Prajna Capital - An Investment Guide

The fund's history may be relatively short, but it appears to be long on potential. In its six-year existence, the fund house has maintained a strong focus towards debt funds with some good liquid funds. It was only in 2008 that Deutsche Mutual Fund came out of obscurity on the equity front. Undoubtedly, its performances have impressed, but not at an opportune time. It did well in the bull run but did not dazzle. It actually made its mark in a sliding market and shot to prominence from January onwards. The most compelling aspect about this fund family has been its resolve to steer clear of the greed to launch funds just to bloat up the asset size, particularly in recent times when equity markets have been firing from all cylinders. The fund family has not shown any signs of impatience to script an overnight success story. Rather, its fund launches seem to be well thought out. Its four equity funds were launched in different years (2003, 2004, 2006, 2007). In 2005, it only launched ...

Investors are concerned about the change in ownership and whether it is linked to the current global crisis and Merrill Lynch's financial woes. It is not. This fund house remains as appealing as ever. DSP Merrill Lynch Asset Management (India) Limited was a joint venture between DSP Merrill Lynch Limited and Merrill Lynch Asset Management L.P. In 2006, the asset management business of Merrill Lynch (Merrill Lynch Investment Managers) was combined with BlackRock. The stake (40%) held by DSP Merrill Lynch Limited in DSP Merrill Lynch Fund Managers Limited, is to be transferred to BlackRock while the balance would continue to be held by the DSP Group (60%). Consequent to the transfer, DSP Merrill Lynch Mutual Fund will be renamed " DSP BlackRock Mutual Fund ". Despite the change in ownership, there is no indication of a shift in strategy - and that's good for investors. Neither is there any change in the fund management team. In fact, this fund house is known to retain i...

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...

Credit cards offer both convenience and benefits. Careful use can enable you to manage your budget and save. That piece of plastic in your wallet can be a blessing, depending on how you use it. It can get you great deals. It can let you monitor your spending and thus help with budgeting. It can be a saviour in a cash emergency. A credit card not only lets you shop on- and offline, but also lets you earn rewards and discounts. That's the reason most middle-class people have credit cards. There are several other advantages. A credit card is easier to carry in your wallet than hard cash, you get interest-free credit for around 45 days - one of the biggest benefits your credit card offers you - and a family member can get a free add-on card. Cash when you need it Making big-ticket purchases is easy with a credit card. You don't even need to pay the entire amount at one go. You can convert it into equated monthly instalments. But there's a price to pay - an interest rat...

After a long period of relative inactivity, the buzz is that DBS Chola Mutual Fund has aggressive plans to rev up its offerings. Going by its two recent high-level recruitments, that may well be the case. Mohit Sachdev (ex-UTI) is now the Chief Marketing Officer while Sanjay Sinha (ex-SBI MF) is the Chief Executive Officer. But that's no cause for celebration. Though it has been around for over a decade, the AMC has failed to make a mark in this highly competitive industry, despite attempts by earlier CEOs Ved Prakash Chaturvedi (now with Tata MF) and Rajnish Narula (now with Canara Robeco). Neither have the funds' performances been outstanding, nor have its fund launches generated a significant response from investors.Since inception, the AMC established itself as a debt player. Its Monthly Income Plan (MIP). launched in July 2003, is a 5-star that began to impress from 2007 onwards. It had only three equity funds till 2004, seven were launched from 2005 onwards with none in 2...

AMCs are launching ELSS with the hope that people will invest in such funds at least for saving on tax In fact, despite volatile and uncertain equity markets, asset management companies have begun to launch equity linked saving schemes (ELSS) with the hope that investors would invest in such funds at least for saving tax. Recently, Bharti AXA, DBS Chola, JP Morgan and Tata AMC have launched their ELSS funds. ELSS funds are like other equity mutual funds with tax benefit. Investment in ELSS fund qualifies for deduction under 80C only if the money is invested for a minimum of three years. But in such fund investors need to stomach higher risk. Interestingly, some of these fund houses already have existing ELSS funds in their current portfolio but have come out with new fund offers (NFOs) in the same category. For instance, Tata Mutual Fund already has a tax gain fund called Tata Tax Advantage Fund but has come out with a new ELSS fund called Tata Infrastructure Tax Saving. Same is ...

Benchmark AMC might have dared to tread on the unbeaten path and establish itself as an ETF player, but is probably ahead of its time. Though Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) are popular abroad, they still have to catch on in India. As a result, Benchmark Mutual Fund has remained a small entity. The fund house offers eight funds, its most popular being Banking BeES. Banking as a sector was coveted by Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) but due to the ceiling on FII ownership they had to resort to the BeES fund as the alternative to playing the banking story. As the price of gold surged in the past two years, Gold Benchmark ETF has also gained in popularity. As sector and thematic funds garner significant investor interest, the AMC is coming out with four global theme-based ETFs - Global Clean Fund, Global Private Equity Fund, Global Commodity Fund and Global Water Fund. All these funds (combined offer document with SEBI) would invest in ETFs linked to indices whose constituents are the ...