Correlation matrix for influence groups

From the above correlation matrix, we find that the level of correlation between each pair of

influencing factors is low. This can be judged from the low values of correlation coefficients. This

means that the four influencing factors are not strongly correlated. Also, we find that the correlations

are not significant as p > 0.01. This means that the factors are independent of each other. This

makes it possible for us to apply vari-max rotation under Factor Analysis.

4.5 Factor Analysis

Factor analysis is a method of data reduction. It does this by seeking underlying unobservable

(latent) variables that are reflected in the observed variables (manifest variables). Factor analysis

groups variables with similar characteristics together. With factor analysis you can produce a small

number of factors from a large number of variables which is capable of explaining the observed

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variance in the larger number of variables. The reduced factors can also be used for further

analysis.

Steps for using Factor Analysis in Market Research:

Identify the salient attributes consumers use to evaluate products in this category.

Use quantitative marketing research techniques (such as surveys) to collect data from a

sample of potential customers concerning their ratings of all the product attributes.

Input the data into a statistical program and run the factor analysis procedure. The computer

will yield a set of underlying attributes (or factors).

Use these factors to construct perceptual maps and other product positioning devices.

There are three stages in factor analysis:

1. First, a correlation matrix is generated for all the variables. A correlation matrix is a

rectangular array of the correlation coefficients of the variables with each other.

2. Second, factors are extracted from the correlation matrix based on the correlation coefficients

of the variables.

3. Third, the factors are rotated in order to maximize the relationship between the variables and

some of the factors.

There are many different methods that can be used to conduct a factor analysis (such as principal

components, principal axis factor, maximum likelihood, generalized least squares, un-weighted least

squares etc.), there are also many different types of rotations that can be done after the initial

extraction of factors, including orthogonal rotations, such as vari-max and equi-max, which impose

restriction that the factors cannot be correlated, and oblique rotations, such as pro-max, which allow

the factors to be correlated with one another.

KMO and Barlett’s Test

These tests provide a minimum standard which should be cleared before performing factor analysis.

The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin test measures the sampling adequacy which should be greater than 0.5 for

a satisfactory factor analysis to proceed. In our case is 0.541 which is acceptable.

Bartlett’s Test of Sphericity tests the null hypothesis that the correlation matrix is an identity matrix.

An identity matrix is a matrix in which all the diagonal elements are 1 and all off diagonal elements

are 0. For the test to be significant, its associated probability should be less than 0.05 which is true

for our case. So, we reject the null hypothesis at 99.99% confidence interval – the correlation matrix

is not an identity matrix.

As both tests have given favorable results, we can safely say that applying factor analysis to the

data would give useful results.

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Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling

Adequacy. .541

Bartlett’s Test of

Sphericity

Approx. Chi-Square 481.795

df 190

Sig. .000

Table 9 – KMO and Barlett’s Test

Communalities

The table given below shows how much of the variance in the variables has been accounted for by

the extracted factors. Variables with high values are well represented in the common factor space,

while variables with low values are not well represented. We find that most of the variables in our

study have got high values of accounted variance. Over 80% of the variation in Ethics of the

company and News on company stocks is accounted for while only about 46.5% of the variance in

Product Affinity is accounted for.

Initial Extraction

News on company stocks 1.000 .820

Expert comments of market

analysts 1.000 .649

Frequency of advertisements

on Internet/TV 1.000 .733

Government policy/regulation

announcements 1.000 .754

Prevailing sentiments in

market 1.000 .690

Broker 1.000 .692

Parents 1.000 .662

Spouse 1.000 .757

Peers/Colleagues 1.000 .790

Friends 1.000 .582

Product affinity 1.000 .465

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Ethics of the company 1.000 .842

CSR activities 1.000 .687

Charisma of the leader 1.000 .780

Regional Proximity 1.000 .793

Revenue/Profit earned by the

company 1.000 .740

EPS 1.000 .688

Dividend policy 1.000 .745

PE ratio 1.000 .748

Future projects 1.000 .563

Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis.

Table 10 - Communalities

Total Variance Explained

The table below shows all the variables along with their Eigen values and percentage of variance

accountable to them. It shows also shows the retained variables. These are variables which account

for most of the variance. In our case, we have 7 retain/extracted variables.

Compone

nt

Initial Eigenvalues Extraction Sums of Squared

Loadings

Total % of

Variance

Cumulative

%

Total % of Variance Cumulative

%

1 3.229 16.143 16.143 3.229 16.143 16.143

2 2.873 14.366 30.509 2.873 14.366 30.509

3 2.388 11.938 42.447 2.388 11.938 42.447

4 1.830 9.151 51.598 1.830 9.151 51.598

5 1.604 8.019 59.617 1.604 8.019 59.617

6 1.196 5.979 65.596 1.196 5.979 65.596

7 1.058 5.291 70.887 1.058 5.291 70.887

8 .983 4.914 75.800

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9 .826 4.132 79.932

10 .742 3.710 83.643

11 .591 2.953 86.595

12 .581 2.906 89.501

13 .400 1.999 91.500

14 .350 1.749 93.250

15 .316 1.581 94.830

16 .286 1.431 96.261

17 .241 1.203 97.464

18 .215 1.075 98.540

19 .173 .864 99.404

20 .119 .596 100.000

Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis.

Table 11 – Total Variance Explained

A better representation of the variance attributable to each variable is the Scree Plot which plots the

Eigen values against all the variables. The point of interest is where the curve starts to flatten. It can

be seen that the curve begins to flatten after variable 7. It can also be noted that factor 8 has an

Eigen value less than 1, so only 7 factors have been retained in our case.

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Fig 14 – Scree Plot

Component Matrix

The table below shows the loadings of the eight variables on the extracted variables. The higher the

absolute value of the loading, the more the factor contributes to the variable. The gaps on the table

represent suppressed loadings. In our case, all loadings less than 0.3 have been suppressed. For

example: variable Broker contributes 65.5% to extracted variable 1 and 41.8% to extracted variable

5.

Component

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

News on company

stocks .721 -.369

Expert comments of

market analysts .687 -.358

Broker .655 .418

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Frequency of

advertisements on

Internet/TV

.570 .369 -.324

Spouse .519 .506 .319

Friends .513 .498

Peers/Colleagues .509 .499 .474

Parents .450 .322 .432

Dividend policy .779

Revenue/Profit earned

by the company .775

PE ratio .677 .465

EPS -.377 .555 .376

CSR activities .466 .449 .338 -.359

Future projects .430 .375 .308

Government

Announcements -.705 .329

Prevailing market

sentiments .326 -.580 .408

Ethics of the company .419 .382 .504 .316 -.363

Regional Proximity .365 -.686

Charisma of the

leader .492 -.498 .532

Product affinity -.454

Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis.

Table 12 – Component Matrix

Rotated Component Matrix

The table below shows the rotated factor loadings. It shows the extracted factors and loadings of all

factors on these extracted factors. This makes easier for us to judge which factors are substantially

loaded on the extracted factors. By grouping together these substantially loading factors, we can

categorize the extracted factors and rank them according to the amount of variance accountable to

them.

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Component

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Revenue/Profit earned

by the company .762

EPS .726 -.318

Dividend policy .713 .410

PE ratio .634 .520

Government

Announcements .841

Frequency of

advertisements .688 .303

Prevailing market

sentiments .677 .322

Expert comments of

market analysts .525 .423 -.319

Peers/Colleagues .866

Spouse .333 .706

Friends .604 .351

Regional Proximity .834

News on company

stocks .701

Ethics of the company .895

CSR activities .778

Future projects .373 .621

Parents -.340 .434 .572

Broker .429 -.317 .513

Charisma of the

leader .872

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Product affinity .355 .375

Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis.

Rotation Method: Varimax with Kaiser Normalization.

Table 13 – Rotated Component Matrix

Rotation Sums of Squared Loadings

The values in this column of the table represent the distribution of the variance after the varimax

rotation. Varimax rotation tries to maximize the variance of each of the factors, so that the total

amount of variance accounted for is redistributed over the seven extracted factors.

Componen

t

Rotation Sums of Squared Loadings

Total % of

Variance

Cumulative

%

1 2.520 12.598 12.598

2 2.310 11.552 24.150

3 2.300 11.499 35.649

4 2.034 10.169 45.818

5 1.972 9.862 55.680

6 1.523 7.616 63.296

7 1.518 7.591 70.887

Extraction Method: Principal Component

Analysis.

Table 14 - Rotation Sums of Squared Loadings

FACTORS SUBSTANTIALLY LOADING FACTORS

1 Revenue/Profit

earned by the

company

EPS Dividend Policy PE Ratio

2 Government Frequency of Prevailing market Expert comments

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Announcements advertisements sentiments of market analysts

3 Peers/Colleagues Spouse Friends Parents

4 Regional

Proximity

News on

company stocks

5 Ethics of the

company

CSR Activities

6 Future projects Parents Broker

7 Charisma of the

leader

PE Ratio

Table 15 – Extracted Factors

The Influence Groups in decreasing order of priority are:

1 Company Fundamentals

Company Fundamentals were found to be the most influencing among the four groups. There are

high chances of investors considering basic information about the companies like revenue or profits

earned, book value, EPS, RE ratio, order book etc. Hence, an investor would most probably give

higher importance to fundamentals of the company over others before taking investment decisions.

2 Public Information

The information investors’ get from their surroundings are the second most important influencing

group according to the result. This means that investors are quite influenced by the information they

get from different sources like comments of market analysts on business news channels,

advertisements on TV or internet, news highlighting company stocks, government announcements

etc. This also includes rumors among stock market investors.

3 Social Interaction

The third most influencing group is concerned with what people around the investor advise him to

do. Just like we may buy items on the advice of others, investors might buy and sell stocks/shares

on the advice of brokers, parents, friends, peers etc. However, this would be more aptly attributable

to new and inexperienced investors.

4 Social Incentive

According to the results, the least influencing group for investors is Social Incentive. This influence

group includes CSR activities and ethical practices of the organization which forms its image in the

mind of investors. Investors who consider the social incentive of companies believe it is essential to

buy stocks of the company with a clean image.

4.6 Cluster Analysis

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Cluster analysis classifies a set of observations into two or more mutually

exclusive unknown groups based on combinations of interval variables. The purpose of cluster

analysis is to discover a system of organizing observations, usually people, into groups, where

members of the groups share properties in common. It is cognitively easier for people to predict

behavior or properties of people or objects based on group membership, all of whom share similar

properties. It is generally cognitively difficult to deal with individuals and predict behavior or

properties based on observations of other behaviors or properties.

Use of Cluster Analysis in marketing:

Segmenting the market and determining target markets

Product positioning and New Product Development

Selecting test markets

Gender and Influence Groups

Here, I have applied cluster analysis to 5 inputs – Gender, Company Fundamentals, Social

Interaction, Social Incentive and Public Information for the 66 respondents who were stock market

investors. As we can see, the data is divided into 2 clusters on the basis of gender. There are 14

female investors and 52 male investors among the 66 respondents. We also have the average

scores for the 4 influence groups for both genders.

From the data, we find that women give higher importance to public information than company

fundamentals. Also, scores for social interaction and company fundamentals are comparable. Thus,

according to these results, females show a higher inclination towards irrational behavior. Men, on

the other hand, give the most importance to company fundamentals. Thus, they show a higher

degree of rational behavior. This result may be potentially explained in the framework of

psychological literature, showing that women are, on average, more driven by feelings and

emotions and more willing to follow the ideas suggested by others, while men are more assertive

and independent in their thoughts and actions

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Fig 15 – Cluster Analysis: Gender and Influence Groups

Education Level and Influence Groups

Here, again I’ve applied cluster analysis to 5 inputs – Education Level, Company Fundamentals,

Social Interaction, Social Incentive and Public Information for the 66 respondents who were stock

market investors.

As we can see, the data is divided into 2 clusters for graduates and post graduates. We find that

both graduates and post graduates give the highest importance to company fundamentals and

public information for taking investment decisions. However, one interesting observation is that

graduates give more importance to social interaction than social incentive while the case is opposite

for post graduates. This means that graduates are more influenced by what their parents, friends,

peers, brokers etc. tell them than the post graduates.

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Fig 16 – Cluster Analysis: Education Level and Influence Groups

Investment Experience and Influence Groups

This time I’ve applied cluster analysis to 5 inputs – Time since the person is investing in the stock

market, Company Fundamentals, Social Interaction, Social Incentive and Public Information for the

66 respondents who were stock market investors.

The data is divided into 4 cluster based on investor experience. From the data, we find that

respondents investing since a year or more give the highest importance to company fundamentals

and second highest importance to publicly available information. The scores for respondents

investing since 3-6 months are almost equal for company fundamentals, social interaction & public

information but still, company fundamentals has got the highest score. On the other hand, for new

investors, company fundamentals have a low score whereas public information has got the highest

score. From this we can conclude that as investment experience increases, investors give more

importance to company fundamentals over other influencing factors for taking investment decisions.

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Fig 17 – Cluster Analysis: Investor Experience and Influence Groups

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5. CONCLUSIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS

Company Fundamentals were found to be the most influencing among the four influence

groups followed by public information, social interaction and social incentive. This means that

rational behavior is prominent among most of the respondents. Companies must take steps

which ensure their sound financial performance provided they keep existing shareholders

satisfied. Strong financial numbers are instrumental in attracting more investors as they form

a logical basis to judge the performance of a company.

Public Information was found to have a high score, which was close to company

fundamentals and Social Incentive had the third highest score. So, the information a

company discloses or the information related to a company disclosed publicly has significant

impact on the investors’ behavior towards buying and selling the stocks of that company.

Investors not only judge a company by its financial performance. Qualitative data related to

companies also has a huge impact on their investment behavior. Qualitative factors drive

quantitative success when executed efficiently. Fundamentals are important but other

influencing factors cannot be neglected.

Male investors give most importance to company fundamentals for taking investment

decisions. Hence, they can be said to be more rational in comparison to female investors.

Female investors give most importance to public information for taking investment decisions.

Also, scores for company fundamentals and social interaction come next and are almost

equal. So, we can say that female investors are more affected by behavioral biases or show

a higher degree of irrational behavior. Thus, it can be inferred that stock market analysts and

financial planners would probably find it easier to manipulate female investors’ behavior and

decisions with respect to the stock market.

As the investors’ experience in stock market investment increases, they show increasingly

rational behavior. An investor’s past investment performance definitely has an impact on

his/her confidence as an investor. As an investor gains more and more experience, he/she is

able to overcome the behavioral biases which would affect his/her behavior. Thus, by

learning from past mistakes, investors adjust their future stock trading accordingly and

achieve higher investment performance as they gain experience.

Both graduates and post graduates give the highest priority to company fundamentals and

public information for taking investment decisions. But graduates give higher importance to

social interaction (the advice from parents, friends, peers, brokers etc.) than social incentive.

Post graduates, on the other hand, are less affected by social incentive in comparison to

social interaction.

Male investors are more aggressive investors in comparison to female investors. This result

can be attributed to the finding that male investors’ decisions are more based on fundamental

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information on the market, while female investors are more affected by behavioral biases

while taking investment decisions. So, we can say that male investors behave more

aggressively probably because their decisions are more logic based in comparison to female

investors.

As investors’ income levels increase, their risk appetites also increase. This is probably

because they feel more financially secure at higher income levels and hence, are more

comfortable in taking risks.

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6. LIMITATIONS

The research work was conducted within a period of 2 months which might not be sufficient

enough to do an exhaustive study.

The sample size is limited to 103 respondents out of which 66 respondents were stock

market investors. This no. of respondents is not sufficient to study investment behavior of the

Indian investor.

The results obtained may not be accurate keeping in mind the low reliability of the responses.

The factors shown to affect investors’ behavior may not be sufficient. The usefulness of this

study depends on the ability to collect a sufficient set of influencing factors. If important

factors are excluded or neglected, the value of the procedure is reduced.

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APPENDIX I – REFERENCES

Research Papers:

Al-Tamimi, Hassan H. A., 2005, “Factors Influencing Individual Investor Behavior: An Empirical

Study of the UAE Financial Markets”, University of Sharjah working paper

Ameriks J., Wranik T., Salovey P., 2007, “Emotional Intelligence and Investor Behavior”, Vanguard

Perspectives

Bennet E., Selvan M., 2011, “Factors influencing Retail Investors Attitude towards investing in

equity stocks - A Factor Analysis”, SRM Management Digest 2011, SRM University

Hon-Snir S., Kudryavtsev A., Cohen G., 2012, “Stock Market Investors: Who Is More Rational, and

Who Relies on Intuition?”, International Journal of Economics and Finance

Masa M., Simonov A., 2005, “Behavioural Biases and Investment”, Springer, Review of Finance

Muhammad N. M. N., Ismail N., 2008, “Investment Decision Behavior: Are Investors Rational Or

Irrational?”, ECER Regional Conference 2008, UiTM Kelantan, Faculty of Business Management,

MARA University of Technology, Kelantan, Malaysia

Nicolosi G., Peng L., Zhu N., 2009, “Do Individual Investors Learn from Their Trading Experience?”,

Journal of Financial Markets

Ravinder K. and Chandra A., 2011, “Determinants of Individual Investor Behaviour: An Orthogonal

Linear Transformation Approach”, Jamia Millia Islamia, Central University

Sewell M., 2010, “Behavioral Finance”, University of Cambridge

Books:

Montier J., 2002, “Behavioural Finance: Insights into Irrational Minds and Markets”, Wiley

Shiller R. J., 2006, “Irrational Exuberance”, Princeton University Press

Shleifer A., 2000, “Inefficient Markets: An Introduction to Behavioral Finance”, Oxford University

Press

Websites:

http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/spss/output/factor1.htm accessed on 23 May 2012

http://www.billgood.com/resources/research/articleviewer.cfm?&str_publicationID=722 accessed on

16 May 2012

http://www.fa-mag.com/component/content/article/1115.html?issue=56&magazineID=1&Itemid=73

accessed on 18 May 2012

http://www.investopedia.com/articles/05/032905.asp#axzz1x1ibbV7d accessed on 13 May 2012

http://www.investorwords.com/2599/investment.html accessed on 13 May 2012

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http://www.ncl.ac.uk/iss/statistics/docs/factoranalysis.php accessed on 23 May 2012

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203334304574161431391944464.html accessed

on 21 May 2012

http://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/New_Home_Page/invfables/investorirrationality.htm

accessed on 18 May 2012

http://www.psychstat.missouristate.edu/multibook/mlt04.htm accessed on 24 May 2012

http://shadesin.blogspot.in/2010/04/tradetiger.html accessed on 19 May 2012

http://www.sharekhan.com/ accessed on 19 May 2012

http://statistics-help-for-

students.com/How_do_I_interpret_data_in_SPSS_for_Pearsons_r_and_scatterplots.htm accessed

on 23 May 2012

http://www.triageinvestingblog.com/the-importance-of-business-fundamentals/ accessed on 3 Jun

2012

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cluster_analysis_(in_marketing) accessed on 24 May 2012

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Factor_analysis#Factor_analysis_in_marketing accessed on 22 May

2012

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noise_trader accessed on 3 Jun 2012

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombay_Stock_Exchange accessed on 9 May 2012

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Stock_Exchange_of_India accessed on 9 May 2012

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exchange_(organized_market) accessed on 9 May 2012

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stock_market accessed on 9 May 2012

http://womenadvisorforum.ning.com/profiles/blogs/survey-finds-male-investors-are-mars-females-

venus?xg_source=activity accessed on 21 May 2012

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APPENDIX II – COMPANY PROFILE

About Sharekhan

Sharekhan is one of India’s leading online retail broking firms. It is the retail broking arm of the

Mumbai-based SSKI Group (Shripal Sevantilal Kantilal Ishwarlal Pvt. Ltd), which has more than 88

years of experience in the stock broking business. Launched on February 8, 2000 as an online

trading portal, Sharekhan has today a pan-India presence with over 1,529 outlets serving 950,000

customers across 450 cities. It also has international presence through its branches in the UAE and

Oman.

Sharekhan offers services like portfolio management, trade execution in equities, futures & options,

commodities, and distribution of mutual funds, insurance and structured products. These services

are backed by quality investment advice from an experienced research team which offers

investment and trading ideas based on fundamental and technical research respectively, market

related news, statistical information on equities, commodities, mutual funds, IPOs and much more.

Sharekhan is a member of the Bombay Stock Exchange, the National Stock Exchange and the

country’s two leading commodity exchanges, the NCDEX and MCX. Sharekhan is also registered

as a depository participant with National Securities Depository and Central Depository Services.

Sharekhan has set category leadership through pioneering initiatives like Trade Tiger, an Internet-

based executable application that emulates a broker terminal besides providing information and

tools relevant to day traders. Its second initiative, First Step, is targeted at empowering the first-time

investors. Sharekhan has also set its global footprint through the “India First” initiative, a series of

seminars conducted by Sharekhan to help the non-resident Indians participate and benefit from the

huge investment opportunities in India.

SSKI named its online division as Sharekhan which provides retail broking services.

The business of the company overhauled 10 years ago on February 8, 2000.

It acts as a discount brokerage house to a full service investment solutions provider.

It has specialized research product for the small investors and day traders.

Largest chain of 640 shares shops in 280 cities across India.

The site www.sharekhan.com was launched on February 8, 2000.

The Tiger Trade account of Sharekhan is the next generation technology product launched

on April 17, 2002.

It offers its customers with the trade execution facilities on NSE and BSE, for cash as well as

derivatives and depository services.

Ensures convenience in Trading Experience: Sharekhan’s trading services are designed to

offer an easy, hassle free trading experience, whether trading is done daily or occasionally.

Sharekhan provides the customers with a multichannel access to the stock markets.

It gives advice based on extensive research to its customers and provides them with relevant

and updated information to help him make informed about his investment decisions.

Sharekhan offers its customers the convenience of a broker-DP.

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It helps the customers meet his pay in obligations on time thereby reducing the possibility of

auctions and execute the instruction immediately on receiving it. Thereafter, the customer

can view his updated account statement on Internet.

Sharekhan depository services offer Demat services to individual and corporate investors. A

customer can avail Demat, repurchase and transmission facilities at any of the Sharekhan

branches and business partners outlets.

Top Management

Mr. Tarun Shah Mr. Jaideep Arora Mr. Shanker Vailaya

(CEO, Sharekhan) (Director, Product Development) (Director, Operations,

Finance and

Legal Function)

Mission

“To educate and empower the individual investor to make better investment decisions through

quality advices and superior services.”

Vision

“To be the best retail broking brand in retail business of the stock market.”

Types of accounts offered

1. ONLINE

Using an online account, the customer can access services like BSE & NSE executions, currency

trading, mutual funds, commodity trading, portfolio management services etc. through the Internet.

2. OFFLINE

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Using an offline account, the client can place the order through the telephone or by personally

visiting the Sharekhan office.

Products and Services offered by Sharekhan

1. CLASSIC ACCOUNT

This is an user friendly product which allows the client to trade through Sharekhan’s website

www.sharekhan.com and is suitable for the retail investor who is risk-averse and hence prefers to

invest in stocks or does not trade too frequently.

Features of Classic Account:

Online trading account for investing in Equity and Derivatives via www.sharekhan.com

Live Terminal and Single terminal for NSE Cash, NSE F&O & BSE.

Integration of On-line trading, Saving Bank and Demat Account.

Instant cash transfer facility against purchase & sale of shares.

Competative transaction charges.

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Instant order and trade confirmation by E-mail.

Streaming Quotes (Cash & Derivatives).

Personlized market watch.

Single screen interface for Cash and derivatives and more.

Provision to enter price trigger and view the same online in market watch.

2. TIGER TRADE

With a Trade Tiger account, the customer gets live streaming quotes from the market. He also gets

advanced charting features which enable him to study trends in an advanced manner. The

customer can access all trading calls and create his own technical rules for trading. There is a

single trading screen for all segments

Features of Trade Tiger:

A single platform for multiple exchange BSE & NSE (Cash & F&O), MCX, NCDEX, Mutual

Funds, IPOs

Multiple Market Watch available on Single Screen

Multiple Charts with Tick by Tick Intraday and End of Day Charting powered with various

Studies

Graph Studies include Average, Band- Bollinger, Know SureThing, MACD, RSI, etc

Apply studies such as Vertical, Horizontal, Trend, Retracement & Free lines

User can save his own defined screen as well as graph template, that is, saving the layout for

future use

User-defined alert settings on an input Stock Price trigger

Tools available to gauge market such as Tick Query, Ticker, Market Summary, Action Watch,

Option Premium Calculator, Span Calculator

Shortcut key for FAST access to order placements & reports

Online fund transfer activated with 12 Banks

3. DIAL-N-TRADE

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This is a facility which comes free with Classic Account and Trade Tiger Account. The customer just

has to dial Sharekhan’s dedicated lines to place orders for buying and selling shares through

telephone.

Features of Dial-n-Trade:

TWO dedicated numbers for placing your orders with your cell phone or landline. Toll free

number: 1-800-22-7050. For people with difficulty in accessing the toll-free number, we also

have a Reliance number (Your Local STD Code) 30307600 which is charged at as a local

call.

Simple and Secure Interactive Voice Response based system for authentication

No waiting time. Enter your TPIN to be transferred to our telebrokers

You also get the trusted, professional advice of our telebrokers

After hours order placement facility between 8.30 am and 9.00 am

4. PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT

Sharekhan’s Portfolio Management Services (PMS) use the expert management skills of their

independent fund managers, backed by the expertise of 35 Financial Research Analysts, to get the

best possible returns for the customer.

5. COMMODITIES TRADING

Sharekhan is a member of 2 Commodity Exchanges and offers trading facility at both these exchanges:

Multi Commodity Exchange Of India (MCX)

National Commodity And Derivative Exchange, Mumbai (NCDEX)

It allows trading in commodities (Bullion: Gold, silver and agricultural commodities) through a wholly owned subsidiary of SSKI.

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6. FUNDAMENTAL RESEARCH The customer gets an idea of the happenings in the market from the fundamental research reports. Everything from macro-economic factors to sector specific moves are covered.

7. TECHNICAL RESEARCH The customer can use charts and other technical tools to identify market patterns that can indicate/suggest future activity and help him trade better. Demat account opening and brokerage charges:

Category of Charges Classic Account Trade Tiger Account

Account Opening Rs. 750 with Rs. 5000 margin (Rs. 750 is adjusted as brokerage for 6 months)

Rs. 1000

Brokerage Intraday: 0.1% Delivery: 0.5%

Intraday: 0.1% Delivery: 0.5%

Annual Maintenance No charges for the first year 2nd year onwards – Rs. 400 per annum

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APPENDIX III – THE QUESTIONNAIRE

Your name? *

Your gender? *

Male

Female

Your educational qualification? *

Non-graduate

Graduate

Post-Graduate

Your income level (per annum)? *

Below 1,50,000

1,50,000 - 3,00,000

3,00,000 - 6,00,000

Above 6,00,000

Your current occupation? *

Student

Salaried Professional

Businessman

Retired

Other

Do you invest in the stock market? *

Yes

No

Since how long have you been investing in the stock market? *

Less than 3 months

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3-6 months

12 months

More than 12 months

What is your risk appetite? *

High Risk

Medium Risk

Low Risk

What percentage of your income do you invest in the stock market? *

Less than 10%

10-20%

20-30%

More than 30%

Where else do you prefer to make investments?

Bank Savings Account

Mutual Funds

Public Provident Funds

Fixed Deposits

Gold

Insurance Policies

Bonds

Others

What objectives do you keep in mind while investing? *

Capital Appreciation

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Returns

Portfolio diversification

Safety during emergencies

Others

SOCIAL INCENTIVE

What influence do the following factors have in your investment decisions? (Social Incentive

Influence) *

Least

Influenced

Not much

influenced Neutral

Quite

influenced Most Influenced

Product

affinity

Ethics of the

firm

CSR

activities

Charisma of

the leader

Regional

Proximity

(affinity to

Indian

company

over MNC)

PUBLIC INFORMATION

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What influence do the following factors have in your investment decisions? (Public

Information Influence) *

Least

influenced

Not much

influenced Neutral

Quite

influenced

Most

influenced

Stocks

highlighted in

News

Expert

comments of

media analysts

Frequency of

advertisements

Government

announcements

Prevailing

market

sentiments

SOCIAL INTERACTION

To what extent advice/recommendations from the following affect your investment

decisions? (Social Interaction Influence) *

No effect Some effect Neutral

Quite a lot of

effect

Highest

effect

Broker

Parents

Spouse

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No effect Some effect Neutral

Quite a lot of

effect

Highest

effect

Peers/Colleagues

Friends

COMPANY FUNDAMENTALS

To what extent do you consider the following market fundamentals before investing?

(Company Fundamentals Influence) *

Never

consider

Sometimes

consider Neutral

Mostly

consider

Always

consider

Revenue/Profit

of the firm

EPS

Dividend

policy

PE ratio

Future

projects in

hand

Thank you for your response!!