In an earlier piece, I had hesitatingly speculated that the reason Basant decided to shut down the ‘Basant Top 10’ advisory service was because he was distraught at the vicious criticism over the failure of Hawkins Cookers.
That theory appears to be correct. Basant admits in the goodbye note that he was/is in a state of discomfort by the “mindless mudslinging” by a few “hiding behind the burkha of internet pseudo names”. He also complains against “people who just had a mischievous intent where one person created half a dozen identities and kept posting across the web”.
This is actually quite a surprising confession given Basant’s personality as a “rough and tough” person. Basant states in the note that he has “never backed away from an argument” and is “willing to argue with anyone on anything – anytime”.
So, it is surprising that Basant was so intimidated by the criticism of faceless persons over a chat site that he decided to take the ultimate step and play into their hands.
What makes the whole episode intriguing is that the ‘Basant Top 10’ service was, in Basant’s own words, raking in big money. Basant states that the service was “creating ripples”. He adds that he could have “doubled subscription rates” and retained “80% of my subscribers”. He also says that his subscribers “most of whom I have known for almost a decade continue to back me on this with full might and strength”. He emphasizes with a flourish that “At Basant’s Corner we made crores”. He also states that “no one closes down a business which is in its prime”.
So, who would shut down a gold mine like that just because some faceless persons over the internet make wild and baseless allegations?
Basant would know better than anyone else that stock failures are a normal part of an investors’ life. Criticism from disgruntled investors over failed stock picks is also perfectly normal. There is nothing in it to get “distraught” or to “lose sleep” over.
Basant also raises a grievance about his research reports being leaked out to the public by some unscrupulous subscribers. However, these problems of plagiarism and copyright infringements are also a normal part of our day to day life. The rampant piracy in software is an example of this. No software developer shuts down his business because his products get pirated. There are always a large number of law abiding consumers who will not succumb to the temptation of buying pirated stuff. In fact, Basant’s own continued success despite the alleged plagiarism is proof of this.
Basant also expresses his anguish at the jealousy that some people appear to have exhibited towards him. “The reputation and support that I have created is easily the subject matter of envy for many. It has disrupted thought processes all across” he says. However, it is no way to deal with allegedly jealous people that you give them what they are asking for on a platter by shutting down your source of success and their source of envy!
One allegation doing the rounds is that Basant may have sold off all or some of his holdings in Hawkins Cookers even while he was encouraging his subscribers and the public to buy it aggressively and that he is wary of adverse regulatory action in that behalf.
Basant acknowledges this allegation in his note and calls it “bizarre”. Basant hasn’t clarified whether he has in fact sold his shares or not but says that “At an opportune time I might show as to why I have got nothing to fear about”. He mysteriously adds that he is “unwilling to open my defence in front of all and sundry”.
Why Basant refers to a “defence” is not clear. Does it imply that Basant has in fact sold off the Hawkins’ shares? There is nothing wrong in it if Basant did so as a measure of portfolio balancing or because he found some other more attractive stock. It is best that he comes clean on it now rather than to wait for the “opportune time“.
Basant says in the note that he is not a “thick skinned hippopotamus”. However, he appears to be more sensitive than most people. Most people would have simply shrugged off the allegations and ignored it and gone on with their business as usual.
Prima facie, in closing down the ‘Basant Top 10’ service, Basant appears to have acted impulsively and in a knee-jerk manner. He has also played into the hands of his detractors. Maybe, if he had just turned off the internet and taken a brief holiday, he might not have taken the drastic decision that he did.
if someone start service with one stock a month , its easy for him to send buy report or exit call to its subscriber & subscriber too can exit from 12- 20 stock portfolio without much fluctuation in stock price
i am still confused that how concentrated portfolio paid service work ?i raised this question earlier too, can someone put light on this — though its important to have registration to give paid stock advisory, if we put this issue aside for time being. how BM and its subscriber both manages to have concentrated stocks service. its clear that BM is also investor & has 4-5 stock portfolio , its easy to recommend 4-5 stocks repeatedly to old & new subscriber , but when it comes to exit from one stock . how BM service work ? will BM exit first to protect his own large sum of money ? if yes why someone is paying him one lakh? or will he bear loss himself & make his one lakh paid subscribers exit first? i think if someone who manages his money (BM) so well why he will bear loss, keeping in mind loss from a stock in 4-5 stock portfolio is huge…
I am a subscriber to Basant’s services. So, let me attempt to clarify. This question related to conflict of interest between one’s own portfolio and other people’s portfolio is theoretical question which can be raised for any advisory service or PMS provider. When you are investing based on someone’s recommendation, first and foremost thing is trust factor. If you think that service provider is crooked, you should not avail of the service in the first place. In case of Basant’s service, I do not think there is any front running happening. Based on my exepreince, I believe that Buy and Sell happens concurrently with subscribers. Now question is what happens in case of concentrated portfolio in such event. Based on my expereince, I can tell you that when Buy or Sell call happens, at the maximum, stock moves a couple of percentage points, not much. In fact, over a period of few weeks, you can not see any effect of such calls on price movements. Take, for example, sell call on Titan or Buy call on Granules. When you are investing with intention of making big CAGR over a long period time, normal price fluctuations don’t matter. I hope this clarifies.
as far as i know , BM may recommend many stocks but his own investment is in top 4-6 stocks of his top ten , so his subscriber too invest heavily in top 4-6 stocks .sometimes among invested company may have abrupt change in fundamentals & BM want to exit from that stock to enter another & am sure their will be too much price fluctuation in stock if stock is from small or mid cap category . how will both BM & his subscriber exit from same range price?which of two will be allowed to exit first from stock?
As I wrote above, based on my exepreince, I believe that Buy and Sell happens concurrently, means simulteneously, with subscribers. Means both exit at prevelant market prices at the same time. Hope this clarifies. (Anyways, it is practically meaningless to discuss this as he has decided to close down his services)
in my opinion its not practically meaningless , as their may be some analyst who are providing concentrated portfolio advisory at present or in future.when it come to managing investments ,its never end learning process
Naresh, you are confusing with trading calls and investment ideas. it doesn’t happen on one day. for example Hawkins story has been deterioting since several querters, so lot of members might have already left even though its top pick. you need to use your mind and apply allocation strategy to get the right returns for you. its not a blind recommendation service in that sense. like you get on sms, buy x and sell y above z price ….
Beware that comments/posts in TED is moderated. He will only keep the posts/replies that praises him. Any post with slight question to him, will go under “pending review” and others will never see them.
haha…lol
And that is the answer for us..
All I can say is if we are trying to make money with BM reco’s or Porinju’s recos without doing our homework, we are in for trouble. GOD has given us brain to think, analyse and make appropriate decisions based on individual needs. When we do not do that, then why blame other’s. You are the master of your own destiny and not Basant or Porinju !!
Such a Arrogant Farewell Post/mail/Speech…
Somebody Rightly Said that
“Your attitude, not your aptitude, will determine your altitude in life”.
and Alas he was not able to keep his attitude down to earth & even now when he is closing his services due to “FEAR OF SEBI”, still he is blaming others for this, so much arrogance 🙁
If, he has SEBI license to run advisory services then I challenge him to post the same on TED or any other public place & if not then accept that he was doing something which is Illegal/unethical, that’s the reason he has to close it done Finally 🙂
Arjun you are doing good job for publishing all the comments & not moderating any comments otherwise on TED or BS corner you will get ONLY Positive comments published & all the non so positive comments will be moderated 🙁
Its good he learned his lesson “Hard way” & I hope now he will not dare to play with public money/emotions…and keep his EGO done…
Roni, What was deadline to get SEBI license ? Has he closed **JUST** before SEBI deadline….When I asked him about license six months back, he said model of BC doesn’t require SEBI license as per SEBI rules. I dont think he will lie.
Sameer, why do you think Basant won’t lie. He comes from Harichandra family?
I still believe it has to do something with thefear after SEBI ‘scrackown of HBJ capital services. BM is just using mudslinging episode as a reason to exit. Anyways I liked BM’s talk and writings.
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No more comments !
just a last ‘RIP Basant corner’
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As a subscriber to Basant’s Corner, i can tell u that ur recent two posts about Basant are entirely irrelevant. While drawing inferences from what little information is available in public about BC, you have also speculated about the motives for the the various actions taken by Basant. Let me attempt to clarify that even though BC was making money for Basant, that money must have formed a minuscule part of his portfolio therefore monetary considerations were never considered while shutting down the service. The pleasure of interacting with various investors and seeing their passion for stocks (several sold properties to buy stocks) could have been understood only by being a part of BC. Regarding ur comments on piracy etc., while it is a normal practice Basant did mention that he considered BC subscribers as family and we don’t expect such actions from our family, do we? I can confidently say that Basant Sir is one of the most ethical persons i have come to know so ur comments regarding his motives do not make even a little sense to anyone who has had the pleasure of knowing him. Lastly, all this noise is being made about 1 stock and we forget that BC top 10 had 9 other stocks as well some of them were 10 baggers. And even Hawkins is trading 50% above his recommended price. Maybe you should think and post about this stuff too and my suggestion would be to think twice before passing judgement on someone’s character when you do not know all the facts.
hawkins above 50% from recommended price not for all subscriber ,some may have joined service just few days before hawkins poor show on dstreet & it matters lot for small investor who followed his concentrated portfolio of 4-5 stocks
While i feel sad for Basant whom i respect i can never justify his decision of quitting if some people have started criticizing him…
any one exposed to Outside will have the same fate and ome run home naked to escape it…….
shame…
Finally the end of Basant Corner and end of dreams of financial freedom for many. The closing was not justified. Disappointed with the decision.
one more observation. Lots of BC members don’t use real names .. Names like value , mandrake, phantom, dennisminace etc also indicate the Basant was allowing Internet pseudonames. Since it was a moderated community, he should have insisted that people use real names. He is just allowing praises on his websites. As pointed by others, the HBJ Capital fiasco is the main reason of his exit. other reason is that he could have run out of new ideas.
Suresh
I am not the BC member but I admire him a lot. The passion, the knowledge, the wiliness to grow with team. So what happen if one stock loose from the top. It is the stock market and no one predict what will happen the next movement then why blame game. If you follow his ideology then surely you will gain in future, and if you are of your word then never buy the stock in which he is going to invest.
Hat off to BM for his passion to eduated the other about stock market and financial freedom
Looks like people are losing interest in Basant Maheshwari now. The previous post about BM shutting down his advisory service got more than 130 comments. This one hardly got 20. People have forgotton BM and moved ahead it seems.
Has anyone got the refund of money from Basant Maheshwari?
I sent an email requesting the refund and had the refund money in my account within 24 hours. Integrity is something where Mr Maheshwari’s record is spotless!