For those investing in Indian equities, the last couple of years have been wonderful. Exuding confidence in India’s growth story backed by several reforms, markets have generated significant wealth for investors. The mid and small-caps, in particular, have delivered stellar returns. Not wanting to miss the bus, an increasing number of individuals have participated in this…
Last week JPMorgan Chase, the New York-headquartered multinational financial services firm’s global index research group, announced the addition of the Indian government bonds to its Global Bond Index- Emerging Markets index suite. This came in after a JPMorgan investor survey found that funds wanted to replace Russian debt with that of India, after the invasion…
The AMFI monthly data on inflows into sub-categories of equity mutual funds sheds interesting facts about investor behaviour. In the endeavour to clock high returns, a lot of money is flowing into mid-cap funds, small-cap funds, multi-cap funds, and sector & thematic funds, without much attention given to the indicative risks involved. The graph indicates that many…
The Indian equity markets have scaled to a lifetime high, and the euphoria is pretty much evident. Giving in to the FOMO (fear of missing out), those who stayed out of equities, too, are now coming forward and participating. The CDSL and NSDL (the two depositories in the country) data reveals that 31 lakh new demat…
In the last few years with the government’s emphasis on Aatmanirbharta (or self-reliance) and the ‘Make in India’, initiative, many investment themes have taken shape. One such theme is drones. The Modi-led-NDA government has taken a series of reform measures to provide an impetus to India’s upcoming Drone industry, such as: Regulatory framework for commercial use of…
The precious yellow metal, gold, has played a pivotal role in socioeconomic development all around the world. It is a strategic long-term asset class that even central banks consider important for their reserve management. Gold is a liquid asset, carries no credit risk, considered to be a reserve currency, and its historical performance reveals that…
Three years ago, when the COVID-19 pandemic gripped the world and lockdowns were imposed, the two sectors or themes that earned the attention of the market participants were ‘Pharma & Healthcare’ and ‘IT & Technology’. Speaking of IT and technology, with a large section of the populace (barring the frontline workers) locked down at homes, the…
The Public Sector Undertakings or PSUs have a long-standing presence in India. The sector contributes around 15% of India’s GDP. Even during the COVID-19 pandemic, the reported profits of PSUs increased to Rs 520.12 crore in 2020-21 from Rs 346.36 crore in 2019-20, as per a Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) report. In FY 2022-23 as…
For a nation to walk on the path to progress and security of the people, defence plays an important role. In recent years, particularly after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, U.S.-China strained relations, so between North Korea and South Korea, India-China, and the crisis hit Pakistan, the geopolitical risk has heightened. As per the global BlackRock Geopolitical Risk…
In April 2020, when the world was grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic, I wrote a piece: Will Pharma Funds Prove to be the Antidote for Your Mutual Fund Portfolio. It’s been over three years since, and the S&P BSE Healthcare Index has moved impressively from March 2020 lows, indicating that pharma and healthcare as a sector has…
