Monday, March 16, 2009

The winning strategy

Morningstar said there are 18 funds in India short government category collectively managing about Rs2,000 crore and 40 funds in India intermediate/long government category managing approximately Rs4,200 crore

India short government

ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co. Ltd’s Gilt Treasury Plan has won Morningstar’s award for the best fund in the India short government category, beating 14 other contenders.

Morningstar said there are 18 funds in this category, which collectively manage about Rs2,000 crore. The rater defines short-government portfolios as those that have at least 90% of their bond holdings in bonds backed by the Indian government or by government-linked agencies. These portfolios have average effective maturities of up to three years. They are relatively less sensitive to interest rates, and thus have lower risk.On an average, this category had one-year returns of 10.02% and three-year annualized returns of 7.15%, relatively sedate compared with other debt fund categories. ICICI Prudential Gilt Treasury Plan had a one-year return of 20.65% and a three-year return of 11.25%.Rahul Goswami, co-head of fixed income at ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund, who manages the Rs1,000 crore (at the end of February) fund, spoke on how an active management of duration and liquidity makes this fund different from its peers. Edited excerpts:
What is your investment philosophy?
The underlying philosophy is to prudently manage downside risks. The fund seeks to limit volatility by deploying money in short-term gilts. The objective is to closely manage portfolio risks arising out of changes in the market rates by actively managing the duration of investment in the portfolio.

How did you manage the liquidity crisis in October-November?
That was a challenging phase for economies and companies globally as liquidity was tightening and credit crisis was deep. However, with RBI’s (Reserve Bank of India) prudent policies, the scenario has improved significantly. In fact, inflows into our debt funds have increased significantly since November.

How different is your fund from its peers?
Active management of duration, maturity and liquidity is the major advantage derived from this fund. For instance, when interest rates were high, the average portfolio was low. In the current scenario of downward interest rates, the maturities are relatively longer. The advantage of the fund lies in its successful portfolio management strategy.

What kind of investor should invest in your fund?
The risk-free gilt funds mainly invest in sovereign bonds that have outperformed in the current credit market. Such funds are an ideal investment option for investors who don’t have the appetite for high interest-rate volatility. With investors increasingly becoming risk-averse due to the current liquidity and credit scenario, gilt funds have become an attractive investments option for investors.

Is the best time for bonds over?
The major factors influencing interest rate direction are inflation, that is showing a sharp downward trend; lower growth in GDP (gross domestic product) and industrial production due to the global demand scenario; and an increasing trend in unemployment. Hence, risk appetite is also likely to remain low.

All these factors prompt central banks to follow counter-cyclical policies to be pro-growth and accommodative. The initiatives will thus continue towards providing high liquidity in the market and reducing interest rates. Some initiatives have already been taken, but the impact of the action is yet to be seen.

The downward trend will continue, but will be gradual due to the stress created by government borrowings and the fiscal scenario. Investing in bond funds with a three- to six-month view will help optimize returns.
long government

Canara Robeco Asset Management Co. Ltd’s Canara Robeco Gilt PGS has won Morningstar’s award for the best fund in the long-term government bond fund category, beating 28 contenders.

Morningstar said there are 40 funds in this category, which manage approximately Rs4,200 crore. It defines long/intermediate government portfolios as those that have at least 90% of holdings invested in bonds backed by the Indian government or by government-linked agencies. As these portfolios have average effective maturities greater than three years for intermediate grouping and seven years for long category, they are more sensitive to interest rates and thus riskier than portfolios that have shorter maturities.
The returns in this category match the high risks with such funds, fetching 26.38% on an average for a one-year investment. The Canara Robeco Gilt PGS offered a return of Rs135.17 on Rs100 invested in the beginning of the year.

Ritesh Jain, head of fixed income equities at Canara Robeco, who manages the Rs120 crore (at the end of February) fund, told how he capitalized on market volatility to fetch almost double the average return and how it’s suitable for investors with some risk appetite. Edited excerpts:

What is your investment philosophy?
In the current economic conditions and anticipation of shaping of markets, we believe that product life cycles are going to become smaller and volatility is going to take the centrestage in the coming year. With uncertainty on the macroeconomic front, as a starting point, we take profits off of the table and also maintain strict stoploss levels. The inherent volatility in the markets provides opportunities to make decent returns.

How did you tackle the liquidity crisis in October-November?
The mutual fund industry passed through really difficult times in October-November. Before this actually hit us, we had anticipated shortage of liquidity in the markets and envisaged short-term interest rates going up. We churned our portfolio and maintained a considerable proportion of our portfolio in liquid or overnight assets. This strategy actually turned out to be a blessing. Not only did we manage to honour our redemptions comfortably, but also managed to provide top returns in the same time period.

How different is your fund from others in its peer category?
The philosophy of our fund is that we would rather not chase AUMs (assets under management) aggressively if it comes at the cost of performance, and do what is best for the investors. Seeing the nature and performance of our debt markets, we believe that there is limited depth in our markets. In such a scenario, we thought that we would be able to do justice to our income fund and investors only up to a certain level and longevity of AUMs. So, we decided to cap the fund for further investments.

What kind of investor should invest in your fund?
Our fund is ideal for investors who have the appetite for volatility and seek to generate returns from the opportunities present in the markets. We believe that our fund should be able to deliver 300 basis points (one basis point is one-hundredth of a percentage point) over liquid returns to the investors with a time horizon of six months and above.

What is your outlook on the bond market?
With uncertainty in economic and fiscal environment around, we believe that volatility is going to be the order of the day. We might not see a considerable secular downward movement in the yields, but would probably see a range bound market with lots of volatility, within which investors would have opportunities to earn decent returns. We anticipate that the market would behave in this manner for some time to come and we could see pressure on yields towards last quarter of the calendar year 2009. The yield on the 10-year gilt could breach 7.50%.

183 mutual fund schemes pending with SEBI

Change in guidelines, pending responses to queries from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and adverse market conditions have delayed the launch of total 183 mutual fund schemes, reports Business Standard. Out of the 183 schemes 68 schemes of the fixed maturity plans (FMPs) category have been shelved because of a change in guidelines in the third quarter of 2008-09. Of the remaining schemes, SEBI still has to approve around 70-75 schemes, despite their offer documents being filed since April 2008.
SEBI has said that a large number of applications were sent back with queries, but the fund houses did not come back with a response. But certain fund houses alleged that the market regulator has not approved their schemes within the stipulated period of 21 days from the date of filing the offer document and that some of these offer documents were filed up to 11 months back.
Since April 2008, about 290 offer documents were filed with SEBI, which charges a fee of Rs 100,000 for filing an offer document. However, if the fund house does not launch the fund within a six-month period of getting the approval, the application lapses. The fund house is then required to file a fresh offer document.

Over 180 MF schemes delayed

Depressed markets, Sebi queries, change in guidelines halt launches.

The launch of 183 mutual fund schemes has been delayed due to adverse market conditions, pending responses to queries from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) and a change in guidelines.
Out of these, 68 schemes were fixed maturity plans (FMPs) that had to be shelved because of a change in guidelines in the third quarter of 2008-09. Of the remaining 115, Sebi is yet to approve around 70-75 schemes, despite their offer documents being filed since April 2008, according to an industry source.
“A large number of these applications came in the July-October 2008 period. And when we sent them back with queries, the fund houses did not respond,” a Sebi official said.
During October, the Bombay Stock Exchange Sensitive Index, or Sensex, fell to a low of 7,700. Since then, there has been some recovery. But markets continue to languish. It's no wonder that fund houses have deferred launches, despite approvals being given to around 40-45 schemes.
“Fund houses were not too keen on launching new schemes in such a market. In equities, especially, there was absolutely no interest,” AP Kurian, chairman, Association of Mutual Funds in India (Amfi), said.
However, some fund houses claimed that the market regulator had not approved their schemes within the stipulated period of 21 days from the date of filing the offer document. Some of these offer documents were filed up to 11 months back.
“We have filed offer documents for eight schemes since April and have not received approval from Sebi so far, despite responding regularly to queries,” the chief investment officer of an international fund house said.
Since April 2008, about 290 offer documents were filed with Sebi, according to Delhi-based mutual fund tracker Value Research. A fund house pays a fee of Rs 1 lakh for filing an offer document. However, if the fund house does not launch the fund within a six-month period of getting the approval, the application lapses. The fund house is then required to file a fresh offer document.
“Even the more recent new fund offerings have managed to garner only minimal amounts due to low investor appetite. But debt funds are getting inflows into their fixed income and liquid schemes,” added Kurian.
Sebi not comfortable with structured products
Sebi has expressed its discomfiture with schemes that are based on equity-linked debentures (ELD) and constant proportion portfolio insurance (CPPI).
“These products were too complex for the lay investor. With the continued downturn in the equity markets, and ratings of ELD issuers too moving into negative zone, the products carry a risk of default. We would not favour the launch of such schemes at the moment,” a Sebi official said.
This sentiment was confirmed by Amfi chairman A P Kurian, “Sebi consciously does not approve a fund if it is too complicated for Indian investors.”
Currently, there are three ELD-based schemes that have collected Rs 1,516 crore. Four ELD based schemes — UTI Equity Linked FMP Series I, Tata Equity Linked FMP, Birla Equity Linked FMP Series 1M and HSBC Equity Linked FTP — have not yet received Sebi’s approval.
ELDs are floating rate debt instruments whose coupon (interest) is based on the return of the underlying equity index, like the Nifty. However, if the issuer of ELD defaults, the investor bears the risk of losing a part of the principal.
There are no CPPI-based products for retail investors. Fund managers, however, feel that the market regulator should allow them to launch complex products targeted towards high net worth individuals.

JM Healthcare Sector Fund changes its fundamental attributes

JM Mutual Fund has approved the change in fundamental attributes of the JM Healthcare Sector Fund and its conversion from an open ended sector scheme to an open ended equity scheme vide their respective resolution dated 5 March 2009. The change in fundamental attributes include change in name, investment objective, investment strategy, benchmark index, asset allocation pattern and other related matters. The proposed changes will be effective from 16 April 2009.
Proposed Changes
Name of the scheme: JM Large Cap Fund.
Investment objective: The investment objective of the scheme will be to generate by predominantly investing in large cap companies which would be top 100 companies on the National Stock Exchange of India in terms of market capitalization.
Asset Allocation: Under normal circumstances the scheme will invest upto 65%-100% in equity and equity related instruments with high risk profile and upto 35% in the money market instruments/ debt securities with low to medium risk profile.
Investment Strategy: JM Large Cap Fund will invest in the top 100 companies on the National Stock Exchange of India based on market capitalization. Being a growth oriented scheme, the scheme seeks to invest a substantial portion of its portfolio in equity and equity related instruments. Under normal circumstances, around 65% of the corpus shall be deployed in such securities and the balance in debt/money market instruments. However, whenever the valuations of securities rise in a sharp manner, the scheme will take advantage of trading opportunities presented and in such a scenario, the fund will have a high turnover rate. The scheme will seek to use a mix of top down and a bottom up approach.
Benchmark index: S&P CNX nifty Index
Fund Manger: The scheme would be managed by Sanjay Chhabaria
The investors of JM Healthcare Sector Fund, who do not agree to the above proposal, can exercise the exit option without any exit load from 16 March 2009 to 15 April 2009 (both days inclusive but upto 3.00 p.m on the last date of the exit option).


JM Healthcare Sector Fund changes its fundamental attributes

JM Mutual Fund has approved the change in fundamental attributes of the JM Healthcare Sector Fund and its conversion from an open ended sector scheme to an open ended equity scheme vide their respective resolution dated 5 March 2009. The change in fundamental attributes include change in name, investment objective, investment strategy, benchmark index, asset allocation pattern and other related matters. The proposed changes will be effective from 16 April 2009.
Proposed Changes
Name of the scheme: JM Large Cap Fund.
Investment objective: The investment objective of the scheme will be to generate by predominantly investing in large cap companies which would be top 100 companies on the National Stock Exchange of India in terms of market capitalization.
Asset Allocation: Under normal circumstances the scheme will invest upto 65%-100% in equity and equity related instruments with high risk profile and upto 35% in the money market instruments/ debt securities with low to medium risk profile.
Investment Strategy: JM Large Cap Fund will invest in the top 100 companies on the National Stock Exchange of India based on market capitalization. Being a growth oriented scheme, the scheme seeks to invest a substantial portion of its portfolio in equity and equity related instruments. Under normal circumstances, around 65% of the corpus shall be deployed in such securities and the balance in debt/money market instruments. However, whenever the valuations of securities rise in a sharp manner, the scheme will take advantage of trading opportunities presented and in such a scenario, the fund will have a high turnover rate. The scheme will seek to use a mix of top down and a bottom up approach.
Benchmark index: S&P CNX nifty Index
Fund Manger: The scheme would be managed by Sanjay Chhabaria
The investors of JM Healthcare Sector Fund, who do not agree to the above proposal, can exercise the exit option without any exit load from 16 March 2009 to 15 April 2009 (both days inclusive but upto 3.00 p.m on the last date of the exit option).

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