Transcript of Chat with Mr. Jayesh Shroff -Fund Manager,
BOB Mutual Fund. - Equity funds - An overview - (15/03/2002)
[04:47:42 PM] => Myiris - The chat will start in a short while.Sorry for the delay
[04:49:28 PM] => Myiris: Welcome to the live chat session
[04:49:45 PM] => Myiris: Our guest today is Mr. Jayesh Shroff, Fund Manager, BOB Mutual Fund.
[04:49:56 PM] => Mr. Jayesh Shroff is a Fund Manager with BOB Mutual Fund. At the time of this conversation / chat, Mr. Shroff may or may not have positions in the stocks mentioned below, although holdings may change at any time. The views expressed by Mr. Shroff is based upon information that he considers reliable, but does not represent that it is accurate or complete, and it should not be relied upon as such. Mr. Shroff, his company and its affiliates, officers, directors, partners, and employees may, from time to time, have long or short positions in, buy or sell and deal as principal in the securities, or derivatives thereof, of companies mentioned herein and may take positions inconsistent with the views expressed.
[04:50:05 PM] => None of the information contained herein constitutes, or is intended to constitute a recommendation of any particular security or trading strategy or a determination that any security or trading strategy is suitable for any specific person. To the extent any of the information contained herein may be deemed to be investment advice, such information is impersonal and not tailored to the investment needs of any specific person. You should consult with and rely upon your own advisors whether and how to use such information in making any investment decision.
[04:50:13 PM] => Lastly the views expressed by Mr. Shroff have no bearing whatsoever with that of IRIS Ltd. IRIS does not guarantee the accuracy, adequacy or completeness of any information and is not responsible for any errors or omissions or for the results obtained from the use of such information. IRIS especially states that it has no financial liability whatsoever to any user on account of the use of information provided on its website www.myiris.com.
[04:50:25 PM] => Myiris: Welcome to the chat session, Mr. Shroff.
[04:50:59 PM] => Naveen : Sir, Future of stock markets short-term?
[04:52:14 PM] => JS : In the short term the markets are likely to be driven by lot of political events and news on the disinvestments front. The markets are likely to remain in the trading range.
[04:54:32 PM] => Raghu : Will the current rally in second rung tech stocks last?
[04:54:43 PM] => JS : Lot of second rung tech stocks were beaten down very badly post 9-11. Few of them have good business models and might outperform the overall tech sector. However, one needs to take careful look at fundamentals of individual companies before investing in such stocks as all the second rung stocks are not likely to have a great future.
[04:55:03 PM] => Guest 1 : Why is BOB Mutual so low key? Is it a policy decision?
[04:56:30 PM] => JS : We have recently launched three new open-ended debt schemes and have two other schemes scheduled for launch in the first quarter FY02-03. So by no means we want to remain a low key player.
[04:56:40 PM] => Sum-shen : What do you think of the interest rate situation?
[04:58:20 PM] => JS : Interest rates are likely to maintain their downward bias. A bank rate cut is also expected. However, lot of this has already been discounted and yields on G-secs might not fall further.
[05:01:49 PM] => NG76 : Can you brief me a bit about your new schemes?
[05:01:59 PM] => JS : As mentioned earlier, we have launched three new open-ended debt schemes, viz., BOB Income Fund, BOB Gilt Fund and BOB Liquid Fund. BOB Liquid Fund is a money market scheme targeted at corporates and HNI s to park their short-term funds. BOB Income Fund will invest in highly rated debt securities issued by public or pvt. Sector companies and will also invest in some portion in G-secs. BOB Gilt Fund will invest all its corpus in G-secs.
[05:02:22 PM] => Investor 77 : Please advice me on Reliance Petro.
[05:02:29 PM] => JS : No comments
[05:05:59 PM] => Ganesh : How do you rate banking scrips in the coming months?
[05:06:11 PM] => JS : With the level of economic activity slated to pick up in the coming months, we feel that banking stocks are likely to remain buoyant. The economic scenario worldwide is also showing signs of improvement. Banks are the first ones to get the benefit of even the slight improvement in the economy. Lot of banking stocks including PSU banks are quoting at very low P/E ratios and have bright chances of being re-rated.
[05:08:12 PM] => Srini : Sir, Does BOB have a gilt fund? Please give me the details.
[05:08:21 PM] => JS : We have recently launched a Gilt Fund, the IPO for which has closed on March 5. The fund will open for ongoing sale and repurchase on March 25. The corpus will be invested fully in G-secs, especially in central govt. securities.
[05:09:29 PM] => Parekh : Does MF gain anything from the budget?
[05:09:39 PM] => JS : There are no specific benefits for MF industry in the budget. However any improvement in the growth rates will drive people towards investment in mutual funds.
[05:13:24 PM] => Aryan : Do you expect the inflow into equity funds to increase?
[05:13:33 PM] => JS : The budget proposal for taxation on income from mutual funds is more beneficial for investment in equity funds. Apart from this with low level of interest rates, I think its imperative for investors to spread his risks and invest some amount in equity funds so as to maintain his income parity. The current valuations of lot of stocks are also attractive and leave room for more appreciation.
[05:14:48 PM] => Parijat : What is the next support level for Sensex?
[05:14:56 PM] => JS : Technically the Sensex has strong support at 3535 and strong resistance at 3759. We feel that as of now the market is likely to trade in a narrow range.
[05:15:14 PM] => Inder : When to book profits on Mastek?
[05:15:24 PM] => JS : No comments.
[05:20:16 PM] => Ramraj : How do you see the industrial growth in the coming quarter?
[05:20:23 PM] => JS : With exceptionally good monsoon last year and pick up in economic activity world wide we feel that Indian economy is slated for big growth. We have already seen healthy pick up in demand for motorcycles and FMCG goods. This demand has primarily come from rural segment, which indicates healthy pick up in overall economy. Although industrial growth has been lacklustre so far, we feel that infrastructure sectors like power, roads and housing will eventually give a boost to low industrial growth rates.
[05:22:03 PM] => Velazhagan : Sir, Do you expect the annual results of corporates to be good?
[05:22:11 PM] => JS : Its is difficult to generalise, whether all the corporate results will be good or bad. Basically the performance of companies in housing and construction, FMCG and auto are likely to show better results.
[05:23:55 PM] => Hemu : Can you suggest some low-risk scrips for medium-term?
[05:24:08 PM] => JS : My compliance does not permit me to name any scrips. However there lot of good bargains available in the market at present. One needs to have a careful look at the sectors, which hare likely to perform better in the coming months and select the scrips from those sectors.
[05:25:46 PM] => N.Menon : Sir, How many funds are there in BOB MF?
[05:25:56 PM] => JS : Till date we have launched seven schemes. Three of them are close-ended schemes and four are open-ended. Amongst the four open-ended schemes, three are debt schemes and one is an open-ended ELSS scheme.
[05:28:27 PM] => Nag-UK : Can gilt funds sustain their returns?
[05:28:35 PM] => JS : The kind of returns and volatility that we have seen in G-sec market last year is unlikely to be repeated this year. However gilt funds can give you average returns at almost zero credit risk.
[05:32:05 PM] => Vivek_basu : Please give your outlook on auto, FMCG and pharma?
[05:32:14 PM] => JS : The signals and the figures that have come so far point towards bullish outlook on auto and FMCG sector. Stocks in pharma sector will be driven mainly by success on the research front. Here Indian pharma companies having good research pipeline are expected to outperform the sector.
[05:32:50 PM] => Jogger : Sir, Did anything happen in Ayodhya?
[05:32:59 PM] => JS : Events in Ayodhya passed off peacefully today.
[05:33:13 PM] => Mathew : Whats your call on Zicom?
[05:33:20 PM] => JS : No comments.
[05:35:24 PM] => Burman : Does being a public sector MF have any advantages?
[05:35:33 PM] => JS : MF industry as a whole is governed by SEBI. Here there�s no distinction between private and public sector funds. All the funds compete purely on the basis of performance. Therefore public sector MFs don�t have any specific advantages.
[05:38:03 PM] => Burman : Sir, Do you do your own research, in house? Whats the investment strategy?
[05:38:13 PM] => JS : A lot of research is done by us in-house and a good amount is outsourced also. As far as investment strategy is concerned, we try to maintain parity between different sectors. Overall, our investment strategy is driven by long-term goals, but we also take advantage of short-term opportunities.
[05:40:07 PM] => brijmohang : Why is Max India moving up?
[05:40:12 PM] => JS : We don�t have the stock in our portfolio, but we hear that the stock is moving up on the news of divestment of the company�s stake in certain businesses.
[05:43:11 PM] => shahmilan9 : What is the future of Mindteck& BFL Software?
[05:43:17 PM] => JS : We don�t hold either of these stocks in our portfolio. In case of BFL Software, they have some aggressive growth plans in call center business. Lot of work in the call center business is high end and earns them higher margin.
[05:45:54 PM] => hascoin : Would you like investments in share market for the small investors?
[05:46:02 PM] => JS : With the falling interest rates, it is always advisable for all the investors to invest some portion of the savings in equities. However, equity market has become very dynamic and it is very difficult for an uninformed investor to jump into this. Therefore the exposure to equities is always advisable through the mutual fund route.
[05:49:10 PM] => nitunathani : The Equity Funds would be the worst hit in post Budget 2002-03. How would you tackle this?
[05:49:18 PM] => JS : In fact the taxation provision for this budget are biased in favour of equity funds. With govt. imposing taxation on dividend from debt funds, we expect some shift from debt funds to equity funds. The economy is also likely to show good growth this year, which would attract people towards investment in equity.
[05:51:21 PM] => v_srinivasrao : I am an NRI (U.S.A), How can I do online stock trading in India?
[05:51:31 PM] => JS : Although this doesn�t come under the purview of our business, I think you need to get registered with sites offering online trading facility or you could get in touch with banks offering this facility.
[05:56:06 PM] => ayanad1 : How you look at the small pvt. banks like Federal Bank and South Indian Bank likely to do in the hype of takeover targets. Do you see value in these stocks?
[05:56:14 PM] => JS : With govt. allowing FDI in banking sector, lot of banking stocks have started looking attractive. However, one needs to take a careful at individual stocks before jumping into it. Again negotiation for a take over or JV is a long drawn process, so one should not get carried away by rumours in the market.
[05:58:41 PM] => ghelani440 : What is the future of Novartis Ind?
[05:58:53 PM] => JS : We do hold some quantity of Novartis India. On the business front, the company is doing pretty well. However, as mentioned earlier, stock prices of pharma companies are likely to be driven more by research stories than by operational efficiency.
[06:00:40 PM] => pradeep.chauhan : For daily trader which scrips are good today?
[06:00:49 PM] => JS : My compliance doesn�t permit me to answer this question.
[06:02:06 PM] => Mathew : Are you Jackie Shroff's brother?
[06:02:13 PM] => JS : The only common factor is the surname!!
[06:04:59 PM] => rajesh jha : Sir, is investing in mutual fund better than share market directly?
[06:05:07 PM] => JS : The dynamics of stock markets today definitely point to the same. It is always advisable to invest in equities through a mutual fund as they are much informed player in the market. MFs take medium to long term view of the market and also diversify the risk.
[06:09:27 PM] => rajesh jha : Before investing your money in a specific company, what actually u should look to judge whether u r making the right decision or not?
[06:09:35 PM] => JS : The first and foremost is the sector in which the company operates and how the sector itself is faring. Secondly you should invest only in companies with good management. Although there are hundreds of parameters to judge a company, Return On Capital Employed and Return On Net Worth are set financial parameters to judge the performance of a company. Of course common parameters like EPS, profitability ratios have to be considered.
[06:12:12 PM] => Manu Sharma : Sir, do you think funds have been declaring high dividends in order to reduce Nav prices also? Why have most funds declared dividends in the last few days?
[06:12:25 PM] => JS : The budget for the FY 2002-03 has made dividend on MFs taxable in the hands of the investor. I think this could be the reason for funds declaring dividends. Apart from this, funds usually declare dividends during the month of March, which is he end of the financial year.
[06:13:14 PM] => shinna_k : What is your opinion on MRO-TEK?
[06:13:21 PM] => JS : No comments.
[06:15:11 PM] => Myiris : That�s the end of the chat session for the day.
[06:15:21 PM] => Myiris : Our sincere thanks to Mr. Jayesh Shroff, Fund Manager, BOB Mutual Fund for sparing time to come on the chat and also for his valuable inputs.
[06:15:45 PM] => Myiris : Thank you all for logging on
[06:16:00 PM] => Myiris : We�ll be back with more on Monday, March 18.
[06:16:29 PM] => Myiris : Hope to see you all then. Wishing you all a happy weekend..
[06:16:37 PM] => Myiris : Till then its bye from us.
