CNBC TV18, NDTV Profit & Zee Biz Addiction

The Televisionpoint.com Saturday Special - Manish Patel and Durgesh Gupta, with inputs from Vinay Dadu
According to SEBI data, there are roughly 30 million equity and 1.6 crore mutual fund investors in India and between 10 to 4 pm from Monday to Friday a large chunk of these investors are captive viewers of business channels, asking questions to experts on managing and churning their investment portfolio. In most Indian homes the 8 to 11 pm prime time television is meant for watching reel life characters, their trials and tribulations as well as unknown people taking shots at fame and fortune through reality talent hunts and game shows. But what's television like during the day, save those two hours of afternoon soaps for television's loyal darlings, the housewives?

If the wealthy, but fictional, Viranis, Agarwals, Basus and Wadhwas are entertaining viewers with their ups and downs besides fame and fortune seekers are playing games in reality TV at prime time, the Ambanis, Tatas, Birlas, Jindals, Bajajs, Godrejs, Seths, Piramals, Parekhs, Reddys and several other heavy weights of industry and commerce are the darlings of the retail investment community during the day.

At 9.55 am when the curtains rise at the equity markets, a whole lot of viewers across the country, better known as retail investors, are glued to their television sets watching the live drama of gap up or down opening of the Sensex and Nifty, fight between the bulls and bears, winners and losers, gains and losses, buzzing stocks, upward/downward movements of equities, breakouts and new listings, seeking advice on entry/exit points in equities as well as listening carefully to investment consultants/advisors, financial experts, foreign brokerages, equity analysts, securities chiefs, mutual fund managers and chartists on business news channels like CNBC TV18, NDTV Profit, Awaaz and Zee Business.. Certainly viewers who are active investors in equities never had it so good. No matter the two major scams of the financial markets in the 1990s, the lure of equities is so strong that the equity cult that started in the early '90s has brought in its fold students, servicemen, housewives, businessmen, professionals, engineers, bankers, chemists, insurance agents, doctors and senior citizens, making them wealth creators and losers too.

According to SEBI data, there are roughly 30 million equity and 1.6 crore mutual fund investors in India and between 10 to 4 pm from Monday to Friday a large chunk of these investors are captive viewers of business channels, asking questions to experts on managing and churning their investment portfolio. Not for nothing while congratulating CNBC TV18, the first and leader in business news segment, on completing six years in December last, Maruti Udyong chief Jagdish Khattar appreciated the channel's role in giving great boost to the equity cult.

According to financial consultant Ganesh Shanbhag who appears regularly on business channels to advise viewers on stock picking and selling, the investor base in equities and mutual funds is rising vis à vis the rising indices of Bombay and National Stock Exchanges. "Apart from the usual small investors, professionals in the age group of 25 to 35 who are registering high savings are looking for avenues to park their money for better returns as bank saving is out given the low rate of interest.

Since equity market is buzzing without a sign of bubble even at 9900 level investment in equity and/or equity related mutual funds are currently the most attractive options. For most investors business channels are the best medium to keep themselves updated everyday. Which is why these channels are growing at the rate of over 30 per cent annually." says Shanbhag.

Gone are the days when the investor's only source of information about equity prices and Sensex was his/her stockbroker and newspapers. Today the action is live, live stock prices, movers and shakers of the day, pointers on direction of the market, chartists predicting the up and down sides of the indices and viewers' queries answered live by experts, all in investor's living room.

That's not all. The coverage also includes bond market, call money rates, debt market, how strong/weak is the rupee against dollar, crude oil prices and bullish/bearish global markets and their impact on the Indian equity market..

The business news channels record highest viewership, around 4 TVR, at the opening bell between 10 and 10.30 am and 3 and 3.30 pm when the closing bell rings bringing an end to the day's high drama between bulls and bears. But by and large it is the 10 to 4 equity market that gives business channels their maximum eyeballs as well as revenue. The idea behind live coverage of stock trade, according to CNBC TV18 CEO Haresh Chawla, is to empower retail investors with information and help them take right investment decisions.

"We provide a rainbow of information, opinions, analysis, charts, technical analysis and fundamental valuations. But the decision to buy or sell is that of viewers/investors," says Chawla. According to Ambarish Baliga of Karvy Stock broking, live stock trade coverage has immensely helped retails investors, especially in small cities and towns, who had little access to equity market action earlier.

"A whole lot of people from housewives, students, small businessmen, insurance agents to working men and women are hooked on to live market action on television. This has resulted in increased participation of investors from small centers. Our client base has increased considerably in small cities."

Subha Lakshmi, Money Mantra, Your Stock, Sauda Aapka, Buy Or Sell and Market Tomorrow are some of the popular shows before, during and after live equity market action that are of special interest for viewers. NSE member and veteran fundamental analyst Shashikant Tulsian who is often seen giving analysis on television feels the channels are doing a good job.

"They cover all areas of interests and concerns and offer variety for all classes of investors. The only problem is there are too many analysts and technical experts who sometimes give contrarian views," he says. But no matter the plethora of information, as Chawla says, "Investment in equities is strictly a personal decision. The personality, thought process and appetite for risk of the individual play crucial role. What matters more is not how much one knows but how well one knows what s/he knows."

Equity market is a tricky affair. Baliga cautions, "Somewhere down the line the individual has to study, do his homework thoroughly, no matter what the experts are say. It's very important to understand fundamentals and technical levels from short, medium to long terms perspective."

However, if understanding growth stories and market fundamentals is a difficult task for viewers, the channels have educational programmes like Classroom, Money Mantra and Kaise Kamaye Kaise Bachaye that make things simple for lay investors looking for various investment options.

"These shows are especially meant to help viewers to understand the basics of not just equity investment but various other investment options like mutual funds, insurance, EPF, PPF, NSC, fixed deposits et al," says Baliga, a regular fundamental analyst on biz channels. "It is up to small investors to take advantage of these shows to make their savings grow. That's not all. Channels have help lines for salaried people and senior citizens to take care of their tax worries as well.