The concept of managing portfolio of top celebrities, which is fairly common abroad with the likes of Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs thriving on such business, is in a fledgling stage in the country.

According to executive director Narayan SA, managing the portfolio of film stars would form an integral part of their private client servicing (PCS) module where investors, with more than Rs 25 lakh to invest, hand over their funds to Kotak, which in turn is invested in different kinds of securities.

"We invest their money in RBI bonds which are a good investment, mutual funds, equity and other debt issues. We also monitor the value of their holdings and inform them of the same every week. Typically, we invest about 15-20 per centof the investment in equities which no doubt get the highest returns. "Some of these investments have doubled in the past six months. This is an activity which is done by banks, but then their investment decisions are more bent towards debt unlike for us who are experienced in investing in equity markets," said Narayan. "Earlier, celebrities used to hand over their investments to their chartered accountants. But all this is changing now. As for us, we charge a fee of 3 per cent for fund management in addition to the brokerage charge on every transaction concluded," he said."Film stars are our latest target audience. They typically have money to spare but most of them are not at their peak for more than ten years or so. However, given their lifestyles, it is imperative that they invest their money smartly. "We have roped in a couple of film stars but then there are more than 100 potential ones," said Narayan.

Narayan said that simultaneously Kotak is also expanding its retail base on the back of thedepository movement fast catching up. Kotak which was hitherto purely an institutional and high net-worth broker, has recently signed up about 50 marketing associates which are akin to sub-brokers. The difference is that the investor not only enters into an agreement with the marketing associate but also with Kotak and the latter gives the contract note on its name.