‘Mind Games’ BY ICICI DIRECT At KIAMS

When it was announced at KIAMS that ICICIDIRECT, the stock-broking subsidiary of ICICI Bank, was coming over to our campus on the 22nd of October.

Pune (I-Newswire) November 1, 2012 - When it was announced at KIAMS that ICICIDIRECT, the stock-broking subsidiary of ICICI Bank, was coming over to our campus on the 22nd of October, we all got ready for the usual stuff – sessions on how the stock market works, how products are designed in the domain, etc.

We were right!

Well, at least for the first half. Till mid-session, the seminar proceeded on predicted lines, i.e the share market and how it works. However, midway through the seminar, the ICICIDIRECT representatives began to speak of a game. All of a sudden, they had the attention of everybody in the KIAMS auditorium.

‘Stock Mind’, as the game was called, was a mock simulation game, designed to work like the BSE and NSE in almost every aspect. The demo made it clear that this was not the usual sort of game. We could actually order for ‘sell’, or place a ‘buy’ order, ‘stop loss’ order, etc.

The ICICIDIRECT reps then announced that there would soon be a competition – initially intra-college and then inter-college. The process would start with registration, after which each student would be presented with a virtual cash account of Rs. 15 lakhs. The individual with the maximum profit or minimum loss would be declared the winner.

By the end of the session, quite a few of us who enjoyed following or playing the stock markets – and there are quite a lot of us at KIAMS – were all gung-ho about the prospect of pitting our skills in a ‘nothing to lose but everything to gain’ situation.

As far as I’m concerned, my strategy will be pretty much on the lines of Warren Buffet’s, who believes, “You should invest in a business that even a fool can run, because someday, a fool will’!

Chitransh Srivastav

B-15, KIAMS