A third of equity funds below Rs 10

Sector data


124 funds below Rs 10

35 over three years old

Theme, tax and mid-caps suffer


That many stocks have plunged below their IPO prices isn’t surprising, as we take stock of markets in 2008. But did you know that mutual funds too have suffered the same fate? After the market rout, about one in three equity funds (124 out of 342 funds) today sport a NAV that is below Rs 10.


The surprising fact is that not all of these were new funds flagged off at the height of the bull market. As many as 93 of these funds are more than a year old, and as many as 35 of them have been around for more than three year

Investors usually shy away from funds with a higher net asset value; but it turns out they have fared better in the market crash.

Funds that sported unit values of less than Rs 10 fell an average 53.9 per cent this year, while those above Rs 10 fell by a lower 49.5 percent. But the gulf between the best and worst performing funds in the “sub-10” category was wide.

Birla Sunlife International Equity, contained its decline to 32 per cent, but the worst performer – JM Emerging Leaders – suffered a near-79 per cent erosion in its unit price.

The most-affected funds were theme or sector specific funds and tax-planning funds. Infrastructure and energy were key themes that witnessed a free fall this year.

New funds flagged off in the last 12-18 months saw their unit prices trimmed by 50-65 per cent.

Tax-planning funds too were prominent losers, thanks to several of them being biased towards mid-cap stocks. Even “contra” funds did not manage to buck the trend and lost between 42-70 percent.

One key lesson for the investor from 2008 is that if you are invested in theme funds, it may be best to quit when you are ahead.

If you can’t take an active approach, best to stick with plain vanilla diversified funds. Plus, a fund with a low NAV may be as risky as one with a higher NAV.

So before you rush to buy a fund at a “low” net asset value, evaluate it as you would evaluate one with a “high” NAV.

Debt funds fancied as bank rates head for slide

Debt funds schemes offered by mutual funds could turn out to be the investors' favourite as deposit rates of banks are set to fall in the coming weeks. Within debt funds, bonds that carry sovereign guarantee of the government such as the Reserve Bank of India bonds and infrastructure bonds, score over other such schemes, including income funds that largely invest in bonds issued by private corporations.
"Government securities ( G-Sec) is best placed for medium to long-term considering safety and view on interest rate," said Amar Pandit, a Mumbai based financial planner. Over the past one-year the G-Secs, also referred to as gilt funds, have generated an average return of 19 per cent while the income funds have generated 10.8 per cent.
Income funds invest mostly in corporate bonds. As banks reduce deposit rates, the returns on corporate bond also follow a similar pattern. "G-sec yields have come down from 9.5 per cent to 6 per cent over the past six months and it is expected to go down further in the view of global volatility," said Nilesh Shah, deputy managing director, ICICI (ICICIBANK.NS) Prudential AMC.
Experts said investors should check the portfolio before investing. "The only concern is on the credibility front and it should be above AA rated bonds," said Surya Bhatia, delhi based financial planner. The debt funds when invested for over a year get the indexation benefit and are liable for tax at the rate of 10 per cent and there is no exit load.

Debt funds offer higher returns in November

The debt funds have been under Sebi s lens in the recent past. But, interestingly, they have offered the highest returns to the investors in November, 2008. The monthly returns of the gilt funds were the highest at 3.07% followed by the long-term bond funds and liquid funds. However, the returns from the equity funds were negative due to the meltdown in the equity market, Crisil research report on MF industry for November found. According to Crisil s monthly review on the mutual fund industry, the open-ended income funds and liquid funds were the key beneficiaries with the former seeing net inflows of almost Rs 190 billion while the close ended income schemes (fixed maturity plans) saw a net outflows of a similar number. The AUMs of liquid funds increased by Rs 175 billion, a growth of 25 per cent over the October-end. The decline in the equity AUM of around Rs 70 billion was largely on account of mark-to-market losses. The share of debt funds AUMs in the domestic mutual fund continued to rise in 2008 from 61 per cent in January, 2008 to 71 per cent in November, 2008. Of the 35 mutual fund houses analysed, only two saw a growth in average AUM in November 2008. Tata MF registered 3 per cent and UTI MF witnessed a marginal growth in its AUM in November. With regard to the regulatory initiatives, Crisil report said that RBI has taken several initiatives to enhance the liquidity into the system. Sebi has sealed an early exit route in the closed ended mutual fund schemes and made it mandatory for the close ended schemes to be listed at the bourses. Sebi also decided that for such close ended schemes, the underlying assets will not have a maturity beyond the scheme s expiry , the Crisil report said

Individuals' share in asset value of MFs down 5 pcBy

The share of individuals in the total net asset value of all mutual funds declined to 37 per cent at end-March 2008 from 42 per cent in the previous year, while that of corporates, institutions and others rose to 57 per cent from 50 per cent for the same period, according to the annual report on the trends and progress of banking in India, 2007-08. Explaining the significant change, Prasunjit Mukherjee, a Kolkata-based mutual fund analyst, said, Fixed maturity plans (FMPs) as a category came in the fund industry some time in January 2008. They have a double indexation facility and the entire corporate base invested in FMPs of relatively longer duration. Individual investors invest mostly in equity-oriented funds and some portion in debt funds. Funds mobilised by mutual funds net of redemptions during 2007-08 rose sharply by 63.6 per cent to Rs 1,53,801 crore and the net assets under management of the mutual fund industry increased by 54.8 per cent during 2007-08. This significant increase in net mobilisation of resources by mutual funds was partly due to tax arbitrage. The interest from bank deposits is taxed at the marginal rate of taxation. The equity oriented mutual fund schemes are exempt from long-term capital gains, while short-term capital gains are taxed at 15 per cent. Dividend distribution from the money market and liquid funds is subject to 25 per cent tax plus surcharge and for schemes other than money market and liquid schemes; dividend distribution tax is 12.5 per cent plus surcharge. In the wake of the tight liquidity conditions since June 2008, mutual funds have faced redemption pressures. Mutual fund schemes also witness large outflows during advance tax payments. Fund facts • Share of individuals dropped to 37% at end-March 2008 while that of corporates, institutions and others rose to 57 per cent from 50 per cent • Individual investors invest mostly in equity-oriented funds and some portion in debt funds • Funds mobilised by mutual funds net of redemptions during 2007-08 rose sharply by 63.6 per cent to Rs 1,53,801 crore • The net assets under management of the mutual fund industry increased by 54.8 per cent during 2007-08

Jargon Buster

Jargon Busters




Average Portfolio Maturity and Duration



Bond and gilt funds are coming back into vogue – after a long dry spell of over 4 years. There was a time in the early part of this decade, when advisors sold only debt funds and concepts like average portfolio maturity and duration were closely tracked and hotly debated. What is duration and how is it different from average portfolio maturity? Why is duration a key parameter in deciding which fund is likely to perform better in a falling interest rate environment?



Generally, when interest rates fall, bond prices rise. A bond that has many more years to go before repayment of principal generally rises more that a short term bond, when interest rates fall.



A very basic example can illustrate why. Lets say you bought a 1 year Government security at par for Rs. 100 which pays out 10% interest at the end of the term. You now expect a cash inflow of Rs. 110 at the end of the term. Now, due to a change in market conditions, interest rates fall dramatically and the Government is now issuing 1 year paper at a 6% interest rate. If you were to sell your bond in the market, the buyer would expect a yield of 6%. The buyer will be willing to pay around Rs. 103 for your bond – as that is the price at which his yield would be approximately 6% - which is what he will get in the market today.



If on the other hand you had bought a 5 year zero-coupon bond from the Government which pays 10% interest (cumulative), you were expecting to get Rs. 161 from the Government at the end of your 5 year holding period. Now, the same situation happens and interest rates collapse to 6%. A buyer for this bond will now be willing to pay you around Rs. 120 for this bond – because that’s the price at which the yield works out to 6% - the current market yield.



As we can see, for the same rate of fall in interest rates (a simplistic case, no doubt), a longer dated bond’s price rises much more than a shorter dated bond’s price. But, as we will see below, it is not the tenure of the bond that matters – it is the maturity and duration that matter in determining its price.







Average Portfolio Maturity (APM)



If you bought a 5 year bond in the market 3 years after it was originally issued, there will be only 2 years left for the bond to mature. That is the maturity of the bond – and the maturity is far more relevant for a buyer because his cash flows will accrue over the next 2 years.

















































If you have a portfolio of bonds, each with its own maturity period, you will then calculate an average portfolio maturity (typically weighted by the individual amounts invested in each bond) to arrive at the APM of the portfolio.



A portfolio with a higher APM should normally rise more as a reaction to a reduction in interest rates, as compared to a portfolio with a lower APM. We saw in the simplistic example above, why this happens. That’s one reason why APM of a bond fund is closely tracked in a declining interest rate environment.





Duration



A higher APM is usually a good sign in a declining interest rate environment. But, is there a way one can estimate how much a fund’s NAV could rise for every 1% fall in interest rates? If you could estimate that, you will be able to decide which bond fund is best positioned to rally on a cut in interest rates.



This is where the concept of duration comes into play. Duration is calculated as the weighted average number of years to receive each cash flow in a bond. If a bond pays out interest every six months and is redeemed in say 4 equal annual instalments from years 7 to 10, it will have a smaller duration to a bond that is redeemed in a lumpsum at the end of 10 years, even if the interest is paid out semi-annually in the second bond as well. Why is this relevant to us? Because, duration of a financial asset measures the sensitivity of the asset’s price to interest rate movements. Therefore, duration of a bond fund portfolio can give you a good approximate of how much the NAV can appreciate for every 1% reduction in interest rates.



If a bond fund’s average duration is 4 years, and you expect a 2% reduction in interest rates, you can reasonably expect the NAV to appreciate by 4 times 2 --> 8% to reflect the 2% reduction in interest rates.



When you see fund fact sheets of bond and gilt funds, you will see both terms expressed : average portfolio maturity and duration. You will observe that duration is often far less than the APM expressed. That’s because each bond has different profiles of cash flows over the life of its residual maturity : all of which are captured in the term called duration.



Now, if you find two portfolios with identical APMs but the second has a higher duration and you expect interest rates to decline, which fund will you choose?

Insurnace Merger & Acquisition

New Delhi, Dec. 3 The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) is pitching for consolidation in the Indian insurance industry. The IRDA Chairman, Mr J. Hari Narayan, said today that the regulatory authority was working on guidelines for mergers and acquisitions (M&As) in the insurance sector.“There is a need to evolve M&A guidelines. Given what is happening across markets, it may be an opportune time for insurance industry to consider M&As. But in India we do not have within the insurance regulatory roadmap (framework) appropriate guidelines in this regard. I think we need to evolve some of them and we are working on them”, he told a FICCI conference on insurance here. A consolidation in the industry is expected to help improve competitiveness of the players besides providing increased benefits to customers. Since the opening up of the insurance sector, the number of participants in the industry has gone up from six insurers (including Life Insurance Corporation of India, four public sector general insurers and General Insurance Corporation, as the national re-insurer) in 2000 to 42 insurers operating in the life, non-life and re-insurance segments as of today. During 2008-09, registration had been granted to three companies in the life segment. At the conference, Mr Hari Narayan noted that insurance companies would be getting into an asset-liability mismatch of “varying degrees of intensity as we go along”. He highlighted that the lack of availability of long-term securities in the market might impact certain kinds of liabilities that would arise in the future. “This is one issue that we would be taking up with the Finance Finistry at an appropriate time”, Mr Hari Narayan said. The IRDA Chairman asked the insurance companies to use the opportunity of this downturn to get their house in order (improve treasury management performance etc) and build foundation for future growth, which he said would help double penetration of insurance in the country.He also raised the issue of variation in management expenses ratio among the life insurance companies that have been in operations for at least five years. On the issue of changes in solvency regime, Mr Hari Narayan felt that it was perhaps “premature” or may even be “imprudent” at this point of time to expect wide-ranging or significant changes in the solvency regime in the Indian insurance sector. Mr Hari Narayan also said that IRDA was looking at rationalising the insurance intermediary sector.

Analysi of Pharma Fund

Pharma Funds are sectoral fund predominantly investing in the pharma or related companies. These funds aim to provide the investors maximum growth opportunity through equity investment in stocks of Pharma sector. Pharma funds that were considered a contrarian bet, have also assumed an envious place amongst the equity fund categories by losing the least. The category average of pharma funds posted the negative returns of 29.42% underperforming the BSE Healthcare index, which lost around 25.50% over one year period ended 26 November 2008. However, Pharma funds have outperformed the broad market with the BSE Sensex losing 53.10% in this period.
During the same period all other sub categories under equity category registered more than 50% erosion in their category average in one year period.The pharma sector category recorded net asset of Rs 183.15 crore as on the 31 October 2008, 35% less than the net assets of Rs 286.05 crore as on 30 April 2008. Except Auto (net assets increased by 1.06%) and index fund ( a fall of 13%) category all other equity sub categories reported a fall in net assets higher than the pharma category. Equity diversified fund assets diminished by 45%.
UTI - Pharma & Healthcare Fund is an open-ended growth scheme investing in stocks of companies engaged in the research manufacture or marketing op Pharmaceuticals - bulk drugs, OTC products, medical equipment and accessories, personal healthcare products and also companies owning/managing hospitals. The fund is now continuing the asset worth of Rs 43.29 crore. It has highest exposure in sun pharma, Cipla and Glaxo.Franklin Pharma Fund is an open ended growth fund with the primary investment objective to achieve long term capital appreciation through exclusively investing in Pharmaceutical/Life sciences. The fund is now managing about Rs 35 crore and it has highest exposure in Lupin, Cadila Healthcare and Dr Reddys Laboratories.

All About FMps

Understanding Fixed Maturity Plans (FMPs)

(1) What are Fixed Maturity plans?
(2) FMPs do not guarantee returns but their returns are fairly predictable
(3) What are FMP maturity periods?
(4) Can I withdraw before maturity?
(5) What to look out for?
(6) What to look out for?
(7)Risk Factors
(1) What are Fixed Maturity plans?A Fixed Maturity Plan (FMP) is a fixed income scheme and generally is 100% equity free. FMPs have a fixed life and a definite maturity date i.e. they are closed ended schemes and hence the name Fixed Maturity. Post the maturity date the fund ceases to exist and your investment along with the appreciation is automatically returned back to you.

(2) FMPs do not guarantee returns but their returns are fairly predictableThough Fixed Maturity plans do not guarantee returns they are relatively more predictable in their returns. Here’s how.As investments generally do not flow in or out during the tenure of the scheme it allows the Fund manager of the FMP to lock into a pre-decided fixed instrument (could be debentures, Commercial Paper, Certificate of Deposit, Gilts i.e. securities issued by the Government of India.) and hold on to it till the expiry of the instrument. Quite naturally the maturity profile of this fixed income instrument would be similar to the maturity profile of the scheme thus lending FMPs their relative predictability. Thus unlike an open ended fixed income fund, the fund manager here generally does not trade.

(3) What are FMP maturity periods?FMPs come in various maturities. Typical maturity periods are 90 day, 180 days, yearly (though the maturity tends to be slightly more than a year to avail of double indexation benefits), 3 years etc. A 90 day FMP simply means a FMP with a maturity of 90 days.

(4) Can I withdraw before maturity?FMPs that have a maturity of more than 90 days, have to provide investors specific exit dates where investors can withdraw. But this comes at a price. These exit dates are pre-decided and known beforehand.You can withdraw only after paying an exit load i.e. a penalty for early withdrawal as the fund manager may have to break the scheme’s investment in an otherwise locked-in instrument thus entailing transaction costs and in an extreme scenario even a decline in returns of the portfolio as new instruments may or may not yield the earlier yields.

(5) What to look out for?Though FMPs have a definite maturity, the credit quality of the portfolio is crucial. Credit quality simply means if the issuer of the fixed instrument that the fund manager chooses to invest in is reputable or not. AAA is the rating that is issued to a reputed borrower. Logically a better quality portfolio should yield you less than a portfolio which compromises on portfolio for returns.

(6) FMPs are less taxingDividends declared in FMPs are completely tax-free in your hands though the fund deducts a Dividend distribution tax of 14.1625% at source.

MF NAVs bounce back sharply on surge in mkts

Equity diversified NAVs bounced back sharply but the volumes dipped on Friday. MF NAVs ended with positive advance:decline ratio of 168:7, as it was a relief rally in the Indian markets, after fall in last seven consecutive sessions. Short covering in heavyweights and positive global markets lifted the benchmark indices higher. Huge buying was seen in power, oil & gas, capital goods, banking, telecom and technology stocks.
The Sensex shot up 464.20 points or 5.49%, to settle at 8,915.21. The 50-share NSE Nifty shut shop at 2693.45, down 5.50% or 140.30 points over previous close.
All sectoral funds advanced. BSE IT, Bankex, Auto, Healthcare and FMCG indices were up by 4.85%, 4.56%, 2.31%, 1.75% and 1.68%, respectively.
Equity diversified NAVs bounce back sharply
All sectoral funds advance
Check out the mutual fund gainers & losers
Among the equity diversified funds, the top gainers were JM Multi Strategy Fund (G) up 6.81%, Reliance Equity Advantage Fund - Retail Plan (G) up 4.96% and Reliance Quant Plus Fund - Retail Plan (G) up 4.73%. The top losers were Birla Sun Life International Equity Fund - Plan A (G) down 2.72%, Escorts Leading Sectors Fund (G) down 2.05% and Escorts Infrastructure Fund (G) down 1.29%.
Among the tax saving funds, the top gainers were LIC MF Tax Plan (G) up 4.66%, Birla Sun Life Tax Relief 96 (G) up 3.45% and DBS Chola Tax Saver Fund (G) up 3.44%. The only loser was Escorts Tax Plan (G) down 0.21%.
Among the sector funds, the top gainers were UTI Services Industries Fund (G) up 4.53%, JM Telecom Sector Fund (G) up 4.12% and UTI Banking Sector Fund (G) up 3.70%. The only loser was Sahara Banking and Financial Services Fund (G) down 0.09%.
Among the balanced funds, the top gainers were LIC MF Unit Linked Insurance Scheme up 3.69%, Sundaram BNP Paribas Balanced Fund (G) up 3.07% and ING Balanced Portfolio (G) up 2.82%. The top losers were Escorts Opportunities Fund (G) down 1.05% and Escorts Balanced Fund (G) down 0.92%

MFs' concerns eased in November

The crisis in the mutual fund industry seems to have eased. CNBC-TV18 has learnt that the Sebi Chairman assessed their liquidity situation last evening.

According to sources at the Securities and Exchange Board of India, or Sebi, liquidity concerns of MFs have eased. The net inflows have been across equity and debt in November so far. Sebi Chairman CB Bhave has assessed the situation with leading Mutual Funds on Monday evening.

Some MFs have transferred real estate assets to Asset Management Companies (AMCs) reducing risk to schemes. MFs are confident of selling assets in case of redemptions.

The UTI Chairman, UK Sinha has said that the crisis is over and there is no panic anymore. There are stronger inflows in November.

AP Kurian, Chairman AMFI has said that the MFs have repaid Rs 16,000 crore of Rs 22,000 crore borrowed from special window. The inflows are strong in liquid and liquid-plus schemes in November.