'Barring a temporary blip where stocks fell on verdict day, we are back to all-time highs.'
'Looking at the speed at which changes were made post the Franklin Templeton issue, we are awaiting more stricter norms in the months to come.'
The decision of the US regulator not to allow financial institutions any further increase in their exposure to commodity futures leaves a question mark on the proposal to allow MFs and banks to trade in commodity futures in India. In India if mutual funds, banks, NRI's and Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) are allowed there should be limits fixed by the regulator regarding exposure to commodities. The price discovery function can happen only if there is liquidity.
Equity mutual funds (MFs) deployed maximum in shares of Reliance Industries (RIL) in June at Rs 2,177 crore, followed by Maruti Suzuki (Rs 2,045 crore) and Bharti Airtel (Rs 1,310 crore). Shares of both RIL and Bharti Airtel have been turbulent this month. On July 1, shares of RIL crashed over 7 per cent, following the government imposing windfall taxes on domestic crude oil production and fuel exports.
Eight months after India's largest car maker, Maruti Suzuki India, announced plans for a Gujarat unit to be set up as a wholly-owned subsidiary of parent Suzuki, opposition to the move continues to simmer.
Domestic investors are tightening their grip on the ownership of listed companies. The gap between the shareholding of domestic institutional investors (DIIs) and foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) narrowed to 13.11 percentage points at the end of the September 2023 quarter. At the peak, the gap was nearly 50 percentage points in March 2015, according to an analysis by Prime Database, a leading provider of data on the capital market.
'If you are ready to stomach the loss, you may invest 3-5 per cent of your portfolio in crypto assets.' 'Of this, 80-90 per cent should be in Bitcoin.'
Portfolio management services (PMS), catering to higher networth individuals (HNIs), are facing tough competition from emerging alternative investment funds (AIFs), evident from their dwindling client base. In May, the number of clients for the industry stood at 125,390, down 20,528 in two months, shows data from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi). "PMS managers also have a high active ratio, which means their portfolios are quite differently positioned and more actively managed, compared to the benchmark, which is also a highlight for long-term investors.
After a short-term blip, mutual funds (MFs) are back to adding new systematic investment plan (SIP) investors at a record high pace, which was seen during the financial year 2021-22 (FY22). During the first six months (H1) of this financial year (FY24), MFs have added a net 77 million SIP accounts compared to 56 million during the same period of FY23. The net additions this year are a tad higher than the 76.5 million additions in H1 of FY22.
Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has tweaked the benchmarking norms for mutual fund (MF) schemes in a bid to bring more uniformity. The regulator has introduced a two-tiered structure for benchmarking of schemes and all the benchmarks followed should be total return index (TRI). According to the circular, the first-tier benchmark shall be reflective of the category of the scheme, and the second-tier benchmark should be demonstrative of the fund manager's investment style or strategy within the category.
With less than a week to go for the mandatory permanent account number requirement for all new investments in mutual funds to take effect, Securities and Exchange Board of India on Tuesday extended the deadline by another six months to December 31
Foreign portfolio investors' (FPIs') shareholding in NSE-listed companies fell 51 basis points sequentially to 17.68 per cent in the quarter ended March 31, 2024, according to data compiled by PRIME Database. This is the lowest FPI shareholding since December 2012. From the recent peak of 21.21 per cent at the end of December 2020, FPI shareholding is down 353 basis points.
'Young investors with limited funds should ensure that investing in NPS does not crowd out their other, more liquid, investments.'
Industry players say improving the penetration beyond the top centres will require setting up more branch networks and empanelment of distributors.
Omkeshwar Singh, Head, Rank MF, a mutual fund investment platform, answers your queries.
'Those satisfied with returns and not expecting further rally could be booking profits and also stopping SIPs.'
'Understand how wedding expenses fit into your overall financial situation.' 'Evaluate how different levels of spending will impact other goals like retirement, travel, or housing.'
Awaiting the right opportunity to deploy their funds into the equity market, the mutual fund industry is stting on a huge cash pile of Rs 20,109 crore, even as Foreign Institutional Investors are pouring funds into equities.
In an effort to soothe nerves of the country's mutual funds and the non-banking finance companies, the bankers today assured that they would come forward to support these financial institutions' funding needs including liquidity to meet redemptions.
Omkeshwar Singh, Head, Rank MF, a mutual fund investment platform, answers your queries
rediffGURU Samkit Maniar answers readers' personal income tax queries.
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.
'Historically, equities have consistently outperformed debt, gold, property, and other assets over a reasonable period.'
SIPs keep MFs afloat as investors redeem Rs 1.3 lakh crore in one year
Omkeshwar Singh, Head, Rank MF, a mutual fund investment platform, answers your queries.
It seems time has come for foreign institutional investors and mutual funds to trade in bullion and energy Futures on commodity exchanges in India.
Money managers have turned cautious about the technology space.
If you want his advice on your mutual fund investments, please mail your questions to getahead@rediff.co.in with the subject line, 'Mutual Fund Query', along with your name, and Omkeshwar will offer his unbiased views.
Mutual funds have reverted to a strong buying spree in the stock market, but returns for investors might be capped as this renewed vigour coincides with shares already having turned somewhat expensive, the analysts feel.
Tax Guru Anil Rego answers your personal income tax queries
The Indian equity market clocked record average daily turnover (ADTV) in both the cash and derivatives segments in February amid a spike in volatility. The ADTV for the cash segment for both the exchanges combined came at Rs 1.27 trillion, while the same for the derivatives or the futures and options (F&O) segment stood at Rs 483 trillion in the previous month. The volumes for both cash and derivatives have almost doubled from a year ago on the back of rising retail participation in the world's fourth largest equity market.
The ownership by domestic investors, individual as well as institutional, in companies listed on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) has breached the 25 per cent mark for the first time. The share stood at 25.72 per cent at the end of the March 2023 quarter, up from 24.44 per cent in the previous quarter, according to data from Prime Database. The share of foreign portfolio investors (FPIs), meanwhile, rose slightly to 20.56 per cent from 20.24 per cent as on December 31, 2022.
Stocks mutual funds had invested in had risen almost to pre-pandemic levels in March.
At a time when investors are preferring higher-risk investment products like thematic and small-cap mutual fund (MF) schemes, some fund houses are exploring the possibility of going further down the market-capitalisation (m-cap) ladder to unearth newer investment opportunities. HDFC MF had filed papers with the capital markets regulator - the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) - earlier this year for an active micro-cap scheme. Some more fund houses are keen on launching such schemes, say industry observers.
Fund houses have conducted investor camps and awareness programmes in more than 400 cities. Also, the popular 'Mutual fund sahi hai' campaign has helped bring in a lot of new investors into the MF fold from underpenetrated regions.
Omkeshwar Singh, Head, Rank MF, a mutual fund investment platform, answers your queries.
For the third month running, investors opened over four million new demat accounts in February, showing growing household confidence in stock markets and their increased risk appetite. Over 13.12 million new demat accounts have been opened in the last three months, taking the total count close to the 150-million mark. Demat accounts are needed for trading and holding shares electronically.
Omkeshwar Singh, Head, Rank MF, a mutual fund investment platform, answers your queries.
Although net inflows into equity mutual funds deteriorated month-on-month (M-o-M) in March 2024 to Rs 22,576 crore (excluding Hybrid), down 15 per cent M-o-M (up 12 per cent Y-o-Y), asset management companies (AMCs) had a great year with robust growth in assets under management (AUMs). AMCs are likely to report strong PAT growth (30-40 per cent Y-o-Y) in Q4FY24 on the back of AUM growth. In Q4FY24, domestic mutual fund (MF) industry's quarterly average AUM grew by 34 per cent Y-o-Y and 10 per cent quarter-on-quarter (Q-o-Q) to Rs 54 trillion ($652 billion).
