rediffGURU Ramalingam Kalirajan answers your personal finance queries.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) could soon issue interim orders imposing a market ban on the two former fund managers of Axis Mutual Fund (MF) for suspected front-running of trades, said people with knowledge of the development. "The market regulator has gathered prima facie evidence that demonstrates that the duo has violated the integrity of the market. "While a detailed investigation is still pending in the matter, Sebi could take action under Section 11 (4) to prevent further harm to the investors and the securities market," said a source.
Balanced funds may be a good option for first-time investors.
rediffGURU Ramalingam Kalirajan answers your personal finance queries.
A strong appetite for gold on Friday's Dhanteras is expected this year due to auspicious reasons and geopolitical concerns, continuing the 2022 trend driven by pent-up COVID demand. Compared to last year's Dhanteras, gold prices have jumped 22 per cent and silver prices by 21 per cent, respectively. "Gold and silver are good for portfolio diversification, especially in times of geopolitical turbulence.
'Investors should restrict themselves to a few category schemes with high quality portfolios apart from overnight and liquid funds.'
rediffGURU Ramalingam Kalirajan answers your personal finance queries.
After pulling out $17 billion in calendar year 2022, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) have pumped $7.3 billion back into equity markets so far this year. The turnaround in foreign flows has helped domestic markets exceed the all-time highs chalked up in December 2022 and bounced back more than 10 per cent from this year's lows. However, a big nugget of FPI inflows seen this year could be off the back of two factors: exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and block deals.
At the outset, decide whether you want to be a trader or an investor, suggest Sarbajeet K Sen and Sanjay Kumar Singh.
Omkeshwar Singh, Head, Rank MF, a mutual fund investment platform, answers your queries.
Shares of asset management companies (AMCs) have rallied in the last 3-4 sessions due to clarity on regulatory changes in total expense ratios (TER) and expectations that it won't upset profits much in the long run. HDFC AMC has gained over 12 per cent in the last four sessions, while Nippon AMC and UTI AMC are up around 5 per cent. Aditya Birla Sun Life (ABSL), the only other listed AMCs, has risen more than 2.3 per cent in the last four sessions.
Mutual funds (MFs) have lined up information technology (IT) funds, indicating that technology stocks are back on fund managers' radar after a hiatus. Over the past 18 months, stock prices for companies in the software space have either corrected or remained subdued. Fund houses have launched five IT-based sectoral funds in the past three months, with three of them taking the passive route.
An additional factor spurring the FMP launches is MFs' desire to retain investors as many such offerings are set to mature over the next two months.
There will be tough periods in equity investing, but investors should not stop their SIP investments under any circumstance, advises Arnav Pandya.
Do you have financial planning queries? Ask rediffGURU Anil Rego.
rediffGURU Kirtan A Shah answers your personal finance queries.
The average difference in expense ratios between a regular and direct plan is 100 to 120 basis points. For those who need hand holding, spend the 100 to 120 basis points and get advice on the right schemes that suit you. Don't land up buying a scheme with low expense, but lower returns.
Sources said SBI Funds Management will distribute the proceeds to unitholders following liquidation of some securities held under the scheme.
rediffGURU Ulhas Joshi recommends five factors you need to look at to evaluate the performance of two schemes.
And there have been months when flows have exceeded $3 billion.
Industry body Association of Mutual Funds in India on Friday assured investors that a majority of fixed income mutual funds assets are invested in superior credit quality securities and such schemes have appropriate liquidity to ensure normal operations. The statement by the industry body came after Franklin Templeton Mutual Fund voluntarily decided to wind up its six debt schemes citing redemption pressure and lack of liquidity in bond markets due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Ask rediffGURU and tax expert Mihir Tanna your income tax-related questions.
In its 59-page order, the capital markets regulator Sebi said that the 10-year restraint period for them would be calculated after taking into account the restraint already undergone by him vide an interim order dated June 17, 2010.
Notwithstanding the risk involved, analysts are upbeat on micro-cap investing as India remains in a firm bull market. Moreover, these stocks are available at relatively cheaper valuations compared to large, mid and small caps, assuring alpha returns. With a market-capitalisation (market-cap) of up to Rs 10,000 crore, micro-cap stocks are outside the purview of Nifty 500 stocks, and are ranked from 501 to 750 in the market-cap ladder.
Mutual funds subscriptions and redemptions will not be permitted on February 1 because all the fund houses in their scheme information documents have declared Saturday and Sunday as "non-business day".
Mutual fund (MF) houses have started realigning their overseas product offerings after the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) advised them to stop subscriptions. PPFAS Asset Management has decided to suspend transactions in Parag Parikh Flexi Cap Fund with effect from February 2, 2022. Though new lump-sum and systematic investment plans (SIPs) will not be accepted, existing SIPs and systematic transfer plans (STPs) will continue.
Markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is examining allegations of front-running and other irregularities against a host of domestic fund managers across the asset management industry, said people in the know. Developments at Axis Mutual Fund have prompted the regulator to speed up probe to ensure that there is no drop in confidence in the Rs 39-trillion mutual fund (MF) industry. "We have received complaints against a few fund managers and are looking into possible violations, including those related to code of conduct," said a regulatory source, refusing to divulge names of fund houses as things are at a preliminary stage.
IDBI Bank had to sell its MF arm after being acquired by state-owned insurance behemoth Life Insurance Corporation since LIC already had an AMC.
Investors pumped in more than Rs 37,000 crore (Rs 370 billion) in various mutual fund schemes in May taking the total funds mobilisation during the first two months of the current fiscal to Rs 1.44 lakh crore.
In September, net equity inflows stood at Rs 6,609 crore, compared to Rs 9,152 crore in the previous month. In the last four months, this is the lowest net inflow tally seen by the equity category.
Fund managers are withdrawing after a two-year long run in public sector bank (PSB) stocks. Domestic mutual funds (MFs) were net sellers of PSB stocks for the first time in nine quarters, offloading shares worth Rs 1,800 crore in the March quarter, said a report by ICICI Securities. In the previous eight quarters, fund houses had invested more than Rs 10,000 in PSBs amid deep discounts in valuation vis--vis their private sector peers.
Coming down heavily on MF players who in recent past chose to use shareholder fund to buy out debt of bleeding invested companies, Sebi said MFs can't have standstill agreements with companies and will take action against fund houses for such deals.
Senior officials in the MF industry say while the finance ministry and regulators communicate regularly, this is one of the very few instances in many years where an issue between the two has come out into the open.
Since April there have been no new NFOs because of the delay in the implementation of the new norms around pooling of funds.
Take a call to stay put or opt our based on whether you think the company will be able to find a strategic investor, suggests Sanjay Kumar Singh.
Omkeshwar Singh, head, Rank MF, a mutual fund investment platform, answers your queries:
Equity fund managers' other favourites are software stocks followed by pharma, finance and consumer non-durables
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.
'Our advice is to put money into equities now rather than staying away.'
