INVESTOR INTEREST


SEBI is re-looking at fund regulations. Here are some changes that would benefit investors The mutual fund industry is now pausing for breath. Unfortunately, after a runaway growth in equity assets over the past two years, the focus has now shifted to ephemeral products like ‘Fixed Maturity...

Read More



This is a normal regular question: What is the only food that does not spoil? Answer: honey. It has been found unspoilt after nearly 4,000 years, next to mummies in the pyramids and other tombs of the Egyptian Pharaohs. Ancient Indians believed that honey was a food for the gods and...

Read More



Here are some stray thoughts for you to read and share with your readers. Returns in the market are directly proportional to your luck: Ask those who sold Aban Lloyd early. Hindustan Unilever runs a great business. I bought the stock at Rs311 and sold it at Rs115 only to see it go up to Rs220. A...

Read More



A huge misconception among investors is that size, corporate image or a collection of brands are important factors that contribute to the creation of shareholder value. As the two previous examples in this series prove (Hindustan Unilever – HUL – and Tata Motors), this is not true. Companies...

Read More



Madhusudan Kela, head equity, Reliance Mutual Fund, is among those rare fund managers with a known prowess of handling the largest and the best funds in India, having seen all kinds of market cycles. In a career spanning two decades, Kela has been associated with Peregrine Securities, UBS...

Read More



The legendary trader and later US statesman Bernard Baruch had famously said: “I made money by selling too soon.” There are a million books on what to buy and how to buy. These are based on value investing, growth investing, chart patterns and many other techniques. Tucked away at the fag end of...

Read More



At the time of writing this piece, the Sensex has finished higher for four straight weeks. We had mentioned earlier that most of the negative news appears to have been factored in and that the index was unlikely to go down. The least positive news would have been enough to create a sharp rally....

Read More



Two years ago, Amgen’s David Beier estimated that the biotechnology industry had lost $100 billion in its three decades, but still enjoyed a stock market valuation of $500 billion. By the end of 2006, experience seemed to elbow aside hope. That year, investors yanked $6.4 billion from funds...

Read More



Sanjay Sinha, chief investment officer at SBI Mutual Fund, has been one of the most out-standing fund managers in India. An alumnus of IIM Calcutta, he joined the fund in November 2005 after a long stint with UTI where he began his career selling mutual funds. He has seen various market cycles...

Read More



9 fund houses have bought these 11 stocks when the market was going down. Should you also buy them? Debashis Basu & Shailendra Lotlikar  offer some clues When fund managers buy a stock, it is supposed to be moving into ‘strong’ hands because they are supposed to be buying with the long term...

Read More



For many years, for sheer consistency of operations, there was nobody to beat Hindustan Unilever (HUL). Over a decade through riots, drought, flood, plagues, falling governments, foreign exchange crisis and Southeast Asian panic, investment in HUL gave great returns. But economies change,...

Read More



If you want to splice together a couple of surveys from The Economist and extend it to make a 336-page book on a cutting-edge issue like “the global race to fuel the car of the future”, you have a problem. You need to find another 300 pages from elsewhere. Well, that’s one reason you come across...

Read More



Mutual funds are the best way to invest in the market, say the fund industry and many financial planners because they perform well over time. How do we know? Most fund analysis is selective and is articulated as “If you had invested in XYZ fund, your return would have been…” This kind of logic...

Read More



The door bell rang at a residence in Mumbai suburbs. A wheezing old man was standing outside with an earthen pot. The bespectacled, silver-haired man wearing a white shirt and a crumpled white dhoti stared till he caught his breath. He was too old to have been carrying an earthen pot...

Read More



There are good reasons why FMPs are not easily available for retail investors. If you want to subscribe, you will have to make an extra effort One of our readers had mentioned that the Fixed Maturity Plans (FMPs) launched by various mutual funds (MFs) are cloaked in secrecy. They remain open...

Read More



When the market is soaring, newcomers are told to ‘buy on dips’. When the market tumbles, the refrain changes. ‘Sell on rallies’, say the veterans. Time goes by. Newcomers become old-timers. The advice is handed on, its longevity undoubtedly aided by the fact that it seems so reasonable. But...

Read More



I would like to share my recent experience with a mutual fund agent, which should caution all retail investors and, especially MoneyLIFE readers. In June 2007, a mutual fund agent approached me to invest in HDFC Mid-Cap Opportunities Fund and, although I was reluctant since, at that point, I had...

Read More



When the great poet Allama Iqbal waxed eloquent in his famous poem, “Saare Jahan Se Achcha Hindustan Hamara”, he had in mind something in our national psyche that no invader was able to erase or decimate. For instance, our myriad traditions. Indian traditions are deep-rooted like...

Read More



Wi-Fi usage has been in the news recently. Initially, it was the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation which unveiled mega plans of making entire Mumbai Wi-Fi-enabled. Later, it was in the news because an email linked to the recent Ahmedabad blast apparently used an open Wi-Fi connection of a...

Read More



Until 1992, public issue of shares by companies was determined by government babus in the office of the Controller of Capital Issues (CCI), through a pricing formula. That year, in a sudden burst of corporate and financial sector reforms, the government abolished the formula-based pricing of...

Read More

Free Helpline
Legal Credit
Feedback