34th Annual Report 2021-22
Our business model is designed to be lean and support scalability, providing us high operating leverage. Our sustained focus on prudent and efficient capital allocations has made our operations more resilient and future-ready, and has contributed to making our balance sheet stronger.
Our technology platforms and applications are an important business enabler and growth driver for us. They enable us to deliver services and solutions to our ecosystem. We are continually investing in contemporary technologies and in strengthening our IT infrastructure to augment our operational performance and to deliver differentiated service experiences.
*All metrics as on March 31, 2022
We have robust proprietary platforms that are capable, functional, integrated and scalable. Enabling quality service delivery alongside cost efficiencies, they are built to support 2x growth in business volumes. Our digital infrastructure provided resilience to our business operations during the pandemic when physical transactions came to a standstill.
With digital transactions gaining traction across financial services paradigm, we are increasingly investing in advanced technologies to enhance operating leverage and efficiencies and stay at the forefront of evolution with innovation. There is a strong focus on automating processes through bots which can drive efficiency and reduce human error risks. Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning (AI & ML) technologies are deployed to solve business problems. In FY22, we made our first stride towards cloud technologies, deploying it in new business platforms of Account Aggregator, CAMSPay and CRA.
We have world-class Enterprise Monitoring Framework, covering all MF applications, for detecting transaction failures across digital properties and alerting the AMCs. Business monitoring dashboards are being used for easy monitoring of all technology platforms. Business Continuity Management practices are also in place.
A B2C mobile application for retail mutual fund transactions, it enables investors to create a new folio, manage portfolio and transact across CAMS serviced MFs. It has digiLoan against MF units feature whereby platform of banks and NBFCs are integrated to allow their customers seamlessly avail loan up to ₹1 crore by pledging their debt and/or equity MF. The entire process is paperless and digital without the need for a separate login. It also supports various lien-related features.
4.3 rating in playstore
87% of Reviewers have given rating of 4 & 5
A customisable, self-service chatbot to help investors navigate through MF services and investing options. It allows distributors to generate transaction links for their investors. In FY22, it was revamped to deliver a clutter-free and enhanced experience and support Switch, SIP, STP/SWP transactions along with lumpsum and redemption for investor. It is live on CAMS website and is being offered as a white labelled service on six AMC websites. Its service was also extended to WhatsApp and Facebook.
The rich feature set and content on www.camsonline.com has helped it emerge as the “go to” website for investors and intermediaries for Mutual edge360 A platform (also available on mobile app) to facilitate anytime, anywhere convenience to MF distributors’ operations. It supports transaction handling, detailing of brokerage receipts for easy reconciliation, Fund related services. Besides digital services for all aspects of account management, investors are provided information on recent regulatory on-demand statement availability and a CRM to submit queries. It also enables distributors to view, track and manage portfolios of investors, plan and execute marketing campaigns, undertake SIP renewal and pausing, and onboard investors through eKYC. changes, do’s & dont’s, process related information.
A corporate investment portal, it facilitates single gateway to transact across multiple participating MFs without the need for multiple forms and transaction slips, schedule redemption transactions and same-day purchase and redemption transaction.
A platform (also available on mobile app) to facilitate anytime, anywhere convenience to MF distributors’ operations. It supports transaction handling, detailing of brokerage receipts for easy reconciliation, Fund related services. Besides digital services for all aspects of account management, investors are provided information on recent regulatory on-demand statement availability and a CRM to submit queries. It also enables distributors to view, track and manage portfolios of investors, plan and execute marketing campaigns, undertake SIP renewal and pausing, and onboard investors through eKYC. changes, do’s & dont’s, process related information.
In FY22, its offering was enhanced with features like investor portfolio to enable users initiate transactions for investors with just a few clicks. AUM and brokerage were also developed in App with interactive features.
CAMS’ Transfer Agency platform is the largest for MF segment in India and has enabled rapid scaling of the industry while managing the complexities of business operations. Our volume driving digital properties myCAMS and edge360 are amongst the Top 3 apps in the marketplace.
A complete digital onboarding solution for AIF and PMS customers including HNI prospects. Having a multi-faceted, user-friendly interface, it has inbuilt validations for document upload and e-signing facility for seamless onboarding. It offers advisor- and product-level customisation and supports omni-channel experience.
It is compatible with multiple downstream products. We are working on enhancing support to post onboarding requirements to make it a comprehensive web platform.
We successfully launched MFCentral in collaboration with KFintech on September 2021 aimed at enhancing mutual fund customer experiences by bringing convenience and speed to investors’ investment management.
Currently, it enables Non-Commercial Transactions (NCTs) across all Indian MFs and 16 service request types have been harmonised across 41 AMCs on the website MFCentral.com. 90% of the NCTs are digitally available on this platform. It has CRM dashboard to allow real-time complaints and grievances tracking. These services are also available on MFCentral mobile app available in both android and iOS with over 40k downloads till date since launched. App rated above 4* in both the stores. Financial transactions for investors to go live in Q1 FY23.
Mutual Fund Data Explorer (MFDEx) is our data bureau service for sales and business intelligence. It provides industry data across multiple dimension and parameters to mutual funds (CAMS Serviced and others) subscribed to it. It also allows sales and marketing teams to facilitate better alignment of resources through reviewing market performance, sales and distribution effectiveness. In FY22, it was upgraded by addition of several new reporting dimensions and data alignment to industry changes.
A business intelligence service for MF. It assists with reporting, predictive and prescriptive analytics, data mining, measuring business performance and benchmarking.
A mobility solution for mutual fund relationship and sales managers to better manage investor relationships and distributor performance. It provides real-time access to fund’s data directly from the transfer agent’s database and industry data from our data aggregation service MFDEx.
We offer several analytical solutions including:
A proprietary front office investor service application which allows mutual funds to track transactions, investor enquiries and account statement requests. It provides efficient document management using bar codes. Upload facility for email and image-based transactions was enabled on it to overcome disruptions of office closures during pandemic.
It assists linking of transfer agent’s back offices with the mutual fund’s front office, while offering a holistic and real-time view of inflows and outflows to the fund managers. It allows quick reporting of physical applications received through mutual fund branches with limited data encoding requirements.
Reconciliation being a high-risk process and manual intensive effort, we have introduced Recon Dynamix as an industry agnostic solution for automating reconciliation process to produce high quality and accurate financial statements. It is driving operational efficiency for payouts and reconciliation of general ledgers, payments and transactions. It has been deployed at insurance companies and mutual funds’ asset side reconciliation.
Digital and social media have become an important platform for communicating with potential customers. In line with this, we are increasingly undertaking brand promotion activities targeted at Finance industry professionals, C-level executives, HNIs and audience with an interest in finance and investment. The social media platforms of the Company including Facebook, Twitter and Insta disseminates a combination of own and curated content which generate significant engagements via likes, shares and comments. The content included topics ranging from CAMSOnline services, MFCentral, CAMSfinserv app, chatbot and investor education videos.
CAMS was amongst the first eight securities market entities to launch eKYC using OTP-based Aadhaar authentication in March 2021 to onboard MF investors in a hassle-free manner.
The solution uses OCR tool to retrieve the information from the image and does bank validation via penny drop mechanism in adherence to SEBI regulations. Eight AMCs have already integrated this solution and two more are in the process.
People are critical to driving our business excellence, executing strategic plans and progressing towards customer-centricity. We are nurturing them through a high-performance culture and differentiated experiences. As we strive to become a technology company for mutual funds, we are creating able leaders and enabling people with niche skills to create a thriving and future-fit organisation.
We are encouraging a workplace where people from all races, region and sex can work without any discrimination. Women inclusion has been an important focus area and we have in place conducive policies to encourage their participation. We have piloted a Returning Women program . Under this program, we mentor women who had taken career sabbaticals and encourage them to take up opportunities. The model involves an initial internship for three months and then hire to give them a softer landing. So far, we were able to onboard about 6 women in managerial / technology roles.
We are focused on developing a cohort of business leaders who can transform the organisation with a visionary approach. Focused on this, 20 high potential managers were handpicked for the Leadership Talent Program, and some of them would be selected to undergo an Executive General Management program from a reputed institute. Management trainees and Post graduate trainees have been hired to strengthen frontline leadership across teams. Further, we have hired budding managers from premier institutes for key project and product management roles to support the new businesses of CRA and CAMSfinserv.
While virtual learning has become pre-eminent, hands-on experience will remain critical. At CAMS, we are integrating both by focussing on equipping our managers with the essential skill of ‘Collaboration at work’ through an immersive virtual learning experience with a gamified approach. Key areas of implementation include:
We have enhanced the repository of eLearning modules in LMS by including happiness at work, delegation skills, changing oneself, impactful presentations and project management. 75 modules spanning the MF functional, behavioural, leadership and new business skills are in place to enhance employee learning quotient.
Building technology skills has been a prime focus in FY22. We have piloted IT Service Management (ITSM) training program, and target to cover the entire team by the end of this FY22. 30 employees attended AWS cloud computing essentials program. We also inducted 18 Graduate Engineering trainees to strengthen cybersecurity and technology teams, who were exhaustively trained in PL/ SQL and DBA concepts.
RTA operations and people transition of Franklin Templeton to CAMS was a major project in FY22. We trained rebadged migrating employees on the process, technology and systems of CAMS. Culture assimilation sessions and townhalls were organised to assimilate them into CAMS and to instil a sense of belonging. These efforts ensured successful migration of RTA operations to CAMS.
Specialised hiring and trainings were held to enhance the customer servicing and specialised operations.
We are focused on tracking and ensuring high skill index of the operations team through periodical assessments. A well-executed approach to train and certify employees, enabled in ensuring 800+ employees getting NISM certified in a short span of five months. As of March 31, 2022, 96% of the operations team have been certified, including all managers.
Employee health and well-being remained a high priority for us with pandemic unrelenting for a comeback. Emphasising on their mental health, we conducted webinars in collaboration with our employee assistance program (EAP) partner 1to1help.net. Topics of ‘Mental Health and Wellbeing’ and ‘Add more to life’ were covered through empanelled psychologists as we looked to build deeper virtual engagement with the workforce. A webinar was also organised for the employees on ‘Learn the language of love’ to help them handle conflicts with their loved ones.
We believe in ‘Wellness before Business’ and have several initiatives in place to ensure the safety and health of our staff. We conducted 20 vaccination camps in Chennai and Coimbatore offices in collaboration with hospitals and corporations. This has enabled 98% of our employees vaccinated with at least one dose. We also undertook to cover the cost of vaccinations for our associates and third-party employees.
We organised an Eye camp in Chennai and Coimbatore offices, benefiting 200 employees.
We organised an athletic meet themed ‘You Run, Team Wins’. The meet saw 150 participations across various track and field events, and the athletes displayed exemplary competence and dedication. The champions beat the pandemic blues in style, as the CAMS flag waved amidst Olympian uproar.
Our Managing Director, Anuj Kumar, undertakes to interact with front line managers as a part of the Round table meet. An MD’s Honour Club award was also introduced to recognise Star Employees for exemplary contribution on a quarterly basis.
Rewards and recognition are key to driving employee motivation. Employees were bestowed with spot awards, best manager, PACE awards and quarterly best function awards consistently through the year. Further, employees were also felicitated for their contributions in various projects.
Technology being an area of competitive advantage, we are focused on enhancing our people capabilities in niche areas. We look at building the re-architecture team comprising the roles of full-stack developers, project administration, business analyst, technical & data architects and user experience designers. Cutting edge digital skill assessment solution – iMOCHA – is being proctored to select these niche skill domain experts.
We successfully went live with 17th AMC client Franklin Templeton Mutual Fund (FTMF) on July 19, 2021. This was the largest transition (in terms of AAUM, folios and investors base) in the MF industry.
However, the process involved a mammoth staff re-badging exercise across 15 months during the pandemic. We successfully overcame all challenges involving attendant complexities in the migration process, operating model, remote training on CAMS systems and processes, WFH enablement and setting up of Hyderabad back office in the midst of mobility constraints. In the final three months, aligned to the gradual relaxation by the authorities, we ensured employees started getting back to office initially through rostering and later through a shift mechanism.
We are an important service partner to leading AMCs and other financial institutions who trust us to efficiently manage their operations. We leverage our domain expertise, robust technology infrastructure and processes and operating model to provide real-time, uninterrupted and secure services to investors. Our efforts are contributing to growth in their businesses and improvement in their market perception.
We offer integrated business solution for all needs of our client supported by our diverse portfolio of services, PAN-India physical network and technology-driven financial infrastructure. Our difficult to replicate ecosystem connect ensures efficient operations, and also reduces their need to invest in building such system. We ensure continuous engagement with our clients, their distributors and investors to enhance the quality and security of services.
We have a proven track record of efficiently handling growing scale of transactions of our clients’ business and servicing their multiple relationships with high satisfaction levels. Our robust technology platform provides us enough headroom to manage more than double the quantum of the present volumes
We continuously monitor and upgrade our robust systems and processes to assist our clients with their compliance requirements, including submission of reports to regulators.
Securing the personal information of the investors is vital at CAMS. We have a stringent cyber security and cyber resilience policy governed by a technology committee comprising specialists from IIT Bombay and IIT Madras, and banking industry. They meet quarterly and review the robustness and resilience of our systems and processes. Some of the measures undertaken include limiting one email address per investor account, implementing a DNS utility to prevent virus attacks, establishing direct real-time data backup, among others. Our people are trained and systems secured to prevent engagement in conflicting business activities or leaks. We have stringent ISMS practices and are an ISO/IEC 27001:2013 certified company.
Our average relationship term with top Ten MF clients
We have built an application to provide detailed information of monthly brokerage processed at broker, scheme and scheme-broker levels. It also provides details on brokerage accrued, withheld, forfeited and paid. Brokerage being the largest expense for the AMCs, it would provide them with inputs to determine broker performance, undertake decision on rate revision, ensure correctness of brokerage accrued and solve issues of brokerage withheld.
Distributors and channel partners are a key link facilitating AMCs to widen mutual funds acceptance and better serve the investors. We have invested in physical service centres as well as in multiple digital applications that empower them to conduct operations with ease and grow business.
CAMServ is chatbot which through distributors can generate transaction links for their investors. Being a customisable white-labelled service chatbot is finding increased preference over traditional service channels. We built a distributor-based chatbot for one of the clients and are working towards enhancing for other AMCs.
To read more on CAMServ, Click here
edge360 as an integrated platform has been at the forefront of driving business efficiency and productivity of distributors with smart modules to manage daily operational complexities and drive conveniences for investors. It proved indispensable in empowering distributors, especially from tier II and III cities, during pandemic to minimise disruptions due to office closures.
Continuing with this, we conducted 260 webinars in FY22 which were attended by ~8,500 PAN-India distributors to enhance its adoption. Our distributor relationship management team conducted in-person workshops with intermediaries across multiple locations to strengthen relationships and take feedbacks. A centralised contact centre has also been set up to handle all queries.
To read more on edge360, Click here
~4,000 intermediaries use edge360 portal daily to download over 800 reports, 5,500 account statements and to perform ~5,000 financial transactions and over 500 non-financial transactions
CAMS updated IFSC records of 4,000 distributor partners having an account with one of the merged banks to ensure continuity of brokerage commission
SEBI mandated the AMCs/RTAs to have standard messaging formats for all communications. In collaboration with other RTA, we engaged extensively with the AMFI sub-committee to build a standard feed (forward and reverse) upload format for both channel and exchange partners. Work in progress to develop an industry-level common reverse feed format for scheme masters, financial-and non-financial transactions. These will be made available as part of distributor mail back reports.
We enabled SIP cease upload option for channel partners to help them in reporting SIP cancellation/termination details to CAMS. Distributors were enabled with a batch import option to report credit confirmation files for all the AMCs serviced by us.
We conducted a series of knowledge sessions and webinars for distributors, exchanges and AMC partners relating to process and other regulatory changes and new implementations. Continuous follow-ups were conducted with distributors on the importance of PAN-Aadhaar linking along with enabling them to download report to check status of investors.
We have a full-fledged central contact centre that provide services and assistance to distributors relating to applications. We also have a dedicated section for them on the CAMS website which enables ease of executing transactions and accessing business services.
We have undertaken several initiatives on the AMFI platform to enable distributors in their business operations. An option has been created to enable them to update their mobile number and email id and register their AMFI Registration Number (ARNs) and Employee Unique Identification Number (EUIN). Credit Card and UPI payment options have been enabled for payments in addition to the existing net banking and debit card payment facility. Further, a dedicated email help desk has been operationalised in Belapur, Mumbai for delivering distributor services related to AMFI processes.
We are an customer-centric organisation. Each of our technologies and business processes are designed to provide a frictionless and superior experience. We continually improve our systems basis feedbacks as well as provide them necessary information which can help them in making right choices to maximise wealth.
We focus on delivering quality and first time-right outcomes to mutual fund investors and distributors. Initiatives like maintaining industry-best operator certification standards (with 85% pass score), disciplined refresher trainings to operators and process improvements (data re-use program, RBI master implementation and data entry revamp) have been taken towards it. This has resulted in complaints to transaction ratio reducing to historically lowest levels of 0.03%.
93% of ~22,000 respondents gave thumbs-up to CAMS services
We have introduced multiple pioneering digital platforms which are providing seamless, secure and convenient transaction experience to investors. Supported by an expert IT team and sustained investments, we are continuously strengthening and expanding our digital infrastructure.
To read more on digital offerings, Click here
We also use our website as an important engagement tool. A widely adopted digital touchpoint, nearly 12 lakh investors and distributors visit it monthly for statements, diverse digital services and regulatory and industry updates. We are continually enhancing it with contemporary layout, intuitiveness and improved features. In FY22, we added features to allow investors to choose the formats (excel, text, pdf, machine readable JSON) in which they would want to receive statements. Further, subsequent to launching the uniform NAV applicability, this year we introduced a transaction enquiry form to provide real-time transaction status check. This facility is also provided as an API to AMC websites.
We launched Smart Account Statement in collaboration with AMC. A digital, instant and interactive version of the conventional statement, it has minimalistic information and only provides relevant information. Links of statements are sent to the registered email id or mobile number post transactions.
We have initiated Investor Education Series whereby videos are created on various topics to educate investors. These videos are promoted through CAMS social media channels and can be played on YouTube.
In FY22, a Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) notification mandated the investors to link their PAN with Aadhaar to keep their accounts operational.
At CAMS, we initiated a massive exercise to alert and nudge all investors whose PAN and Aadhaar were not linked. We extracted data from NSDL to identify such cases, subsequently 1.5 million emails and 1.8 million SMS were sent requesting investors to complete the process of linking and prevent transaction failures in their existing investments.
12 lakh visitors come on the camsonline.com platform every month
We recognise our responsibility to the society and undertake initiatives drive positive social change. In FY22, given the pandemic situation, we undertook to provide relief measures to underprivileged alongside continuing initiatives around our key focus areas of education and healthcare. We also expanded our geographic focus from Tamil Nadu to other regions.
eVidyaloka, a trust created by IT professionals, is a unique initiative for educating rural children. It has leveraged technology to develop an e-learning platform whereby teachers and student connect through live video classes. It provides the digital classroom and also supports its continuation by absorbing the running costs. It also provides teaching faculty who are volunteers from across the world.
During the year, we supported two projects of eVidyaloka - support for 10 centres for online education and a project developing e-learning content for rural children for multi-modal delivery of education.
The Foundation has conceptualised and implemented large-scale programs to improve education both in villages and in urban areas. We are supporting Chudar Foundation’s educational efforts for running three after school centres in Chennai. During the year, CAMS also supported virtual learning in 35 villages in Tamil Nadu’s Tiruvannamalai and Tiruvallur, benefiting about 875 children.
We are supporting Bright Kids Foundation, a non-government, not for profit organisation, in their initiative of providing education to the underprivileged kids in the slums of Mumbai.
Sankara Nethralaya is a registered society that provides world-class eye care for everyone (both paying and non-paying). It operates a fully equipped van with all medical and tele-medicine facilities which visits rural areas to provide screening services for various eye disorders to underprivileged through a team of Optometrists. Spectacles are provided to those in need at nominal cost. Patients needing treatment are provided the same free of cost at Sankara Nethralaya.
We have tied-up with Sankara Nethralaya in two projects - one for providing free surgery to the rural poor and another for providing vision enhancement to workers in the unorganised sector through occupational optometry services.
We have associated with Mumbai-based NGO Arpan in supporting their work on the issue of Child Sexual Abuse (CSA). Currently operating in Mumbai and Thane in Maharashtra, they have a child-centric model of intervention with a balanced emphasis on prevention and healing. They also reach out to and support adult survivors. Arpan focusses on empowering children, teachers, parents, NGO professionals and other care givers across institutions with knowledge, skills and attitude to prevent CSA. They also provide adequate support, including psychotherapy through trained, qualified therapists to victims and their families.
We assisted She and India Foundation (SAI foundation) in their COVID-19 support projects in Maharashtra. While the Foundation actively engages in various social service projects, its current emphasis was on COVID relief, especially in the worst hit region of Latur, Maharashtra. We assisted them in setting-up an oxygen concentrator bank and any needy patient could avail oxygen concentrator over WhatsApp / call. We also partnered with them for providing dry kits to deserving families who are predominantly daily wage earners and transporters.