India seems to be on the path to recovery and now it remains interesting to see how the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) responds to the GDP growth numbers. It would be too early to say that the economy is out of woods, but -7.5% GDP growth in Q2FY21 is better than expected. Agriculture was…

The dramatic market recovery from the March lows is a pleasant surprise for all investors, including the seasoned institutional investors. The Nifty 500 — an index which represents approximately 95% of the free-float market capitalization of Indian markets — has generated 70.3% returns since its March lows. Graph: Going up from strength to strength Data as…

Amidst the on-going coronavirus pandemic, the Indian equity market hit an all-time high (12,938.25 points on Nifty 50 on November 18, 2020). Rise in economic activity after COVID-19 restrictions were eased and the pent-up demand during the festive season, indicatively pushed India’s economy on the road to recovery (after a sharp GDP growth contraction of -23.9%…

Do not put all your eggs in one basket! No other expression can emphasize more on the importance of diversification in investing. As you might be aware, investing in different asset classes helps optimize the risk-return trade-off. But for more effective results, diversifying within an asset class is equally crucial. Under the present market conditions, wherein the…

Ever since the coronavirus pandemic outbreak, the banking and financial sector has grossly underperformed the broader markets. ‘Financial’ is an index-heavy sector which accounts for 35.5% of the Nifty 50. The overhang of the moratorium and the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s) cautious commentary on Non-Performing Assets (NPAs) had dampened the investor sentiments. Nevertheless, things appear to…

Soon after the COVID-19 lockdown started in the last week of March 2020, the trouble began for mutual funds on multiple grounds–dwindling physical transactions, cancellation of Systematic Investment Plans (SIPs) by investors (due to job losses, pay cuts, and/or deferred payments), redemption pressure, and risk aversion set in as uncertainty loomed. The Assets Under Management (AUM) of…

“Is value investing dead?” Newspaper journalists and business channel anchors have been asking this question to their “experts” relentlessly. To join the bandwagon, some journalists are even including Value Funds (that follow the principles of value investing) in the list of investment propositions that investors should avoid. The data published by the Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI) clearly…

India reported its first COVID-19 case on January 30, 2020, in Kerala. Infections thereafter rose in many other states, and the Modi-led-NDA government eventually announced a nationwide lockdown. The effects of a lockdown were clearly visible on the economy. But the sector or theme that has benefited the most is Pharma and Healthcare. Since the March 23 low, the…

In May 2020, when the government announced an Atmanirbhar Bharat stimulus package of over Rs 20 lakh crore— purportedly equal to 10% of GDP, many investors couldn’t trust what they heard. But in reality, the package was nothing more than 1% of GDP, a damp squib! The government allocated Rs 1 lakh crore to the agriculture sector for building…

When an investor deploys his/her hard-earned money in any mutual fund scheme, often three aspects are looked at: the scheme’s investment mandate; its investment objective; and the performance track record. But when the fund manager of the scheme does not stick to the investment mandate set out, not only does it potentially endangers the scheme’s investment…