The country's largest private sector life insurer, ICICI Prudential Life, on Wednesday said it will hire 3,000 people in the next two months, debunking reports of any reduction in workforce.
Nikunj Saraf, Vice President Choice Wealth, answers your queries.
Commissions paid to mutual fund distributors (MFDs) increased by over 20 per cent for most large fund houses in 2023-24 (FY24), driven by a sharp market rally and strong inflows. The largest fund house, SBI Mutual Fund (MF), which now manages nearly Rs 10 trillion in assets, paid Rs 2,025 crore to its major distributors - 21 per cent higher than the Rs 1,675 crore payout in 2022-23 (FY23).
Despite the uncertainties created by rising bond yields and oil prices, fund managers have been proactively deploying fresh flows into the equity market. The cash available with equity fund managers, which has remained lower at around 5 per cent in the past few months, hit a 16-month low of 4.8 per cent in September, shows a Motilal Oswal Financial Services report. Cash holdings in equity schemes had topped 6 per cent in February amid subdued equity market sentiment.
Omkeshwar Singh, Head, Rank MF, a mutual fund investment platform, answers your queries.
The share of life insurance policies sold by top private insurers in the rural areas declined in the financial year 2023-24 (FY24) compared to previous year. SBI Life, HDFC Life, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance -- the top three players from the private sector-- have seen the share of insurance policies sold in rural areas drop in FY24 as compared to the previous financial year. Max Life Insurance's share of rural policies recorded an increase in FY24.
ICICI Pru's IPO is being managed by 10 investment banks, including Bank of America Merrill Lynch and ICICI Securities
Value mutual funds have witnessed robust investor interest, garnering Rs 22,757 crore in inflows in 2024, nearly double the amount seen in 2023, fueled by impressive returns generated by the segment. This surge reflects a shift in investor focus towards fundamentally strong yet undervalued stocks.
Hyundai Motor India (HMIL) raised Rs 8,315 crore from anchor investors on Monday, setting the stage for the country's biggest-ever maiden share sale. The Indian arm of the South Korean carmaker Hyundai Motor Company (HMC) allotted 42.4 million shares to 225 funds at Rs 1,960 apiece, the higher end of its price band. Among the investors receiving allotments were the Singapore government's sovereign wealth fund (GIC), New World Fund, and Fidelity.
Omkeshwar Singh, head, Rank MF, a mutual fund investment platform, answers your queries.
Outperforming peers following a crisis in the debt markets is an act that ICICI Prudential Asset Management Company fund manager Manish Banthia has pulled off more than once.
'They are ideal for short-term financial goals like children's education or a down payment for a house.' 'They are also useful for transitional savings, such as during job switches or while starting a business.'
This product was first introduced by ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund (ICICI Prudential FMP Series 33) and Deutsche Mutual Fund in February. Recently, Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund has also floated a similar fund. The Nifty return, multiplied by the participation ratio (that is pre-decided by the fund) is the final returns. In Aviator, the participation ratio is 140-145 per cent, leading to returns of 43.14-44.5 per cent in our given example.
Among the 11 equity sub-categories, thematic funds received the highest net inflows at Rs 9,017 crore, followed by smallcap funds at Rs 5,721 crore and flexicap funds at Rs 5,698 crore.
"Fund houses look at merging schemes where there is a duplicity of content or if the scheme has been underperforming historically," says Aashish Somaiya, head (retail business), ICICI Prudential AMC.
Life insurance companies reported a 13.16 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) growth in new business premium (NBP), totting up Rs 30,347 crore in October, even as the number of policies sold saw a sharp decline. The growth was largely driven by strong performance from private sector life insurers.
Omkeshwar Singh, head, Rank MF, a mutual fund investment platform, answers your queries.
Top Indian private sector lender ICICI Bank, which owns nearly 68 percent of the insurer, is selling up to 181.34 million shares in the IPO.
Mutual funds (MFs) managed a record Rs 66.2 trillion in assets during the July-September quarter, marking a 12.3 per cent increase over the previous three-month period - the highest quarterly jump in MF assets in at least five years. During the April-June period, the average assets under management (AUM) stood at Rs 59 trillion. The sharp rise in AUM, according to experts, is driven by a robust equity market rally and record inflows into equity schemes.
Omkeshwar Singh, Head, Rank MF, a mutual fund investment platform, answers your queries.
Although the pricing for the IPO is yet to be finalised, people in the know said the band could be Rs 275-300
Midcap stocks Hero MotoCorp, Zydus Lifesciences, JSW Energy, NHPC, Bharat Heavy Electricals, Bosch, and Samvardhana Motherson are expected to earn upgrades.
Omkeshwar Singh, Head, Rank MF, a mutual fund investment platform, answers your queries.
Largecap companies are generally less vulnerable to economic slowdowns than their mid- and smallcap counterparts.
ICICI Prudential has tied up with the healthcare service provider to enable investors in its ICICI Prudential Savings Fund use the money seamlessly for medical purpose.
Omkeshwar Singh, Head, Rank MF, a mutual fund investment platform, answers your queries.
The fall in the equity markets was to put some pressure on the balance sheets of the top five asset management companies (AMCs) in the country. But, two of them have managed to buck the trend, thanks to the rise in their average assets under management (AAUM).
ICICI Prudential AMC has launched the ICICI Prudential Micro Systematic Investment Plan (MSIP) with a minimum investment of just Rs 50 per month.
When it comes to the average assets under management among the top five mutual funds, there has been a shuffle in positions. While Reliance Mutual Fund has been able to maintain the number one position at Rs 700 billion, ICICI Prudential has been pushed to number four from second spot by HDFC Mutual Fund. ICICI Prudential was above HDFC by Rs 73 billion in January-end 2008. But at the end of December, HDFC's assets were up by Rs 48.79 billion over that of ICICI Prudential.
The life insurance industry reported a 25.28 per cent decline in new business premium income in November 2023 to Rs 26,494.83 crore from Rs 34,588.8 crore recorded a year ago. The fall in group premium and change in taxation norms for policies with a higher ticket size dragged the premiums of the state-run Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) and private insurers, respectively. According to the data released by the Life Insurance Council, the premium of private insurers slipped 9.33 per cent Y-o-Y to Rs 10,360.29 crore from Rs 11,426.73 crore as a result of a change in product mix due to the measures taken to counter the impact of tax imposed on the premiums of Rs 5 lakh.
Mutual fund houses have been on an equity buying spree in the past three months as they have invested a net amount of Rs 55,000 crore in them between January and March 2023. The number is more than double the amount deployed in the preceding three months (October to December), signalling improved valuations and favourable economic indicators. The valuations, which had peaked in October 2021, returned to its long-term average in March 2023.
LIC, ICICI Prudential invest Rs 13,000 crore (Rs 130 billion) and Rs 2,000 crore (Rs 20 billion) respectively in the first quarter of FY09.
Private sector market leader ICICI Prudential has reported just a 20 per cent rise in new retail business weighted premiums during March, 2008, and a 40 per cent rise for the quarter ended March 2008. That has dragged down ICICI Prudential's growth for 2007-08 to below 70 per cent. The average for the first 11 months was 80 per cent.
High-value insurance policies experienced muted growth in the first six months of the current financial year after the Centre decided to tax such products in this year's Budget. Simultaneously, there has been a marked improvement in the growth of policies with premiums of 'less than Rs 5 lakh', mainly originating from smaller cities. During this year's Budget, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman proposed that insurance policies (excluding unit linked insurance plans or ULIPs) with an aggregate premium exceeding Rs 5 lakh, and the maturity amount, would not be exempt from tax.
The improving outlook for the power sector has caught the interest of dividend yield funds. In the first four months of the current financial year (2023-24, or FY24), five of the six largest dividend yield funds have shown a notable increase in their exposure to stocks within the power sector. Some have even introduced new stocks to their portfolios.
Omkeshwar Singh, Head, Rank MF, a mutual fund investment platform, answers your queries.
Omkeshwar Singh, head, Rank MF, a mutual fund investment platform, answers your queries.
Omkeshwar Singh, head, Rank MF, a mutual fund investment platform, answers your queries.
Nikunj Saraf, Vice President Choice Wealth, answers your queries.
Omkeshwar Singh, Head, Rank MF, a mutual fund investment platform, answers your queries.