Prajna Capital - An Investment Guide

An Equity-linked Fixed Maturity Plan is a debt fund which intends to invest primarily in the bonds issued by the corporate, banks, non-banking financial institutions, etc. These bonds are generally zero coupon bonds whose returns are set with the returns of underlying assets (e.g. group of stock or index) they choose. There is no fixed coupon rate, instead a participation ratio is fixed and on that ratio, the return is generated. The participation ratio is the fixed proportion of upside in the underlying asset that the investor is entitled to get. But here’s a catch, there is a cap on the upside known as knockout level. That is, if the value of the underlying asset reaches or exceeds a pre-determined level the investor will just get a fixed rate of return. Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund is introducing two Equity linked FMP schemes, Series-A (Aviator Plan) with maturity of 36 months and Series-B (Gladiator Plan) with maturity of 21 months. The participation ratio of Aviator & Gladiator ...

Private Insurers & Mutual FundsWith Experience Of Long-Term Funds May Take Lead BANKS, insurance companies and mutual funds will soon have the opportunity to manage pension funds. The Pension Fund Regulatory & Development Authority ( PFRDA ) sought applications from entities wishing to float pension funds to manage retirement assets of all Indian citizens, other than government employees already covered under the pension scheme. The criteria set out by PFRDA entitles government institutions, banks, insurance companies and mutual funds to sponsor a pension fund. One important condition is that the sponsor must have at least five years’ experience in running debt and equity funds and should have managed average monthly assets of Rs 8,000 crore for 12 months ending November 30, 2008. Insurance companies, being the only manager of long-term finance, are perhaps best suited to manage pension funds. We are very keen to participate in pension fund management. Among private li...

Asset management companies ( AMCs ), which invest the pooled funds of retail investors in securities, are said to provide more diversification, liquidity, and professional management than individual investors can themselves manage. But a look at the stocks held by 28 asset management companies show that one-third of their assets is invested in only 10 stocks. Their favourite 10 being: RIL, SBI, Bharti, ONGC, ICICI Bank, Infosys, Bhel, L&T, HDFC Bank and HDFC. AMCs of fund-houses such as Morgan Stanley Investment Management, Benchmark Asset Management, Deutsche Asset Management and LIC Mutual Fund Asset Management have invested funds to the tune of Rs 200 crore to Rs 1,100 crore in these 10 stocks. This means that this type of top-heavy form of AMCs' equity portfolio could be affected by a swing in just a few stocks. As per latest data, AMCs held maximum assets in form of shares in RIL (Rs 4,592 crore), followed by SBI (Rs 3,855 crore), Bharti (Rs 3,508 crore), ONGC (Rs 2,995...