We’ve grown our client base to over 6.1 mn as of August 2021: Narayan Gangadhar

Angel Broking is a two-and-a-half decade old shares and stocks company. The company has grown significantly in the last two years and today is a leading fintech company in the online trading space. Angel Broking has also become a preferred capital marketer partner for the millennials. With digital being at the forefront, the company has been riding high and is today clocking the highest client acquisition month-on-month, with the majority of them comprising the millennials from the smaller towns. They have a very young customer clientele, whose average age is 30 years.

Recently, the company rebranded itself as a one-stop solution brand for financial needs under the brand name – Angel One. Looking at the future, Angel Broking is taking the mantle of innovation and technology to augment their artificial intelligence and machine capabilities further. The company is hoping to help as many Indians as possible in realising their investment dreams through advanced services by embracing the latest technology.

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In an interesting conversation with Adgully, Narayan Gangadhar, CEO, Angel Broking Ltd, speaks at length about the company’s focus on GenZ and Millennials, rebranding the company to Angel One, leveraging the use of Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and data science to create better digital solutions, as well as foraying into the AMC segment.

Rebranding a company’s identity is a pivotal decision. What’s the reason for going for a new identity for Angel Broking? Have you also redefined your corporate strategy?

Rebranding is a crucial decision for any company and it was no different for us at Angel Broking. We have always been a technology-driven company with a primary focus on providing our clientele with advanced solutions. Over the years, we have transformed from being a broking company to a full-fledged Fintech platform. We scaled our business by integrating technologies like Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning from 2015 onwards. While our business has been growing with an increasing client base, there’s still scope for further expansion. Hence, we rebranded ourselves to Angel One, a one-stop solution for all financial needs that will encompass all our present and future services.

Our rebranding campaign is part of our strategy to draw Millennials and GenZ into investment and trading. We want to build a strong connection with new-age Indian investors with our new identity as a dynamic, contemporary brand. This positioning of the brand is aimed at making it more appealing for the tech-savvy generation. As a one-stop solution for all financial needs of Indians, Angel One is an innovative and empowering platform that offers solutions ranging from broking to loans, insurances, etc. We will be foraying into the AMC segment as well. We plan to manufacture products to mobilise our clients’ funds into low cost passive and rule-based investments. This will further enhance our ability to participate in India’s financial inclusion journey.

Angel One is our new brand name, while Angel Broking Limited remains our corporate entity name.

As a new-age Fintech company, we aim to meet the aspiration of GenZ and Millennials. We envision helping as many Indians as possible in realising their dreams through our technologically advanced services. Our strategy is to build solutions that resonate with the people of new India.

Technology plays a vital role in Fintech companies. How are you differentiating yourself from other Fintech brands and what is the role of technology here?

India has a highly under-penetrated equity market, with just over 4% of the population participating in it. Hence, we believe that the segment has a tremendous opportunity for growth in the coming years, especially with the entry of GenZ and Millennials from Tier 2 and Tier 3 and beyond cities to the equity market. We are differentiating ourselves from other Fintech brands by leveraging the use of Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and data science to create better digital solutions that meet the end-to-end needs of GenZ and Millennials (who are mostly first-time investors). Being a one-stop solution for all financial needs of young investors, we offer services across the broadest spectrum of channels, including mobile apps, web platforms, and software suites. We have technology at the centre of our operations because of our tech-savvy target group. It is vital to keep up with the new trends to stay relevant. Since the Millennials and GenZ want everything at the touch of a button, we have provided them with platforms like ARQ Prime that enables them to undertake quick trades with the rule-based investment engine. We also offer additional services through third-party tie-ups and our in-house developed platform, SmartAPI. We want to add tangible value to the wealth creation and financial journeys of our clients and thus, we are in the works of developing more such technologies.

To tap into potential markets, it is imperative to use technology favourably. Tech integration ensures maximum accessibility, and therefore, we have to build efficiency while deploying technology at scale. Considering the negligible incremental cost of serving clients, transitioning to digital is far more cost-efficient, and there are benefits of economies of scale for the companies. In the future, brokerage businesses will change into solutions or platform providers for investments.

The investment climate looks positive and the Sensex is also climbing. Did you witness any growth in your customer base and what kind of trends can one notice in online trading amongst the new generation?

With several state-of-the-art digital solutions, Angel Broking has emerged as a leading Fintech broker in the country. With 100% digital onboarding of direct clients, we have experienced robust growth in our gross client acquisition over the last nine quarters. Our client base grew to over 4.1 million in March 2021 from 1.8 million in March 2020. The growth achieved in one year is equal to our growth in the previous 23 years. After adding 2.4 million clients in FY21 and approximately 2.0 million clients in the first five months of FY22, we have grown our client base to over 6.1 million as of August 2021.

Today, we add one out of every six incremental clients in the country, making Angel Broking one of the largest players. Our digital platform has enabled us to acquire more than 93% of our Q1 FY22 gross client additions from Tier 2 and Tier 3 and beyond cities. We are on the path to meeting our goals of driving financial inclusion to underserved landscapes. The fact that the median age of our newly acquired clients fell from 34 years in Q1 FY20 to 29 years in Q1 FY22 indicates that our digital products are attracting the GenZ and Millennials. The younger clients understand the benefits and risks of equities. They also understand that the current low-interest-rate environment does not augur well for them continuing to invest large sums in traditional investment avenues. In order to diversify their investments, these young investors – many of whom are first-timers – are entering the equity markets. Since this new lot of investors is inquisitive and well-versed with technology, they do not make decisions with half-baked knowledge. They learn more by using social media channels and following the industry experts and their advice.

The new generation or the Millennials in Q4 are now actively involved in online trading and investments. How do you manage their expectations and woo the new generation audience to your online trading portal?

The Indian equity market had a stellar run last year, but the market still remains far more underpenetrated as compared to the retail participation of the US and China, which is 32% and 11%, respectively. However, growth in such a short time is the result of the widespread digitisation of the industry players, who are focused on scaling their business to provide new-age clients with a seamless investing experience. India’s young population and their increasing net disposable income have enabled them to participate in trading and investments. Earlier, the inefficient branch model had limited access to the equity markets, but digital platforms have made them accessible for GenZ and Millennials in Tier 2 and Tier 3 and beyond cities. We are providing young investors with easy-to-use platforms and solutions, and easy access to markets at the click of a button. Along with tapping new markets, we are playing a key role in educating investors to help them make informed decisions and improve their longevity in the markets.

New-age investors need partners in their capital market journey. Our rule-based investment engine (that can analyse more than a billion data points) ARQ Prime empowers our clients to make informed investment decisions. Furthermore, a simplified flat pricing structure of zero brokerage on delivery trades and a nominal flat fee of Rs 20 for Intraday, Futures & Options, Currency and Commodity under iTrade Prime Plan are major attractions. The huge repository of digital content is used to educate our clients through platforms like Smart Money that offer comprehensive investor education via webinars, bite-sized content on social media and YouTube, knowledge house on the website and podcasts. Along with this, we have Smart Buzz as a one-stop destination for all business news and SmartStore as a curated ecosystem of rule-based solutions.

We are successfully catering to the needs of new-age investors and building greater efficiencies in their investing and trading journey.

Last year the industry added 14.3 million Demat accounts. Did that help you increase your customer base? How much did Angel Broking manage to garner?

We have transformed to become a full-fledged Fintech platform over the years. Our tech-based digital properties have resulted in us becoming a platform with a strong client base of more than 6.1 million as of August 2021. It stood at 2.5 million in August 2020 and has more than doubled within a year. In Q1 of FY20, Angel’s share in the incremental Demat accounts was 6.9%. By Q4 FY21, we achieved the highest share in the incremental Demat accounts at 17.6%, marking 245bps QoQ growth. Our overall share in the incremental accounts for FY21 stood at 16.2%, a 561bps YoY growth. It indicates we have witnessed impressive growth in our gross client acquisition over the last nine quarters. We added 2.36 million clients in FY 21, which is 322% YoY growth. As of Q1 of the current financial year, Angel Broking has a significant share of 16.6% in the incremental Demat accounts. This means, one out of six incremental Demat accounts, is opened with Angel Broking. Our growth has been across parameters from operations and revenues to profits.

What does the future look like? In the next 3-5 years what’s going to be the growth strategy for the company?

For the future, we are taking the mantle of innovation forward by integrating futuristic technologies by augmenting our Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning capabilities further. We are hoping to help as many Indians as possible in realising their investment dreams through our technologically advanced services. Recently, we rebranded ourselves as a one-stop solution brand for all financial needs – “Angel One”. We are going to further build our solutions to meet the financial needs of our clients. As our next phase of transformation, we are foraying into the AMC segment. Our plan is to develop passive investment products on the basis of AI/ML intelligence as they have the ability to outperform the actively managed funds. Furthermore, we will also be venturing into other financial service segments like loans, insurance, etc. As for the larger picture, we will continue to make deeper inroads into Tier 2, Tier 3 and beyond cities by providing the ease of use that attracts the youth, GenZ and Millennials.