Note from the desk of the founder

Balaji is a passionate equity investor with 14 years’ of experience in financial markets. He has in depth expertise across various functions in Asset Management and Wealth Management. Balaji is an MBA Finance Graduate who has a keen interest in stock markets and has been investing since college days. He is an active speaker in public forums including Tamil Nadu Investor Association, SEBI Investor Meet, etc. Balaji is also a regular columnist at The Hindu. He voraciously reads annual reports and books about investor behaviour. Balaji is involved with research and fund management at ithought.

Shyam Sekhar is the ideator and founder of ithought Financial Consulting LLP. He is an active and renowned value investor with over 30 years of experience in financial markets. His focus as an investor has been on identifying investment opportunities in emerging companies through a sound research driven process.

Shyam Sekhar also built the first independent proprietary equity research desk in Chennai. He is an advocate for investor awareness. He was president of Tamil Nadu Investors Association (TIA) from 2012-2015. He is an active speaker in public forums and is a regular columnist at Dinamalar and Livemint.

Anushi Jain has done her Masters in Business Administration from DoMS, IIT Madras. She is also a CFA level 2 candidate. Prior to joining ithought, she has over a year of experience in the wealth management industry. She has been interested in capital markets and personal finance from a young age and is keen to constantly learn and evolve in the space.

Gaurav is a qualified Chartered Accountant with 7+ years of experience in capital markets, personal finance, auditing and taxation. He has been with ithought for the last 5 years and is currently part of the PMS team and assists the CIO in managing the company’s Solitaire Fund. He is also a part of the financial planning team of ithought. Prior to joining ithought, he worked with two Multi-National Companies in their accounting advisory and financial control team.

Samyuktha is a Certified Financial Planner professional. She holds an undergraduate degree in Mathematics from Stella Maris College, Chennai. She has also completed Investment Advisory qualifications conducted by NISM (National Institute of Securities Markets). She began her career as an analyst with Goldman Sachs. She is an autodidact and has spent the last few years acquiring knowledge on financial markets and financial planning.

Namratha Jain is a qualified Chartered Accountant and has 3 years of experience in the accounting and taxation industry. She has worked as a Decision Analyst in the finance team of Bharti Airtel. She also has experience working as an Indirect taxation manager handling GST compliance. Her interests are widespread, and she is also pursuing CFA. She has a desire to learn new things which made her switch to a different profile in her career and joined as a Financial Planner in Ithought.

Personal finance is the most important thing for every individual. It must be personalised, planned, prioritised, and perfected. Who is best placed to do this well? A financially savvy person is sure to help himself. But, what about everybody else? Surely, every one of us deserves to see our hard work show up as money. And, that money must be turned into sustainable wealth. So, somebody needs to ensure that even those not keenly aware are guided to building sustainable wealth.

To me this could never be a business. It was and will always be a fiduciary role. It must be so. It was something I always did for family and friends. But I felt strongly that this could be done on a larger scale and style not seen before. The need existed.

The year 2009 seeded the idea of a professional firm focused in the personal finance space. Over a decade, we have gradually built independent teams, multi-disciplinary domain expertise, multi asset advisory practises, and an overarching customer centric culture.

I have learnt much more in this decade as an advisor than I did in my previous two as an investor. Today, ithought has strong domain expertise in financial planning, mutual fund research, investment advisory, equity research, equity advisory, and portfolio management. We are now a SEBI registered investment advisor and SEBI registered portfolio manager. From 2009, evolution has been a constant in ithought’s journey.

Some things don’t change, thankfully so. We remain an investor centric, planning driven, performance seeking, and patience-oriented firm.

ithought stands committed to you, your aspirations, your interests and your financial freedom. Your journey is as much ours. And, we will stay that course till you reach your destination. Better times are ahead of us.

Prashanth studied business administration and data analytics in college. Prashanth joined ithought’s financial planning desk straight out of college in 2015. He enjoys working with numbers and is passionate about simplifying client experience. Prashanth is also an ardent football fan and an aspiring marathon runner.

Harshil is a Business Administration Graduate from Loyola College, Chennai. In addition, he is a CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) Level 1 candidate. Harshil has an avid interest for financial markets and hunts for new opportunities. Having developed interest in the financial markets at an early age, he utilises his knowledge to develop sound investment strategies.

Abhishek graduated from IIT (ISM) Dhanbad in Electrical Engineering in 2017. He is a Level 2 candidate of CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) certification and successfully cleared the CFP CM (Certified Financial Planner) certification exams. He is interested in valuing businesses and investments. He also likes to explore the streams of Economics and Finance theory. Abhishek is adept at using the amalgamation of theory and practice to identify opportunities and manage risk.

Roshan acquired a bachelor’s degree in BCom with specialization in Finance and Accounting from Vivekananda college prior to working with us. He is currently pursuing the CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) charter. Roshan has a keen interest in financial markets and is passionate about value investing. He works with our Debt and Equity strategy team. Roshan is an ardent football fan.

Jayalakshmi holds a bachelor’s degree in commerce from S.D.N.B Vaishnav College, Chennai.
Before joining ithought she worked in multiple organizations such as GE India Limited and Sreedhar, Suresh and Rajagopalan Chartered Accountants. Through her experience, she gained deep knowledge in distinct areas of accounting and taxation. She has also completed the Investment advisory qualifications under NISM (National Institute Of Securities Markets). She enjoys learning new things and possess a go-getter attitude and intends to channel these skills and move ahead in the career graph. She loves playing badminton and is an aspiring chartered accountant.

Srimathi holds a PGDM degree from Institute of Financial Management and Research, Chennai.  Prior to joining ithought, she worked as credit manager with Bajaj Finserv in their mortgage loans segment. Her experience also involved business analysis of small and medium enterprises. Srimathi has also completed the level X Investment Advisor exams from NISM. She is passionate about volunteering for social causes and also has keen interest in yoga therapy.

Venkatraman obtained his MBA from University of Michigan and worked as an analyst in a company in New York for seven years. Having gained experience in a client facing role, he joined ithought as a relationship manager with a keen intent to learn more about the Indian markets and to grow with the company. He enjoys interacting with his clients and tries to find solutions to their requirements. Ardent football and NFL fan and a gamer, he tries to catch his team on the weekend to unwind.

Rashmika graduated from Ethiraj College for Women with a Bachelor’s degree in Commerce. She is a conscientious and meticulous professional. Prior to working with ithought, Rashmika worked at Goldman Sachs.

Maruthi has an engineering degree in Electrical & Electronics from VIT University. His first position was with TCS Ltd where he worked as a developer for a leading UK Bank’s Investment Banking Division. He followed it up with PGDM from IIM Ahmedabad and worked in sales & business development roles for two years in Healthcare and Real Estate firms, before joining ithought in 2015. He is a dedicated relationship manager focused on improving client experience.

Amit Parakh is an engineer by design and a personal financial services advisor by passion. He has a wealth of experience in the financial services industry. Amit has spent more than two decades working with banks, asset management companies (AMCs), and financial advisory firms. After having worked with HSBC, HDFC SLIC, and ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund on Sales Strategy, Product Communication, and Distribution, Amit was keen to transition to the client facing side and help clients through their financial journeys. His value systems in client service are closely aligned with ithought’s and he joined us in 2015.

Ajay is a commerce graduate from Loyola College, Chennai and has been working as a relationship manager with ithought since 2010. During his time here, he has developed a keen interest in value investing and financial planning. He is known for his warmth and is committed to client service. Ajay is also a professional cricketer and is passionate about traveling.

Prasath Raj has been with ithought from inception and has over twelve years of experience in financial markets. He is a Commerce Graduate with an MBA in Finance. He is also a derivatives specialist and has extensive knowledge on equity shares and mutual funds. Prasath is a voracious reader and leverages his extensive knowledgebase to provide unique insights. He utilizes these competencies to formulate sound investment strategies for our clients.

Niranjan is an applied Mathematics Graduate from the College of Engineering, Guindy. In addition, he has cleared the FRM (Financial Risk Manager) certification exam from GARP (Global Association Of Risk Professionals). Niranjan has an avid interest for financial markets and has been following equity markets since his school days. He has been an active investor for over sixteen years. Niranjan has been involved with strategy at ithought for over seven years now.