Mutual Funds

2012-01-30T13:31:00.002+03:00

FUND FULCRUM (contd.)January 2012 Piquant Parade Reliance Mutual Fund has mopped up Rs. 1,500 crore by issuing more than 3 lakh ATM money cards to investors since its launch in 2006. The facility is a first of its kind initiative from Reliance, which competes directly with debit cards, which are widely used for cash withdrawals. The main advantage of this card is that it offers higher interest

2012-01-23T12:10:00.001+03:00

FUND FULCRUMJanuary 2012 The mutual fund industry took a hit of more than Rs 16,000 crore on its asset size during 2011, even as the market leader HDFC Mutual Fund grew in size and consolidated its top position. As per the latest quarterly data released by Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI), the cumulative average Asset Under Management (AUM) of all fund houses stood at about Rs 6,87,640

2012-01-16T13:16:00.001+03:00

NFO NESTJanuary 2012NFOs at an eight-year low in 2011 The poor state of the stock market and the capital market regulator's tough stance against launch of a new fund have hit the launch of equity new fund offers (NFOs). Equity NFOs have hit an eight-year-low in 2011. Only 10 new schemes have been launched in 2011, garnering merely Rs 612 crore against Rs 4,659 crore in 2010. In a poor market it

2012-01-16T13:14:00.000+03:00

2012-01-09T20:41:00.002+03:00

GEMGAZEJanuary 2012 Balance your portfolio with balanced fundsIt is seldom that both debt and equity markets offer attractive buying opportunities to investors at the same time. We may be in just that situation now. As rising interest rates have resulted in 10 per cent-plus returns on safe 3-5 year debt options today, equity markets are in a free fall, offering buying opportunities to long term

2012-01-02T18:55:00.001+03:00

FUND FLAVOURJanuary 2012 Balanced funds…sweet as ever The fund industry never tires of concocting new products for investors looking for the perfect tradeoff between growth and stability. Absolute return, tactical allocation, target date ... those are just some of the impressive-sounding labels you are asked to decode. But if you are looking for a way to diversify across risky, uncertain and

2011-12-26T18:01:00.002+03:00

FUND FULCRUMDecember 2011 With the prevailing uncertainty in equity markets and an indefinite postponement of hopes of any recovery, retail investors accessing stock markets through equity mutual fund schemes are wriggling out fast. Around 125,000 equity investors closed their folios in November 2011 — the second highest in the current financial year after July 2011, when equity folios had shrunk

2011-12-19T15:40:00.002+03:00

NFO NESTDecember 2011Drowning of the Equity Fund drought? After several months of drought, new equity schemes are surfacing again from the stables of old fund houses. Last week, LIC Nomura and Canara Robeco filed offer documents for open-ended equity-oriented schemes with the Securities and Exchange Board of India. These are the first such scheme documents filed for pure-play equity schemes by

2011-12-12T15:48:00.002+03:00

GEMGAZEDecember 2011 The unexplored treasureIn India, it is still the institutional investors who mostly invest in fixed income mutual fund products. Retail investor participation in this asset class through mutual funds is negligible. This is counter-intuitive considering the vast amount of savings that the Indian investors have in bank fixed deposits. If one looks at the asset allocation

2011-12-05T17:35:00.002+03:00

FUND FLAVOURDEBT FUNDSRide the interest rate cycle…With a series of hikes over the past year, interest rates have risen sharply and it is likely that they may inch up in the near future. While fixed deposits will fetch higher returns, debt funds may feel the pinch. This is due to the inverse relationship between bond prices and interest rates. When interest rates rise, bond prices come down,

2011-11-28T15:39:00.002+03:00

FUND FULCRUMNovember 2011 The mutual fund industry saw its asset base grow by 8.3% in October 2011, led by inflows from the corporate sector. According to the Association of Mutual Funds in India, assets under management stood at Rs 695,437 crore in October 2011 (Rs. 6.41 lakh crore at the end of September 2011). Of this, equity assets contributed 23% at Rs 1,61,532 crore, as against 24% of the

2011-11-21T12:45:00.002+03:00

NFO NESTNovember 2011Of Centuries and Millenia… IDBI Gold Exchange Traded Fund, the NFO launched by IDBI Asset Management, has collected over Rs 110 crore, predominantly from around 11,000 retail investors, including HNIs. Indiabulls Mutual Fund has garnered Rs 1,107 crore through its maiden liquid fund, which was open for subscription for just one day. This is the first instance in this calendar

2011-11-14T21:54:00.002+03:00

GEM GAZENovember 2011There are 48 Equity Linked Saving Schemes offered by 41 mutual fund houses. Out of this 36 are open-ended schemes and 12 are close-ended schemes. The industry wide assets for all ELSS are Rs 26,515 crore representing around 4% of the industry corpus. ELSS Funds help you save taxes as well as generate decent returns. But, how do you separate the wheat from the chaff?GEMGAZE

2011-11-07T18:05:00.002+03:00

FUND FLAVOURNovember 2011 Goodbye ELSS! We never did envisage the day when ELSS would become a thing of the past. From April 2012, this entire category of equity based tax saving schemes would be history. Frankly, this is a blow to investors. ELSS was the only tax saving instrument that combined tax saving with the higher return that is possible only through equity and the lowest lock-in period

2011-10-31T13:42:00.002+03:00

FUND FULCRUM (contd.)October 2011Retail investors are becoming more impatient in holding on to their equity fund investments if the recently released AMFI data is anything to go by. Retail investors held Rs. 96,855 crore in equity assets for more than 2 years as on September 2010 which has dropped to Rs. 78,572 crore in September 2011, a fall of 19%. As a percentage too, assets held for a period

2011-10-24T17:56:00.002+03:00

FUND FULCRUMOctober 2011 Total Assets Under Management of the mutual fund industry that fell by 4% in August 2011, dipped by 8% (by Rs. 54801 crore) to Rs. 6.41 lakh crore in September 2011. The decline was attributed to huge outflows from liquid and income funds, as banks and corporates withdrew their mutual fund investments to meet their quarter end commitments. On the other side, the average

2011-10-17T15:54:00.001+03:00

NFO NESTOctober 2011Yearning for the yellow metal!Record-level gold prices may have dampened the demand for jewellery, but it has hardly dented investors’ appetite for products based on the yellow metal. Gold schemes with the facility to make periodic purchases, floated by Reliance Mutual Fund, Kotak Mutual Fund and SBI Mutual Fund, have seen sizeable inflows, prompting other asset management

2011-10-10T18:26:00.002+03:00

GEM GAZEOctober 2011The broad-based 2010 sector funds GEMGAZE is almost left untouched save Franklin Pharma, which merged with Franklin India Prima Plus, along with Franklin FMCG Fund. Reliance Pharma has taken its coveted position in the 2011 sector funds GEMGAZE. The negative one-year return of the funds under consideration should be viewed against the backdrop of the bleeding Sensex.ICICI

2011-10-06T22:07:00.002+03:00

Dear Readers!It gives me immense pleasure in announcing the launch of my website www.mfmazetomatrix.com. Kindly visit the site which is an orderly treasure trove of information on mutualfunds.Lalitha MuthuOctober 6, 2011

2011-10-03T21:15:00.002+03:00

FUND FLAVOUROctober 2011Top-up…You should take one step at a time and begin investments with a balanced fund or a large cap equity diversified fund. Sectoral funds should not form core of your portfolio. A sector story which sounds convincing and in fashion at one point will go out of fashion at some other point. Moreover when a story is current, its negative points get ignored and wished away.

2011-09-26T13:34:00.002+03:00

FUND FULCRUMSeptember 2011Even as equity markets are in the firm grip of a bearish sentiment, retail investors appear to be opting to invest in increased numbers, presumably in anticipation of returns when the scenario improves. The number of retail folios in equity schemes rose by 138,000 in August 2011, a month when the benchmark indices fell by 12%. There was an exodus of investors in July

2011-09-19T19:57:00.002+03:00

NFO NESTSeptember 2011Safety First!There is a dearth of equity NFOs this month. Three out of the six funds figuring in the September 2011 NFO NEST are capital protection-oriented funds, one is a hybrid fund and another is a gold fund of fund. Only one is an equity fund. Capital protection-oriented funds are designed to keep your money safe. At the same time it allows you an opportunity to take a

2011-09-12T20:37:00.002+03:00

GEM GAZESeptember 2011The market carnage has finally taken its toll. Only four GEMs of September 2010 have retained their esteemed status by virtue of their consistent performance. Magnum Contra, contrary to expectations, has exhibited a dismal performance and has been shown the door. Sundaram Midcap Fund has occupied its coveted position in the September 2011 GEMGAZE.HDFC Equity Fund GemSteady

2011-09-05T17:42:00.000+03:00

FUND FLAVOURSeptember 2011Low risk in the long-term…Diversified equity funds are those funds that spread investments across different sectors such as IT, pharma, banking, oil & gas, real estate, telecom and FMCG. One of the major advantages of this type of funds is that they minimise the risk of over-concentration in one particular sector. At any given point of time, if a part of the portfolio is

2011-08-29T19:00:00.002+03:00

FUND FULCRUM August 2011 The mutual fund industry is passing through one of its worst phases ever with over 7 lakh investor folios closing in a span of three months between March and June 2011. As per data collated from registrars, CAMS and Karvy, investor folios have fallen from 4.72 crore in March 2011 to 4.65 crore as on June 30, 2011. Contrast this against closure of only 7 lakh folios

2011-07-25T12:05:00.004+03:00

FUND FULCRUMJuly 2011 After two quarters of decline, the average assets managed by the mutual fund industry, comprising 43 active players, surged by 6 per cent to Rs 7.43 lakh crore, even as the country's largest fund house Reliance Mutual Fund saw a drop in its AUM. The combined average AUM of the 43 fund houses stood at Rs 7,43,083.91 crore at the end of June 2011, down from Rs 7,00,537.7 crore

2011-06-27T13:09:00.002+03:00

FUND FULCRUMJune 2011 According to the data provided by Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI), AUM of the mutual fund industry declined to Rs 7.31 lakh crore in May 2011 from Rs 7.85 lakh crore in April 2011. Total AUM of the mutual fund industry dropped 7% in May 2011 from the previous month led by redemptions from income and money market schemes. Income and money market funds - which form

2011-05-30T18:44:00.002+03:00

FUND FULCRUM (contd.)May 2011 The domestic mutual fund industry may see decline in assets under management (AUM) following the recent regulatory changes, according to ICRA Ltd. While 2010-11 proved challenging with decline in the AUM levels on introduction of new valuation guidelines from August 2010 and a tight liquidity regime, ICRA expects the pressure to continue in 2011-12 on account of

2011-05-23T18:00:00.002+03:00

FUND FULCRUMMay 2011 Mutual funds have witnessed a massive outflow of Rs 1,365 crore in April 2011. But the problem is not just with the fund industry, or investor behaviour, but with the so-called equity cult itself. Equity mutual funds enjoyed rising inflows from December 2010 to February 2011, with collections peaking at Rs2,495 crore in February 2011. It was after this that the decline

2011-05-16T18:13:00.001+03:00

NFO NESTMay 2011Spiced Up!The aroma of spices is flooding the NFO market. Variety is the spice of the NFO market. Akin to NFOs in April 2011, four funds from diverse categories make their appearance in the May 2011 NFO NEST. Sundaram Equity Plus FundOpens: May 4, 2011Closes: May 18, 2011 Taking advantage of the love Indians have for gold, Sundaram Mutual Fund has launched Sundaram Equity Plus, a

2011-05-09T15:19:00.001+03:00

GEM GAZEMay 2011Index investing has not gained the requisite momentum as active investing in India. Nevertheless, for the benefit of those who believe in passive investing, we have culled out the GEMs in the Index Fund category that can adorn your portfolio.With two funds joining the “GEMGAZE” bandwagon, the May 2011 GEMGAZE sparkles with five GEMs in all.Benchmark Banking BeES GemIncorporated in

2011-05-02T17:41:00.002+03:00

FUND FLAVOURMay 2011 Index Funds - one up on Active Funds! Index mutual funds are about investing in securities of a particular (targeted) index in an equal proportion. These investments tend to be passive by nature and so it would mean that the manager of the portfolio would distribute the assets of the fund across several stocks that are part of the index. This distribution is done in equal

2011-04-25T19:26:00.002+03:00

FUND FULCRUMApril 2011 Total assets under management (AUM) of 41 mutual fund houses in India rose to Rs 7,00,538 crore at the end of March 2011, according to AMFI data. The AUM of the largest mutual fund in India, Reliance Mutual Fund witnessed a fall of Rs 490 crore to Rs 1,01,576.60 crore. HDFC Mutual Fund's average assets shrunk by Rs 1,600 crore or 1.81% to Rs 86,282.24. ICICI Prudential

2011-04-18T17:40:00.002+03:00

NFO NEST April 2011 Whither NFO Culture? Several open-ended equity schemes have failed to attract any meaningful investment, but are still alive. The list is long and almost all fund houses are still selling such schemes, which were launched long ago, but failed to mop up enough money from investors. Many of the small schemes are a product of the NFO culture prevalent till recently. Fund houses

2011-04-11T17:17:00.002+03:00

GEM GAZE April 2011 An Additional Avenue… For the average Indian investor, international avenues are still a relatively unexplored territory. However, the easing of overseas investment norms for mutual funds has made it possible for you to participate in international markets and add a foreign flavour to your portfolio. A variety of globally focused funds are available, which not only invest in

2011-04-04T13:04:00.002+03:00

FUND FLAVOURApril 2011 On the platter… Global funds are schemes that invest at least 65% of their corpus in foreign stocks or overseas mutual funds. A total of 26 global funds have been launched since foreign investment norms were eased in 2007. On offer are three types of funds: those that allow direct investing into global markets; funds that use the feeder route to invest in an existing global

2011-03-28T21:16:00.004+03:00

FUND FULCRUM March 2011 The average assets under management (AUM) of the fund industry surged 2.3% in February 2011 to Rs 7.07-lakh crore. According to data compiled by Association of Mutual Funds in India, the mutual fund industry witnessed inflows of Rs 25,757 crore in all schemes, with equity and money market schemes seeing inflows of Rs 2,495 crore and Rs 8,770 crore, respectively, in

2011-03-21T18:03:00.002+03:00

NFO NESTMarch 2011Resurgence?NFOs have been few and far between since the 2008 crisis…But 2011 has been witnessing resurgence in NFOs thus far.Pramerica Dynamic Monthly Income FundOpens: March 8, 2011Closes: March 22, 2011 Pramerica Dynamic Monthly Income Fund aims to generate regular returns through investment in fixed income (debt and money market) instruments and to generate capital

2011-03-14T17:30:00.001+03:00

GEM GAZEMarch 2011Best of both worldsArbitrage funds thrive in a roller-coaster market. The benefits of arbitrage funds are best enjoyed during volatile markets, primarily due to the stability in the investment strategy of such funds. To attain the returns with bare minimum risk, the asset allocation of arbitrage scheme is split mainly between equity and debt components. The basket of arbitrage

2011-03-07T15:20:00.002+03:00

FUND FLAVOURMarch 2011 To the brink and back again "It was the best of times it was the worst of times." - Charles Dickens No other mutual fund category has seen such wild swings in fortunes as the Indian Derivative Funds over the last seven years. Derivative/Arbitrage Funds made a small beginning when they were launched in 2004. As the world was rocked by the financial crisis, these funds

2011-02-28T20:32:00.002+03:00

FUND FULCRUMFebruary 2011 The year has begun well for the mutual fund industry as the assets under management of the industry grew by slightly more than 10% in January 2011, on the back of increased government spending and higher investments into liquid funds by banks and corporations. The AUM in January 2011 for the industry rose to Rs 6.91 lakh crore from Rs 6.26 lakh crore as at the end of

2011-02-21T21:18:00.002+03:00

NFO NESTFebruary 2011 Off to a good start in 2011! 2010 saw 17 new fund offerings collect about Rs 2,600 crore, down 44% (Rs 5,900 crore) than what was collected in 2009. This also pales in comparison with the NFO collections during the peak of the bull-run between August 2007 and January 2008, when 33 schemes collected about Rs 21,770 crore. The highly volatile equity markets in 2010 as compared

2011-02-14T20:33:00.002+03:00

GEM GAZEFebruary 2011A single-stop solution…Fund of Funds are a good option for investors looking for expert handholding to invest based on asset allocation. Most of the funds are built around risk profiles – conservative, moderate and aggressive — in which most of the retail investors fit in. It is the risk profile of the investor and the life stage that the investor is in that will decide which

2011-02-07T16:24:00.000+03:00

FUND FLAVOURFebruary 2011Hit the bull in the eye… Mutual fund investments have gained a lot of popularity in the last two decades, primarily by virtue of their ability to reduce risks, provide greater diversification and beat market volatility to a certain extent. But with a plethora of schemes available in the market, how do you choose the right one or diversify among the different schemes? The

2011-01-31T12:59:00.002+03:00

FUND FULCRUM (contd.)January 2011 Indian mutual fund houses have seen a higher drop in their AUMs than the foreign fund houses have, according to data available on the SEBI website. As of December 31, 2010, Indian mutual fund houses' average assets under management (AUM) fell by 10.4% while that of foreign fund houses fell by 2.6%. The industry average AUM, which stood at Rs. 6.74 lakh crore, for

2011-01-24T19:08:00.002+03:00

FUND FULCRUM January 2011 The average assets under management (AUM) for the October-December 2010 quarter has declined 5.31% to Rs 6,75,376 crore as against Rs 7,13,281 crore for the September 2010 quarter as per the data released by the Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI). Interestingly, in the previous quarter, AAUM had constantly risen between July and September 2010 after a fall of

2011-01-17T12:53:00.002+03:00

NFO NESTJanuary 2011Race against time! Mutual fund unit sales are sliding due to a variety of factors, including many regulatory developments in the last few years. Equity mutual funds, through 24 NFOs, collected a mere Rs 3,000 crore in 2010, down by over 57% from 2009 and lowest in four years. 2007 witnessed 64 equity NFOs collecting Rs 39,327 crore; 48 equity fund offerings in 2008 collected

2011-01-10T21:47:00.003+03:00

GEM GAZEJanuary 2011Mutual funds offer a potpourri of many asset classes. So it is only natural that a number of hybrid funds have emerged to address varying investor needs. One such hybrid offering is the balanced fund. With its genesis dating back to the late twenties in the international investment market, a balanced fund invests in both equity and debt markets. It is best suited for investors

2011-01-03T20:35:00.002+03:00

FUND FLAVOURJanuary 2011 Balanced is better What matters in long term investing is identifying consistent funds with balanced risk-adjusted returns and not what is “in” or “out” of fashion. Almost all of us want to achieve a fine balance in everything we do in life. It is difficult for most people to dispassionately act on their investments. This is where balanced funds pitch in. The USP The

2010-12-27T13:47:00.002+03:00

FUND FULCRUMDecember 2010 Things seem to be looking up for the mutual fund industry as it saw a net inflow in November 2010. The mutual fund industry saw an inflow of Rs 18,379 crore in November 2010 as against a total outflow of Rs 5,742 crore in October 2010. Income funds experienced an inflow of Rs 11,307 crore in November 2010, as against an outflow of Rs 5,305 crore in October 2010. The

2010-12-20T13:44:00.002+03:00

NFO NESTDecember 2010 A brief reprieve in the NFO rain! It is raining NFOs in the mutual fund industry. According to Value Research, an independent mutual fund tracking firm, more than 200 NFOs have managed to mobilise Rs 43,251 crore in the past five months. The fund houses launched NFOs across the spectrum, including 14 equity funds, 20 debt funds, 2 gold funds, 15 hybrid funds, and a host of

2010-12-13T17:14:00.002+03:00

GEM GAZEDecember 2010 The goal of any investor is to accumulate wealth to fulfill future wants and needs. For a conservative investor, protection of principal is of utmost importance. However, financial prudence lies in having liquidity for contingencies, as well as a means for capital appreciation. If you seek capital appreciation and tax comfort, along with reasonable safety of capital, then

2010-12-06T21:06:00.002+03:00

FUND FLAVOURDecember 2010 A perfect fit… Are you looking for debt instruments beyond bank fixed deposits and post office instruments? Debt mutual funds may fit the bill well. Debt mutual fund is a product whose main aim is capital preservation coupled with descent returns i.e. higher than savings account and bank fixed deposits. Debt fund returns is essentially a combination of capital

2010-11-29T13:19:00.002+03:00

FUND FULCRUM (contd.)November 2010Regulatory RigmaroleThe Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has relaxed the norms on merger and consolidation of mutual fund schemes. The circular reverses the June 2003 ruling of SEBI that viewed any merger or consolidation as change in the fundamental attributes of the surviving scheme and hence made it mandatory for fund houses to follow certain

2010-11-22T20:13:00.004+03:00

FUND FULCRUMNovember 2010 After a rise in average assets under management (AAUM) for two straight months, the fund industry saw its assets fall in October 2010. The month was tough for the industry, which recorded a poor performance on all fronts – average assets, net assets, and outflow from equity schemes. According to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) data, the industry’s AAUM

2010-11-15T14:34:00.002+03:00

NFO NESTNovember 2010NFOs have started making a slow comeback, with debt funds far outstripping the number of equity funds featuring in the November 2010 NFONEST… JPMorgan India Capital Protection-oriented FundOpens: November 12, 2010Closes: November 26, 2010 JP Morgan Capital Protection-oriented Fund is a 39-month closed-end income scheme, which will mature on March 6, 2014. The fund is rated

2010-11-08T20:35:00.002+03:00

GEM GAZENovember 2010 34 ELSS Funds in all with 14 having a track record of five years and more – exhibited lower divergence between the best and worst in the category, compared with diversified funds. After a prolonged phase of underperformance, tax-savings funds are slowly catching up with their open-end diversified peers. The one-year average return of ELSS is, in fact, one percentage point

2010-11-01T18:32:00.003+03:00

FUND FLAVOUR November 2010 The versatile ELSS Funds… ELSS Funds are variants of diversified equity funds. Besides being equipped with the typical features of diversified equity funds, they offer tax advantage. You can make your investment tax deductible under Section 80C of the Income Tax Act. The limit under Section 80C is Rs 1 lakh. The ELSS funds have a lock-in period of three years. They are

2010-10-25T13:08:00.002+03:00

FUND FULCRUMOctober 2010 The Average Assets Under Management (AAUM) of the mutual fund industry grew 3.7% to Rs 7.12 lakh crore in September 2010 as against Rs 6.87 lakh crore in August 2010 according to the data available from AMFI. Of the existing fund houses, 29 players managed to remain in the positive territory of growth in September 2010. Among the top five players, UTI Mutual Fund led the

2010-10-18T13:36:00.002+03:00

NFO NESTOctober 2010 Mutual Funds had launched 26 new fund offers in the equity segment between November 2007 and January 2008. Today, the NAVs of half these schemes are below the face value of Rs 10 per unit. And, no scheme has an NAV of more than Rs 20. Given the huge rush at that time to participate in the equity market, these NFOs garnered a significant amount of money – Rs 21,205.40 crore.

2010-10-11T17:23:00.000+03:00

GEM GAZEOctober 2010 I have embarked upon the task of picking out one GEM from each of the prominent sector from the October 2010 GEM GAZE. Earlier the GEMs came from any of the sectors with certain sectors left uncovered. This broad-based Sector Fund GEMGAZE is all-encompassing… ICICI Prudential Infrastructure Fund GemThe largest fund in the category, at Rs. 3680 crores, it dabbles in every

2010-10-04T13:02:00.002+03:00

FUND FLAVOUROctober 2010 Of exhilarating performance, expiry dates… According to mutual fund rating agency Value Research, in the last one year, pharmaceutical sector funds have given almost 56% returns, fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) 50%, banking 49%, and technology 38%. At the same time, equity diversified funds have returned 30% and the Sensex and Nifty have returned 17% and 18%,

2010-09-27T19:03:00.002+03:00

FUND FULCRUMSeptember 2010The average asset under management (AAUM) of the mutual fund industry jumped 3.3% to Rs 6,89,542 crore in August 2010 on strong inflows from institutions and banks into ultra-short term funds. The fund houses attributed the rise to better liquidity but cautioned that the outflow was continuing. Though August 2010 brought some relief, the assets are still nowhere close to

2010-09-20T13:00:00.002+03:00

NFO NESTSeptember 2010 With the National Securities Depository Ltd and Central Depository Services (India) Ltd now offering demat account services for the mutual fund account holders, CAMS has started an initiative where NFOs can now be applied for by investors online. The initiative called the e-NFO will make the process of applying for new fund offers less cumbersome and time-consuming for the

2010-09-13T12:07:00.002+03:00

GEM GAZESeptember 2010Looking to earn realistic risk-adjusted returns? Hold your equity fund for the long term and stick to a solid portfolio with the GEMs in the diversified equity category as the core. That seems to be the lesson from the 10-year performance of open-end equity funds that have a long track record. 58 of the 360 plus equity funds in India have been in existence for ten years or

2010-09-06T12:04:00.002+03:00

FUND FLAVOURSeptember 2010 Evergreen Equity Funds…Diversified equity mutual fund schemes offer good diversification, sound money management skills, experienced money managers, good investor-friendly practices, advantage of thorough research teams, etc. The important parameters to be considered are: the experience of a strong fund management team, the track record of the fund manager in different

2010-08-30T13:57:00.003+03:00

FUND FULCRUMAugust 2010 The assets under management of the Indian mutual fund industry plunged for the second straight month in July 2010, falling 1.5% as against a steep slide of 16% in June 2010. The combined average AUM of the 39 fund houses stood at Rs 6,65,567 crore in July 2010, a fall of Rs 10,296.15 crore. Reliance Mutual Fund, the largest fund house in the country, saw an addition of Rs

2010-07-26T11:43:00.002+03:00

FUND FULCRUM July 2010 The domestic mutual fund market has seen the steepest fall in assets since the global financial crisis of October 2008. According to the latest data from the Association of Mutual Funds in India, the industry’s average assets under management plunged 15.89%, or Rs 1,27,695 crore, in June 2010 to Rs 6,75,864.20 crore, compared to May 2010. But the AUM figure is up 26%

2010-06-28T13:50:00.002+03:00

FUND FULCRUMJune 2010 The assets under management of the mutual fund industry grew by Rs 34,393.67 crore, or 4.47%, in May 2010. The combined average AUM of the 37 fund houses stood at Rs 8,03,559.06 crore (Rs 8.07 lakh crore in November 2009). In May 2010, Reliance Mutual Fund, the largest fund house, saw an addition of Rs 7,154 crore to its average assets at Rs 1.19 lakh crore. After a gap of

2010-05-31T13:18:00.004+03:00

FUND FULCRUM (contd.)May 2010 Piquant parade Private sector mutual fund, Axis Mutual Fund, is aiming at more than doubling the size of assets under its management to Rs 10,000 crore and investor base to 30 lakhs by March 2011 and is looking at entering the overseas markets in 2012. Axis Mutual Fund currently has a distribution centre in Dubai. Axis, which got SEBI approval for mutual fund

2010-05-24T18:11:00.002+03:00

FUND FULCRUMMay 2010The mutual fund industry witnessed a 2.71 per cent growth in its assets under management in April 2010, a growth of Rs 20,836 crore to Rs 7,68,361 crore. The country's top three fund houses - Reliance Mutual Fund, HDFC Mutual Fund, and ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund - together saw their assets surge by Rs 9,376 crore, with HDFC Mutual Fund alone accounting for Rs 5,923 crore.

2010-05-17T19:00:00.002+03:00

NFO NEST May 2010 Spicy NFO treats await you this month too. From a capital protection-oriented fund to a concentrated fund and an index fund and finally some broad thematic funds… Birla Sun Life Capital Protection Oriented Fund – Series 2 Opens: April 21, 2010Closes: May 21, 2010 Birla Sun Life Capital Protection Oriented Fund – Series 2 is a closed end capital protection oriented scheme

2010-05-10T16:28:00.002+03:00

GEM GAZEINDEX FUNDSMay 2010Passive investing is the average investor’s best bet. The discipline of buying during downturns lowers average cost of acquisition. Indeed, investors who continued buying systematically through the crisis are head and shoulders above the crowd. A purely passive investor will stick to systematic investments. This tried and tested approach beats over 90 per cent of active

2010-05-03T18:37:00.002+03:00

FUND FLAVOUR May 2010 Rediscovering the virtues of passivity...For the first time, mutual funds in India are showing increased inclination towards passively managed funds after the downturn, when actively managed portfolios were hurt more than index funds. Markets are becoming more efficient, which makes it all the more difficult to beat the benchmark. With SEBI scrapping the entry load,

2010-04-26T17:18:00.002+03:00

FUND FULCRUM April 2010 The Average Assets Under Management (AAUM) of the Indian mutual fund industry plunged 4.37% in March 2010 after witnessing a 2.64% rise in February 2010. The industry's assets depleted almost by Rs 34,186.94 crore in March. This is the third time that the industry's assets have tumbled down after touching a record high of Rs 8 lakh crore during November 2009. In December

2010-04-19T15:34:00.002+03:00

NFO NESTApril 2010Variety adds spice to the NFO curryThe variety that has taken off from the NFONEST in April 2010 and those awaiting launch add spice to the bleak scenario that has been prevailing in the Indian mutual fund NFO market for quite sometime…DWS Global Agribusiness Offshore FundOpens: April 6, 2010Closes: April 30, 2010Deutsche Mutual Fund has launched DWS Global Agribusiness Offshore

2010-04-12T12:35:00.002+03:00

GEM GAZEApril 2010 Beyond boundaries...Not all markets move in tandem. At one point in time, one market could be surging, another could be struggling. Travel ahead and the positions could get reversed. With the emergence of overseas funds — Indian mutual funds that invest wholly or partly in foreign securities — as a feasible investment option, these numbers could shape your portfolio returns.

2010-04-05T17:29:00.002+03:00

FUND FLAVOUR(April 2010)Going global… Want to own a pie of Microsoft, Sony, Alcatel and various other top notch international companies? Looking to diversify your portfolio to include companies based in other parts of the world? Then you must seriously give a thought to global/international funds. Global funds are mutual funds that invest their money in companies located in other countries. They

2010-03-29T16:29:00.002+03:00

FUND FULCRUM (contd.)(March 2010)Piquant ParadeToday, 38 asset management companies operate in India. Peerless and Axis Bank were the most recent entrants in the business. Meanwhile, Bank of India, SREI Infrastructure Finance, Bajaj Allianz, and Indiabulls await SEBI approval to get started. IDBI Asset Management, a subsidiary of IDBI Bank, has received approval from Securities and Exchange Board

2010-03-22T14:18:00.002+03:00

FUND FULCRUM(March 2010)It has been a roller coaster ride for mutual fund investors in the past one year. Investors who have parked their money in diversified equity funds have earned an excess of 100% on an average. The Sensex soaring by almost 96% was a part of the story… fund managers outperforming key indices by a mile was the other part of the story. The mutual fund industry’s average assets

2010-03-15T17:26:00.003+03:00

NFO NESTMarch 2010Jumbo NFOs go the dino(saur) way…Are the days of mega NFOs from mutual fund houses over? A comatose distribution network, rendered ineffective after SEBI abolished entry load on fresh investments in mutual funds in August 2009, has played a paramount part in pushing prodigious NFOs into oblivion. Though it is a bit premature to write the obituary of new offerings from funds, the

2010-03-08T17:08:00.002+03:00

GEM GAZEMarch 2010 Advantage Arbitrage The derivatives markets account for around Rs 60,000 crore and arbitrage mutual funds manage around Rs 3,000 crore. This leaves enough space for mutual funds to reap the benefits of the available arbitrage opportunities. Arbitrage Funds make the most of the difference across markets by investing in cash and futures market in a diversified basket of equity &

2010-03-01T17:25:00.003+03:00

FUND FLAVOURMarch 2010Versatility in volatility…Arbitrage Funds are versatile - ideal investment vehicles for those who want debt exposure, to get the tax-break of an equity investment, and to skip the volatility of the equity market. From the point of view of taxation, equity is the most efficient asset class. The dividend income from the equity and long-term capital gains are both tax-free.

2010-02-22T18:48:00.002+03:00

FUND FULCRUMFebruary 2010The year 2010 did not start on a great note for the Indian mutual fund industry. In fact, after reaching an all-time high in November, 2009, the assets under management of the industry have been dipping consistently. The industry's AUM reached a record Rs 805,684.48 crore in November, 2009. Thereafter, it fell in December, 2009 by 1.62 per cent to Rs 792,665.68 crore. The

2010-02-15T17:19:00.002+03:00

NFO NESTFebruary 2010Is the NFO party over?Gone are the days when fund houses threw lavish distributor parties, advertised extensively and organized countrywide road shows to sell NFOs. Post-entry load ban, fund marketers are on a cost-cutting spree, downsizing the paraphernalia which was earlier considered absolutely essential for fund-selling. From reducing the subscription period and lowering

2010-02-08T21:23:00.002+03:00

GEM GAZEFebruary 2010 Regular rebalancing to retail rescue...Long term equity will create wealth ONLY if we follow the rules. There are three simple rules: invest regularly; make an asset allocation; rebalance portfolio. It sounds easy but almost impossible to do. Investing regularly is now more or less under control with the emergence of SIPs as viable investment vehicles. But the other two are

2010-02-01T19:57:00.002+03:00

FUND FLAVOURFund of FundsOne-stop shop…Marketed as an investment one-stop shop, multi-manager funds are designed to make an investor’s life easier by bringing together a range of specialist managers into a single fund. There are two types of multi-manager funds: those that invest in funds which are called Fund of Funds (FoF) and those which invest in shares through appointed investment managers

2010-01-25T17:44:00.006+03:00

FUND FULCRUM(January 2010)The last month of the year 2009 ended with a whimper for the mutual fund industry, but the year as a whole was a resounding success. The AUM of India’s mutual fund industry dropped to Rs 7.78 lakh crore at the end of December 2009, much below the Rs 8 lakh crore milestone that it had scaled in the previous month. The industry's average Asset Under Management fell by Rs

2010-01-18T19:51:00.002+03:00

NFO NESTJanuary 2010The NFO facelift? Every bull run inundates the market with NFOs. The pace of NFOs has, no doubt, picked up but the mind-boggling four-digit collection figures are passé. Driving on positive investor sentiments have proved futile in effecting a NFO facelift.Kotak Nifty ETFOpens: January 11, 2010Closes: January 19, 2010 Kotak Mahindra Asset Management Company has launched the

2010-01-11T19:19:00.002+03:00

GEM GAZEJanuary 2010Balanced Funds BouquetBalanced funds are a great way to invest in mutual funds. They offer the most convenient solution to balance out stability and growth. Time and again, they have proved that they can be your best friend during tough times. Around 60-75% allocation to equities means your money would grow at a healthy pace, while the debt portion would ensure that you reach

2010-01-04T15:56:00.002+03:00

FUND FLAVOURBalanced FundsSmart startThe mandate of balanced funds is to invest in both debt and equities in a roughly equal proportion. So, obviously, their returns mirror the performance of these two asset classes. Over the past few months, equities have been sprightly, while debt has been lacklustre, with the net returns being worth savouring. A smart start for novices…Out of the woods…Over a

2009-12-28T17:23:00.002+03:00

FUND FULCRUM(December 2009) The mutual fund industry hits another milestone, crossing Rs 8 lakh crore in asset under management in the month of November 2009. The average asset under management currently stands at Rs 8.07 lakh crore which is about 6% jump from October 2009 and 100% jump over the AUM in November 2008. 2009 has been a great year for the industry – the AUM rose from Rs 6 lakh crore

2009-12-21T15:50:00.002+03:00

NFO Nest(December 2009)From a drizzle to a downpour?After a prolonged lull, there are quite a few NFOs which have opened up. Investors are not getting as excited about NFOs as they used to be in the latter half of 2007 or early 2008. Moreover, the economics of selling funds has changed with the abolition of entry load. This apart, there has also been a marked change resulting in the disappearance

2009-12-14T18:48:00.002+03:00

Gem GazeDecember 2009 Debt begins its journey on the tight rope… The debt funds were back in vogue about a couple of years ago after lying on the sidelines for the preceeding three years. The interest rate cycle that peaked out is now headed downwards with the trough not visible in the immediate future. In this environment of hardening yields, gilts and income funds that have put up a decent

2009-12-07T20:52:00.002+03:00

FUND FLAVOUR(December 2009)The see sawing penchant for debt funds…The share of debt funds in the Indian mutual funds universe has risen from 69 per cent in December 2008 to 77 per cent in February 2009 and fallen to 66 per cent in September 2009 indicating a shift in investor preference for and against debt funds due to the change in market dynamics. In the past 6-9 months, stock markets have

2009-11-30T17:38:00.002+03:00

FUND FULCRUM (contd.)(November 2009)Indian mutual funds booked Rs 12,639 crore profit in the first half of the financial year 2009-10 by selling equity. In the same period last year, fund houses had booked losses of Rs 3,858 crore. Their total loss on sale of investments in 2008-09 was Rs 25,000 crore. Of the 35 mutual funds that have declared half-yearly financial results for the period ended

2009-11-23T13:07:00.004+03:00

FUND FULCRUM(November 2009)According to data by the Association of Mutual Funds in India, the mutual fund industry touched a historic high of Rs 7.62 lakh crore, while the country’s largest fund house, Reliance Mutual Fund, saw a decline of over Rs 1,400 crore in its average assets under management at the end of October 2009. The average AUM grew by Rs 19,391 crore,

2009-11-16T17:54:00.002+03:00

NFO Nest(November 2009)The unrelenting NFO slow down…AMFI data reveals that a mere 58 NFOs (only 14 equity funds with a majority being income funds) have been launched in the past seven months (April-October 2009). The mutual fund industry mobilized Rs 14,181 cr in the past seven months in contrast to Rs 93,285 cr during the same period in 2008 – a massive fall of 85%. In September and October

2009-11-09T20:24:00.002+03:00

GEM GAZENovember 2009 Gem chase!Tax planning is an exercise that needs to be evenly spread through out the financial year. April is the ideal time to start this much-needed exercise. November, though a tad better than March, is, no doubt, late…but better late than never…With Birla Sun Life Tax Plan and Principal Personal Tax Saver Fund failing to consistently beat the category average, they have

2009-11-02T18:28:00.003+03:00

FUND FLAVOUR(November 2009)ELSS on the march…According to a study, if you remained invested in Sensex shares for any block of three years during the past 27 years, your average annual return would have been 26.95%. The potential of ELSS Funds to create long-term wealth has not escaped taxpayers’ notice. Ever since Section 80C removed the sub-limit of Rs 10,000 per year on tax saving funds four