Black money to the tune of "Rs 1.25 lakh crore" has been confiscated by the Modi government, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Monday and asserted transparency is a key aspect of the present dispensation's good governance model. The minister for railways said similarly, to ensure transparency, benami properties worth Rs 4,300 crore were attached and registration of 1.75 lakh companies cancelled. Talking to reporters at the Rail Bhawan, Vaishnaw said in his long public service, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has "perfected a model of good governance that started in Gujarat".
Investors not comfortable investing directly may take the mutual fund route, where they get exposure to a diversified portfolio of bonds.
Exposure to debt funds and gold is essential even if current returns from these asset classes are low, suggests Sanjay Kumar Singh.
In stock market parlance, "meme stock" was certainly the word of the year. Coined to mean those stocks that gain sudden popularity on the internet with resultant high prices, it was used to derisively describe the behaviour of retail traders globally who entered the market in huge numbers in the two Covid-19 years. A recent study, "Market Concentration and Retail Participation in India", by the National Stock Exchange economics team led by their chief economist Tirthankar Patnaik shows unlike these impressions, the retail investors, at least in India, have not performed inconsistently.
'India has always been a bottom-up stock-picking market, and as growth recovers with higher liquidity, mid and small-caps always tend to outperform.'
Why it is important for investors to select the right product according to their specific investment needs, risk appetite and investment tenure.
Mutual funds' equity buying remained elevated for the fifth consecutive month in December, taking the net equity purchase past Rs 1.7 trillion in 2023. The aggressive buying in December indicates that flows into equity funds are likely to have remained unaffected by the sharp run-up in the market last month. Mutual funds (MFs) bought equities worth Rs 23,000 crore last month (until December 28) compared to Rs 18,000 crore in November, shows data from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi).
2023 could be another volatile year for Indian equity markets, according to BofA. In a report, the brokerage pointed out that the Nifty50, at present, is trading at 20.7x against its long-term average of 18.8x one-year forward earnings of current Nifty constituents. Plus, India is trading at a 98 per cent premium to its emerging market (EM) peers against its long-term average of 45 per cent.
A Supreme Court vacation bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice MM Sundresh noted that the petition was still pending in the high court and asked the ED to approach that court.
If you are overweight on fixed-income instruments, go for ELSS, and vice versa.
'To achieve a corpus of Rs 10 crores in the coming years, I would suggest you increase your SIP, advises Nikunj Saraf, vice president, Choice Wealth.
Anamika Pareek answers five most frequently asked questions about investing in silver ETFs
When the subscriber reaches superannuation or the age of 60, 60 per cent of the total corpus accumulated in NPS can be withdrawn as a lump sum.
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.
Even if the bull run may continue, most experts say some profit booking is called for, points out Sanjay Kumar Singh.
'Such big falls are quite frequent these days, so do not try to time this market.' 'Use big dips to accumulate quality stocks.'
India's total value of defence production breached Rs 1 trillion-mark in the fiscal year 2022-23 (FY23), up 12 per cent year-on-year (YoY). At the bourses, this has been well reflected in related-stocks from the sector as they gained considerable ground during this period. Shares of Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL), Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders, MTAR Technologies, Bharat Electronics (BEL), and Bharat Dynamics (BDL) have skyrocketed up to 160 per cent in a year, as against a 14 per cent jump in the S&P BSE Sensex.
rediffGURU Ramalingam Kalirajan answers your personal finance queries.
You can build your own retirement savings portfolio by investing in equity, hybrid and/or debt funds. Alternatively, you can also invest in retirement funds which provide asset allocation solutions for different investment needs and risk appetites, says Dwaipayan Bose
''The outcome of the state polls may lead to some strategy-related permutations and combinations and the markets may extrapolate it to the likely outcome in the general elections.'
Active largecap funds, which have the toughest job in terms of outperforming the benchmark, did better in 2023 as their bets in the mid and smallcap stocks paid off.
Despite its recent underperformance, gold must be a part of your portfolio.
'Sector funds like IT funds should be included only in the satellite portfolio.' 'Limit your exposure to IT sector funds to around 5-10 per cent of your equity portfolio.'
Over 87 per cent of active large-cap schemes failed to outperform the benchmark S&P BSE 100 (total return) in the 2022 calendar year (CY), significantly higher than the 2021 figure of 50 per cent, shows a report by S&P Dow Jones Indices. During the three-year period (CY 2020, '21, '22), the percentage of schemes underperforming the index was even higher at 97 per cent. While active large-cap schemes generally find it tough to outperform due to a rising efficiency in the market, 2022 proved to be even more challenging as mid-cap and small-cap stocks (where they have some allocation) performed poorly vis-a-vis the large-caps.
'Continue with your SIPs to get the benefit of lower average prices in this challenging market environment.'
Notwithstanding sharp volatility in March, mutual fund (MF) investors didn't fight shy of investing in riskier small-cap-oriented schemes. Inflows into small-cap funds were not just the highest in absolute terms, they were also the maximum as a proportion of assets under management (AUM) among all market capitalisation (m-cap)-oriented categories. Investors funnelled Rs 2,430 crore down small-cap funds - 1.8 per cent of their AUM of Rs 1.33 trillion.
'Chasing sectors which have reported strongest earnings is not always the right strategy for outperformance.'
'They can transition from short to long-duration funds when the yield curve normalises.'
Water projects firm Vishnu Prakash R Punglia, the 20th company to launch its IPO in the current year, saw its shares closing at a 47 per cent gain over its issue price on Tuesday. Such a huge one-day pop is considered rare; however, it has become the norm this year. The average listing-day gain for these 20 IPOs in 2023 is 34 per cent, and their average gain to date stands at 46 per cent.
Two factors play a predominant role in fetching good returns -- stock selection and allocation, suggests Sanjay Kumar Singh.
'Investors should ideally consider equity allocations from a medium-to-long term perspective.'
Among the ministers in the new cabinet are 8 Lingayats, 7 Vokkaligas, 7 OBCs, 3 SCs, 2 Brahmins, 1 ST and 1 Reddy, and a woman.
'Very few of small investors stay invested for those three or four or five years.' 'If there's like a six month, one-year period when market is not doing well, you exit.' 'After the market has run up, you get in again.' 'This way you will never make returns.'
'Historically, the markets tend to perform well during election years as governments aim to increase spending and call attention to growth.'
'Especially if their investment horizon is over two years.'
'There will be a series of rate hikes, but the pace and quantum will depend on how the economy in the US and the rest of the world behave.'
Nikunj Saraf, Vice President Choice Wealth, answers your queries.
All the Shiv Sena rebels who had resigned as ministers of the previous MVA government to join the Shinde camp were inducted into the new cabinet on Tuesday.
Buying or selling securities based on rumours about expected changes in tax rates or sectoral sops can backfire, advises Sarbajeet K Sen.
Dealers say foreign investors are now taking keen interest in lower-rated corporate bonds, too
