Investors with a long-term horizon and high-risk appetite seeking capital appreciation can consider investing in ELSS.
If a fund manager moves on to another fund or resigns from the concerned asset management company, is that a sign to sell your holdings in the fund or discontinue your SIP? Read on...
Online mutual fund (MF) investment platforms like Groww, Zerodha Coin and Paytm Money, which allow investments in direct MF schemes for free, will soon be able to charge their customers or the fund houses for executing transactions. "They can charge some money but commission-like structure won't be allowed," Madhavi Puri Buch, chairperson of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), said on Tuesday. At present, none of these online investment platforms generate any revenue through the MF sales.
V Prem Watsa, the India-born billionaire and promoter-chairman of Toronto-based Fairfax Financial Holdings, a $30-billion plus insurance and investment company, is often referred to as the "Canadian Buffett," a reference to the famous billionaire founder of Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffett.
The exit of WeWork from its India unit is unlikely to have an impact on the country's co-working real estate market, according to industry executives. The company last week received approval from the Competition Commission of India (CCI) to sell its entire 27.5 per cent stake in the India unit to Real Trustee Advisory Company. The majority of the stake (72.5 per cent) in WeWork India is owned by Bengaluru-based Embassy Group.
'Those trying to use these funds for quick gains should avoid them due to risk of being late to the party.'
'The problem is that the bubble may not only be in valuations, but also in investors' minds.'
Reliance Industries, construction major L&T and IRB Infrastructure are some of the top companies that have used an infrastructure investment trust structure to reduce part of their debt and generate returns for their investors. Earlier this month, IRB Infrastructure InvIT was listed on the National Stock Exchange, giving its investors an option to exit by selling their units. The listing came within months of the Securities and Exchange Board of India's (Sebi's) guidelines for conversion of private unlisted InvITs into listed ones were issued.
Investors shunned shares of Bajaj Finance on Friday, a day after the non-banking financial company (NBFC) reported a sharp contraction in its net interest margin (NIM) for the March quarter of the financial year 2023-24 (Q4FY24). The losses accounted for a fifth of the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex's 609-point loss. Most brokerages have tamed their earnings expectations for the next couple of quarters, after the management said it expected the pressure on NIMs to continue in the near term.
'Even where we are now today, the growth rates are very good, but we need to get to 8-9 per cent growth in the years to come.'
The rally in silver may continue if the global economic recovery remains on course.
The 2023-24 (FY24) July-September quarter (second quarter, or Q2) proved to be a mixed period for asset management companies (AMCs). While the two largest listed AMCs, HDFC and Nippon, reported robust growth in both revenue and profits, the other two, Aditya Birla Sun Life and UTI, experienced profit declines. HDFC AMC reported an 18 per cent year-on-year increase in Q2 revenue to Rs 765 crore, while Nippon's revenue rose 15 per cent to Rs 475 crore.
Even as the returns of mutual fund (MF) schemes have improved considerably in the past three months, addition of new investors has remained in the slow lane for the MF industry. According to industry data, during the first six months of CY 2023, MFs onboarded only 1.6 million new unique investors, in stark contrast to the 4.7 million investors added during the same period last CY and the 2.4 million in 2021. It is noteworthy, however, that the current additions for this year have doubled in comparison to the figure of 800,000 seen in 2020.
Real estate investment trusts (Reits) are in talks with regulatory bodies - the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) - to seek changes in regulations that will allow easier access to capital. The Indian Reits Association (IRA) said it has approached the market regulator seeking to get classified as an 'equity' asset, which will open the path for their inclusion in equity indices and also make investment by mutual funds (MFs) easier. The association is also in active discussions with the RBI to allow banks to lend to a Reit.
Investors' desire for companies to prioritise returning cash to shareholders through share buybacks, dividends or mergers and acquisitions (M&A) is at the highest level since July 2015, said a survey by BofA Securities (BofA). Nearly 30 per cent of respondents wanted companies to do so. As many as 226 respondents with $572 billion worth of assets under management (AUM) participated in the March fund manager survey (FMS), said BofA.
Franklin Templeton Asset Management (India) on Tuesday said it strongly disagrees with the findings in Sebi's order in the case of winding of six debt schemes in 2020 and has decided to challenge the direction in Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT).
In the face of tax blow, brokerages remain sanguine about the prospects of asset management companies (AMCs). A sharp correction in the shares of AMCs over the past three months factors in most of the negatives and turned valuations attractive, observe analysts. In its latest report, Kotak Institutional Equities (KIE) has upgraded HDFC AMC to 'add' (from 'reduce') and reprised 'add' and 'buy' ratings on the rest of the listed AMCs - Nippon, UTI, and Aditya Birla Sun Life.
In contrast with their strong performance in 2020 and 2021, pharmaceutical and healthcare funds experienced a decline in 2022, with returns plummeting by an average 9.8 per cent. This trend has continued in the current year, with year-to-date return remaining in the negative (-4.9 per cent). In the past three months, pharma funds have been hit hard, experiencing a 7.9 per cent decline.
It did come as a surprise when, last week, Religare Enterprises (promoted by the former promoters of Ranbaxy) decided to acquire a majority stake in the ailing Lotus India Asset Management Company. This is the first deal in India since the financial crisis caused the market to crash 23 per cent in October, and Lotus' assets under management from Rs 7,000 crore (Rs 70 billion) to about Rs 5,000 crore (Rs 50 billion).
Ramalingam Kalirajan explains the pros and cons of both investment types.
Diversification is the key to achieve optimal risk-adjusted returns. Often, an investor is confused whilst deciding on the number of mutual funds you should consider holding in your portfolio.
Retail investors now own a larger share of smallcap companies than they did a year ago, thanks to their conviction in mutual fund (MF) schemes focused on this segment. Data from Capitaline shows that MFs' average holding in the National Stock Exchange Nifty Smallcap 250 Index stood at 9 per cent at the end of the October-December quarter of 2023-24 (FY24), up from 7.76 per cent in the same quarter of 2022-23.
'What's sad today is that there are so many people who cannot find work, not because the country is devoid of that opportunity, but because we are not doing enough in the country.'
In what is amongst the first focused fund in the space, India Media Entertainment Fund (IMEF) is raising Rs 500 crore, which will provide both equity as well as instruments like non-convertible debentures (NCD) to companies in the content, distribution platform and services areas. The private equity fund has appointed a high-profile advisory body which includes ad guru Prahlad Kakkar, managing director of Red Chillies Entertainment and cricket team KKR Sports, actress and entrepreneur Raadhika Sarathkumar, who has starred in Malayalam, Hindi and Kannada films and runs Radaan Mediaworks. It also includes Ramnath Pradeep, former chairman and managing director of Corporation Bank, and Rajesh Gupta, senior partner of law firm SNG Partners.
Mutual funds aspirants have the option of snapping up smaller AMCs or applying for a new licence.
The finance ministry is in favour of extending the August deadline for public sector banks (PSBs) as well as insurance companies to increase their minimum public shareholding (MPS) to the mandated 25 per cent, said a senior government official. "The election results will determine the course of action. "Most likely, those who did not receive an extension to meet the minimum shareholding norm will be granted one," the senior government official said.
Market regulator Sebi on Wednesday came out with investor charter for investors in securities market which aims at protecting investors' interest. The charter includes rights and responsibilities of investors and dos and don'ts of investing in securities market, as per a public notice. The vision of the investor charter is "to protect the interests of investors by enabling them to understand the risks involved and invest in a fair, transparent, secure market, and to get services in a timely and efficient manner."
Infosys was the only large-cap IT player to report sequential constant currency (cc) revenue growth for the June quarter (1 per cent ), which was ahead of analyst expectations, but the company's sharp downward revision in its growth guidance took most brokerages by surprise. In line with the cut in its FY24 revenue guidance (cc) to 1-3.5 per cent, brokerages have unanimously reduced FY24 EPS estimates for the company in the range of 2-4 per cent, though the Street is likely fearing even further downside, they say. Global brokerages Macquarie and Nomura downgraded Infosys to underperform and reduce ratings, respectively, with the latter cutting the target price to Rs 1210 from Rs 1260.
T Row Price, the largest stakeholder in the UTI AMC, has threatened to pull out alleging that the ministry of finance is thrusting its own candidate as the CMD of the company.
The Hinduja Group plans to enter the financial services space in India with a bang. Apart from plans to set up life insurance, non-life insurance and asset management companies, the group is also working towards areas such as wealth management, broking and portfolio management services. The group has finalised its partners for setting up a holding company, which will have three business arms offering wealth management, broking and portfolio management services.
This is a good opportunity for long-term investors to pick quality small and midcap stocks at reasonable valuations.
'India's fundamentals are a lot better (than those of other emerging market economies).' 'India will suffer (witness a fall in its stock market) what I call the second order effect.' 'And the second order will happen when these funds (belonging to macro and hedge fund investors and which have leveraged Japanese yen-carry trades), because they lose money elsewhere as lot of their positions were financed by borrowing Japanese yen, will have to book profits in investment destinations where they are making money, including in markets like India.' 'They (these investors) will have to effectively sell in countries like India and which is the consequence (the crash in equity markets) that Indian markets might see.'
The deal values the firm at more than $9 billion.
Bajaj Auto, India's leading two-wheeler (2W) and three-wheeler (3W) maker, is scaling up its wholly owned finance subsidiary, Bajaj Auto Credit Ltd (BACL), with an investment of more than Rs 3,000 crore planned over the next two financial years, company's managing director Rajiv Bajaj said. BACL has already started commercial operations, Bajaj recently said on the sidelines of the group's CSR identity event. According to rating agency CRISIL, BACL's operations began on January 1 after receiving its licence from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in August last year.
Byju's is in talks with three-four strategic buyers, including Joffre Capital Ltd and language learning platform Duolingo, to sell one of its key assets, US-based digital reading platform Epic, for about $400-$450 million, according to sources. With this, the beleaguered edtech firm wants to meet various commitments, including repaying its entire $1.2 billion term loan B (TLB) within six months. "The binding offers of the bidders to acquire Epic are expected to come in the next few weeks after the due diligence is complete," said a person familiar with the matter.
Gautam Adani had in the late 1970s applied to join a Mumbai college for education, but the college rejected his application. He did not pursue education but turned to business and went on to build a $220 billion empire. About four-and-a-half decades later, he gets called to the same college to deliver a lecture to students on Teachers Day. Adani had moved to Mumbai at the age of 16 and started working as a diamond sorter.
'The stabilisation of interest rates followed by reduction is going to happen over the next year.'
The asset manager is yet to resolve the impasse surrounding the payment of pension to its erstwhile employees who had opted for voluntary retirement in 2003.
Yes Bank on Saturday reported over two-fold jump in standalone net profit at Rs 452 crore for March quarter 2023-24, primarily due to benefits on the provision front. In the year-ago quarter, the bank logged a profit of Rs 202.43 crore. The private sector lender benefitted from write-back on income tax and interest on income tax returns, but the profits were limited by its inability to comply with the mandatory priority sector lending (PSL) requirements, its management said.
Power Grid Corporation of India (PGCIL) was one of the top Sensex gainers in trade on Monday, ending with gains of nearly 9 per cent. The stock has gained about 42 per cent year-to-date. For the March quarter, the company reported a revenue of Rs 12,000 crore, which was down 3 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) but up 4 per cent quarter-on-quarter (Q-o-Q). The drop was on account of one-time arrears related to the Nagapattinam tariff bid competitive bidding (TBCB) project in Q4 FY23.