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M. Ramesh

Chennai , Dec. 6

`Catch them young' is an age-old marketing adage and Geojit Financial Services Ltd is using its import to the hilt.

It all started as an experiment a year ago, but its results have encouraged the company's Managing Director, Mr C.J. George, to take it forward.

Geojit, a stock and commodity broking company, has on its panel a fleet of about 20 teachers — mostly retired college lecturers. Their job is to go to high schools and colleges and give lectures on personal finance, focussing on the habit of saving and investing in equity.

"A year back, we started with just three teachers, now we have 20. We intend to add another 20 before March," Mr George told Business Line.

In the last one year, the company has held over 1,900 such seminars covering close to one lakh students, he said.

SUBORDINATE MOTIVE

He said the subordinate motive behind the exercise was to get students familiar with Geojit so that when they would start earning, they would become the company's clients. But surprise! many students were beginning to invest already. A by-product was the interest shown by the faculty of the colleges in investing. Geojit now intends to hire more teachers and cover more colleges across the country.

"This is a good way of enlarging client-base," said Mr George. He observed that although the stock market indices have risen to record levels, the addition of clients in brokerage houses had not been matching.

"After the last market meltdown, people are not coming to equity directly," he said. "Retail investors are all going to mutual funds, which are able to advertise their products better."

Although the idea of tapping colleges was mooted before the last downswing of the market, the move has come in handy now, Mr George said.

He said it was a little early to talk in terms of `conversion rate' of students, but said that in the long run, the company would benefit.

He is also convinced that such an exercise serves a national cause by fostering a habit of saving among the young.

Geojit Financial Services has a client base of 4.25 lakh across the country.

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