​PPFAS Mutual Fund completed 10 years in May. In an interview Neil Parikh shared his plans for the fund house.

Gold prices started May on a high with the background of pain in the US banking sector leading to global risk aversion, the report said. The Fed policy at the start of the month where the Fed chair hinted at flexibility and a meeting-by-meeting approach was considered dovish by markets. This also supported the prices.

"Smallcap valuations are attractive compared with larger peers. Smallcap Index is trading at a discount to largecap index. It was trading at a premium to the largecap index during the euphoria of 2007 and 2017. People who invested in smallcap stocks back then suffered losses or accrued sub-par returns. The current valuations of small-caps seem reasonable," says Sahil Shah of Edelweiss MF.

​In about 20 years, these six states have reached where India was yesterday. Now, if all of us continue to work in similar fashion for next 20 years, these six states will create today's five India.

Wealth managers believe the Nifty Next 50 represents the next rung of liquid securities after the Nifty 50 and recommend an allocation to this index for equity investors. The Nifty Next 50 trades at a one-year forward price-earnings ratio of 28, compared with its five-year average of 28.93, making valuations reasonable.

The markets regulator, in its consultation paper issued last month, proposed that AMCs should put in place robust surveillance systems and internal control procedures, to deter possible misconduct by employees or other entities which may have information relating to fund management or investments of mutual fund schemes.

Sebi had placed a consultation paper on the review of the total expense ratio (TER) charged by AMCS to unitholders of fund schemes on May 18 and sought comments till June 1 on the proposal.

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This policy decision should not have any material impact on the bond market though there could be minor fluctuation in yields depending on policy stance and language.

​These schemes have high risk. But they also have potential to offer higher returns.

​So, one problem is in a way out of the way and alongside which we have also seen actually interest rates presumably going into a bit of a pause mode as far as we can understand and which is again a little better than our expectations because that was supposed to come about more in the second half of the year which basically means that PE multiple decline from year essentially is arrested and that problem at one level is out of the way.

Out of 167 equity schemes that have completed five years in the market, 107 schemes failed to beat their respective benchmarks. These 107 schemes were from across the categories such as contra fund, ELSS, flexi cap, focused fund, large & mid cap, large cap, mid cap, small cap, and value fund.

Wealth managers recommend investors put some money in international funds to geographically diversify their equity portfolios, hedge currency risks, and gain exposure to companies in cutting-edge technology areas that are not available in India

The Sebi chief said mutual funds are an important vehicle to encourage investors to participate in the markets. Buch expressed confidence in the industry's potential and said its asset size could grow from the current ₹40 lakh crore to ₹100 lakh crore.

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A lumpsum investment made on May 24, 2020 of Rs 10,000 in these 15 small cap schemes would have grown between Rs 27,450 to Rs 43,833 in the three-year period.

Four index funds, a fixed maturity plan, value fund, thematic fund, focused fund, an ETF, and ELSS fund are currently open for subscription in the market. Should you invest in these new fund offers to maximize the returns from your mutual fund portfolio?

Data provided by CRISIL Market Intelligence and Analytics to ET showed that MF investments in AT-1 bonds crashed to ₹5,382 crore in April 2023, from ₹25,057 crore in January 2020.

Benchmark indices rose to their highest level in nearly six months led by the financials, with the Sensex briefly surpassing the 63,000-mark before trimming some of its gains.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) may negatively impact India's mutual fund sector with its proposal to review total expense ratio (TER) regulations, according to brokerage Nuvama. The sector's net profitability could fall by up to 27% from listing asset managers' 2024-25 net operating profits due to changes potentially increasing annual fees to include items such as securities transaction tax (STT) and brokerage.

​New investors are confused about which mutual funds to start investing in to create wealth.​

ITI Focused Equity Fund will be benchmarked against Nifty 500 Total Return Index. The fund will be jointly managed by Dhimant Shah and Rohan Korde.

Siddharth Srivastava, Head - ETF Product, Mirae Asset Mutual Fund said, “Silver is widely considered to be a relatively in times of economy turmoil and a good hedge against dollar, just like gold. In addition to these factors, silver price has found support from its growing use in industrial settings, which now accounts for roughly half of the silver annual demand. These factors make silver a very compelling asset to be included in an investor’s portfolio either from a long-term point of view or for tactical allocation based on various technical indicators.”

"Due to the recent changes in debt taxation, there could either be some change to our existing hybrid scheme or a new scheme offering may be considered given the changed environment. Our preference is not to launch too many schemes and clutter the offering," says Neil Parikh of PPFAS Mutual Fund.

The portfolio is well diversified yet retains large positions in its top bets. The fund endured a blip in performance between 2017-2020 but came back strong in 2021 and 2022. The shift in market’s preference towards value has helped the fund recover smartly.

"By easing the compliance burden, Sebi aims to foster the growth of passive investments in the Indian mutual fund industry," Sebi whole-time member Ananta Barua said while speaking at the mutual fund summit organised by industry body Assocham in the national capital.

​Parag Parikh Flexi Cap Fund completes 10 years of existence next week. The scheme was launched in May 2013. The scheme has offered 18.26% returns since inception.

Market experts have been asking investors to tone down their expectations from equity investments. However, if you look at the performance chart, you will be pleasantly surprised that your equity funds offered double-digit returns in one year.

The performance of the scheme will be benchmarked against the NIFTY 200 Momentum 30 Index (Total Return Index). The scheme will be managed by Devender Singhal, Satish Dondapati, and Abhishek Bisen.

​But my own belief is as interest rates start coming down the next year and supported by good growth coming in, probably we should see some kind of premium valuation starts coming in, which probably should see it coming in next year.

Kotak Nifty PSU Bank ETF and Nippon India ETF Nifty PSU Bank BeES offered 67.09% and 67.08% returns respectively in a year. NIFTY PSU BANK - TRI, the benchmark for these two schemes, offered 68.19% in the one-year horizon.

A Dynamic Bond Fund or any other debt fund which invests in long-term debt instruments is highly sensitive to interest rate movements. Thus, in a short period of time, returns could be highly volatile and can even be negative. However, over a longer time frame of over 2-3 years period, returns tend to normalise along with the interest rate cycles.

From an investment point of view, due to its lower correlation with equities and gold-like behaviour when it comes to robustness during times of economic turmoil, silver becomes a very compelling asset to be included in an investor portfolio.

I think a lot of it has to do to my mind with two or three things. One is your external account situation obviously has gone through a sea change because energy prices are down, service exports have done well. The dollar itself has weakened.

“The size of Parag Parikh Flexi Cap Fund has surely grown over the last decade. This has prompted some to wonder whether we should close for fresh investments. We are not considering this for now,” Thakkar said.

Three index funds, two thematic funds, a fixed maturity plan, value fund, and an ELSS fund are open for subscription in the market. Should you invest in these new fund offers to maximize the returns from your mutual fund portfolio?

In addition to ETF, in the index funds too, HNIs have witnessed an AUM CAGR of 145 per cent over the past four years. Apart from HNIs, retail AUM in ETFs has posted a CAGR of 56 per cent over FY19-23 to Rs 9,700 crore in FY23.

While past returns are an important parameter to consider performance, they must not be looked at in isolation. The data that a large cap fund returned 20% in the last one year does not indicate much. It must be compared with its benchmark and other schemes in the large cap space.

I am sure looking at all angles from this thing, from the investor point of view, from the industry point of view, from the intermediary point of view and more than anything else keeping in view the growth of the industry, I think the final whatever will come will be for the benefit of everybody.

The performance of the scheme will be benchmarked against S&P BSE Housing TRI. The scheme will be managed by Sharwan Kumar Goyal and Ayush Jain.

The performance of the scheme will be benchmarked against NIFTY50 Equal Weight TRI. The scheme will be managed by Sharwan Kumar Goyal and Ayush Jain.

Sebi wanted to cap the Total Expense Ratio charged by mutual funds as the total costs incurred by investors were way above the prescribed fee. The Sebi also proposed a performance-linked fee. Will it make a big difference to mutual fund investors?

The RBI announced withdrawal of Rs 2,000 notes this week and have given time to deposit the notes with banks up to 30 September 2023. Also, a withdrawal of Rs 20,000 per person per day of notes in exchange is allowed.

10-year bond yields are expected to start rallying due to inflation and weakening macroeconomic data. Rate cuts are expected to be built in over the next six months, and from RBI's perspective, around 50 bps of rate cuts are anticipated in the next year. Interest rates are expected to move lower, causing the addition of duration to all portfolios. Long bonds will perform well initially and short-term funds when rate cuts occur. Corporate bond spreads are attractive for the three- to five-year segment.

HDFC Defence Fund will follow a multi cap strategy and build a portfolio with a focus on growth and quality at reasonable valuations by investing across large-, mid- and small-cap stocks.

Around 11 mid cap schemes failed to beat their respective benchmarks in one, three, and five-year horizons. Tata Mid Cap Growth Fund, one of the oldest mid cap funds, underperformed its benchmark in all three horizons.

"Given the attractive spreads and higher interest in equities, arbitrage funds can deliver a 7% return. These returns are similar to liquid funds with better tax efficiency," said Viral Bhatt, founder of Money Mantra.

We examine the key fundamentals of the fund, its portfolio and performance to help you make an informed investment decision.

" Some signs of improvements are now showing. Earnings should start improving from 6-7% to 12-15% in around 6-12 months."