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.
Reliance MF, the country's largest fund house, has witnessed an increase of about 13 per cent with the average AUM crossing the Rs 1,00,000 crore mark in May as compared to Rs 88,387.98 crore at the end of April. In May 2008, it had crossed the Rs 100,000 crore mark, but in terms of total assets under management. This time, the level has been crossed in the average monthly AUM, which is taken into consideration in the data released by the Association of Mutual Funds of India.
Sebi has time and again voiced its concerns over higher agents' fees.
The contribution from asset management companies (AMCs) has surpassed the Rs 3,000 crore target for the creation of a Rs 33,000 crore backstop facility for debt mutual funds (MFs). The initial corpus for the Corporate Debt Market Development Fund (CDMDF) is nearly Rs 3,100 crore, according to multiple government officials and AMC executives. "The fund is operational now. "The required corpus has been raised by AMCs and the remaining part (Rs 30,000 crore) is in the form of a guarantee from the government which will be activated only in case of a credit event," explained D P Singh, joint CEO and deputy MD, SBI MF.
Here is what mutual fund expert Anil Rego has to say about bonus, entry and exit loads and investing in mutual funds.
The government has been pressing citizens to pay taxes and be compliant, but they have very little to show regarding improved efficiencies in the companies they themselves own, the fund managers said.
Omkeshwar Singh, Head, Rank MF, a mutual fund investment platform, answers your queries.
rediffGURU Dev Ashish answers your personal finance and mutual fund queries
Mukul K Gupta, CEO, Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund took some time from his busy schedule to address the issues and concerns raised by the investors
Do you have financial planning queries? Ask rediffGURU Anil Rego.
India's mutual fund industry, led by market leaders Reliance Mutual Fund, ICICI Prudential and UTI MF, has witnessed a fall of over Rs 58,000 crore (Rs 580 billion) in its assets during March.Despite the fall, Reliance MF continued to be the most valued fund house in the country with Assets Under Management (AUM) of Rs 90,937.94 crore (Rs 909.37 billion) at the end of March.
The last fiscal marked the fourth consecutive year of loss of folios by mutual funds.
The flows may stem and redemptions pressure increase following the market meltdown of Monday amid mounting cases of coronavirus infection globally.
Operational and compliance challenges foreseen for fund houses in deducting tax at source, resulting in possible TDS mismatches and disputes with investors.
Chandresh Nigam will join Prudential-ICICI MF in July as senior fund manager (equity), and will report to Dileep Madgavkar, vhief investment officer.
'Like every Budget, this time, too, there is chatter around tinkering with the long-term capital gains tax.' 'Investors may not want to jump into the markets until there is clarity on this front.'
Mutual funds' average cash holdings in equity schemes topped 6 per cent in February as fund managers went slow on deployment of new inflows on expectations of better buying opportunities amid uncertainties in the market.
HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries and ICICI Bank remained among the top mutual fund (MF) buys for the second consecutive month in September. MFs deployed a net of Rs 15,000 crore into these stocks during the two-month period (August-September), revealed Nuvama Alternative & Quantitative Research reports.
Come January 1, 2011, all the new as also existing MF investors would need to disclose if they are or have been a head of state.
The information and technology (IT) sector, which has been going through a rough patch lately, was among the top draws for equity mutual funds (MFs) in July. MF schemes together invested a net of Rs 1,800 crores in IT stocks last month after pulling out around Rs 700 crore from the sector in June, according to a report by ICICI Securities.
Over the past 25 years the MF industry has come a long way. Geographic reach has increased, many more customers have been added, more channels have been opened up and the product basket is full.
As per the latest data available with the Securities and Exchange Board of India, there was a net outflow of Rs 59,726 crore (RS 597.26 billion) in June as against a net inflow of Rs 1,46,094 crore (RS 1,460.94 billion) in the previous two months.
Both the debt and equity markets have seen sharp volatility in recent months.
For the first time in a decade, inflows into equity mutual funds (MFs) decoupled from the past performance of the equity market, as investors continued to pour money into the market unperturbed by lacklustre returns.
Stocks of public sector undertakings (PSUs) have been on fire in the past year as investors cheered an improvement in key operating metrics and embraced counters of these state-owned enterprises, analysts suggest. The S&P BSE PSU Index has gained over 90 per cent in the past year, rising much higher than the S&P BSE Sensex, which has rose nearly 19 per cent during this period, according to ACE Equity data. The BSE PSU Index, reports show, has delivered a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 28 per cent (including dividends reinvestments) over five years and risen by almost 60 per cent in the past year.
Swift gains on Dalal Street this year have also led to a sharp surge in shares of equity market intermediaries like depositories, exchanges, and registrar and transfer Agents (RTAs). The stock prices of BSE, CDSL, CAMS, and KFin Technologies are up 24-283 per cent so far in 2023 when compared to a 9 per cent rise in the benchmark Nifty index. With the market buoyancy expected to keep up the pace, analysts believe these stocks are a good long-term bet despite the sharp rally, which can trigger an intermittent correction.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered that Rs 9,122 crore be disbursed within three weeks to the unitholders of Franklin Templeton's six mutual fund schemes which are proposed to be wound up.
'Exposure to small and midcap stocks exceeded desired levels in many portfolios, prompting rebalancing.'
Riding the wave of the equity market, the mutual fund (MF) industry experienced double-digit growth in Samvat 2079, concluding the Hindu calendar year close to the Rs 50 trillion assets under management milestone. After a subdued 6 per cent growth in Samvat 2078, the industry's assets surged over 18 per cent last year to Rs 46.7 trillion. Industry players anticipate that Samvat 2080 will also be a fruitful year for the asset management industry, given the strong inflows from retail investors, particularly through the systematic investment plan route.
Riding on the back of fresh inflows into various schemes, the MF industry's AUM totalled Rs 7.20 lakh crore (Rs 7.2 trillion) -- a 24 per cent rise over the previous month, Crisil FundServices said in a report. During July, FIIs invested over Rs 11,600 crore (Rs 116 billion) in Indian equities, while MFs bought Rs 1,825 crore (Rs 18.25 billion) shares, as per data available on the website of Securities and Exchange Board of India.
IDFC is merging its Portfolio Management Services business with the newly-acquired Standard Chartered Mutual Fund to sell MF products targeting high net worth individuals. The company is also planning products that offer infrastructure as an asset to investors.
'Especially if their investment horizon is over two years.'
rediffGURU Dev Ashish answers your personal finance and mutual fund queries.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is discussing with mutual funds (MFs) a proposal on introducing new total expense ratio (TER) slabs linked to the total equity and debt assets by replacing the current ones that are linked to assets of an individual scheme. Senior MF executives confirmed that Sebi had held discussions on this matter with AMCs. Such a change is expected to lead to a lower TER cap for bigger asset management companies (AMCs).
UTI Mutual Fund will shortly launch auto sector fund and portfolio management scheme (PMS) even as it forged a tie-up with Corpration Bank to distribute mutual fund schemes through the latter's branch network in the country.
The impending merger between Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) with HDFC Bank may create challenges for large-cap fund managers, most of whom are already grappling to match the returns generated by their benchmarks. The combined weight following the merger in the benchmark Sensex and Nifty 50 indices is likely to be much higher than permissible limits for active mutual fund (MF) schemes. This could have a bearing on the performance of large-cap funds if HDFC Bank shares outperform the markets, as the schemes will be forced to remain underweight on the stock to adhere to the single-stock cap.
Mutual funds are loading up on information technology (IT) stocks on improved valuations and low downside risk after a double-digit correction in top companies like Infosys and Wipro. IT stocks were MFs' top sectoral buys in April when they invested a net of Rs 2,100 crore. In the first four months of 2023, the net investments in IT amounted to Rs 9,500 crore, shows an analysis by ICICI Securities.
rediffGURU Ramalingam Kalirajan answers your personal finance queries.
Micro-cap stocks are in the line of fire as market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is tightening its noose around investment in small-cap stocks. Given this, analysts suggest investors exit the segment, at least, for the time being. Independent market analyst, Ambareesh Baliga, for instance, said that regulators have gotten worried on the valuation front, though belated, which could prove to be the last straw on the camel's back.
