[03:25:04 PM] => Please stand by for a live chat with Mr Nilesh Shah, CIO, Templeton AMC at 4:30 pm
[04:28:02 PM] => Risk factors: All investments in mutual funds and securities are subject to market risks and the NAV of the schemes may go up or down depending upon the factors and forces affecting the securities market. There can be no assurance that the scheme's investment objectives will be achieved. The past performance of the mutual funds is not necessarily indicative of the future performance of the scheme. The sponsor is not responsible or liable for any loss resulting from the operation of the scheme beyond the initial contribution of an amount of Rs.1 lac made by it towards setting up of the mutual fund.
[04:29:17 PM] => Templeton India Growth Fund, Templeton India Income Fund, Templeton India Liquid Fund and the Templeton India Government Securities Fund are only the names of the schemes and do not in any manner indicate the quality of the schemes, its future prospects or returns. Please go through the offer document of the respective funds before investing.
[04:30:01 PM] => This website is intended solely for the use of Resident Indians, Non Resident Indians, persons of Indian Origin and Foreign Institutional Investors registered with Securities and Exchange Board of India. It should not be regarded as a solicitation for business in any jurisdiction other than India. In particular the information is not for distribution and does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy securities in any jurisdiction where such activity is prohibited including the United States of America. Any persons resident outside India who nevertheless intend to respond to this material must first satisfy themselves that they are not subject to any local requirements which restrict or prohibit them from so doing.
[04:43:44 PM] => Disclaimer: The views expressed by Mr Nilesh Shah are his own and have no bearing on the investment philosophy of Templeton India or IRIS Ltd.
[04:45:57 PM] => myiris.com welcomes you to the LIVE chat session with Mr Nilesh Shah
[04:46:32 PM] => B.Sawant: Do you think that there are too many Mutual Funds in the country today?
[04:48:21 PM] => Nilesh Shah: No, The Mutual Fund market is at its development stage and it does not even cover more than 5% of the savings pool. In the US, mutual funds manage more than banking deposits. With that benchmark we have to really grow much higher.
[04:49:09 PM] => Swati Agarwal: What do you think for the market in a one-month horizon?
[04:51:27 PM] => NS: It is very difficult to take a short term view. The cardinal principal of investments is invest and do not speculate. The fundamentals do catch on with the prices as we have seen over the last couple of months. However to predict short term movements you really require the knowledge of astrology
[04:52:22 PM] => Kartikeyan: Prudent Investing, bottom up approach researched companies good management etc are all the wonderful statements made by MF's during their sales pitch. Given that MF's have posted dismal results for the past one year. How do I as an investor really believe in this HYPED UP INDUSTRY?
[04:54:40 PM] => NS: The MF industry has given miserable returns in equity markets over the last one year. I presume that you do not have any problem with the debt side of the MF Industry as they have given positive returns. The performance of the MF industry needs to be evaluated on relative basis rather than absolute basis. If the markets have gone down by 30% and the funds have gone down by 25% its a relatively good performance. Though 25% fall in absolute terms is very high. Even lacklustre performance by some part can give a bad name to the entire Industry. We think that equity is a long term bet and it requires a disciplined manner of investment to generate long term returns. A one year performance is not the yardstick to evaluate the equity fund. You may want to have a look at the link `guide` on your chat page.
[04:56:22 PM] => Rajat: How would you compare the performance of your debt funds vis-a-vis your competition, haven't you slipped a bit on performance or are you taking a contrarian view on interest rates
[04:57:12 PM] => NS: We manage our debt funds to optimise risk return ratio by minimising credit and liquidity risks and optimising interest rate risk. In the past we have taken contrarian view on interest rates based on our fundamental analysis . This has generated reasonably good returns in the past vis-a-vis benchmark indices. We are hopeful that we shall be able to perform consistently to give you above average returns with below average risks rather than giving top performing returns . For us consistency of performance is more important.
[05:00:16 PM] => Vaishali : A very basic question - given the current interest rate scenario isn't it better to invest in PPF than in a Gilt, or Income Fund
[05:01:14 PM] => NS: No the PPF investment is only Ltd. To Rs. 60,000 per annum. This is also locked in for a period of 15 years. It is important to use an income or a gilt fund for a 3-5 year horizon for relatively safer market related returns.
[05:02:02 PM] => Rajesh: How do you evaluate a good scheme or fundhouse. Are there any parameters by which one can judge funds besides their returns or portfolios?
[05:03:09 PM] => NS: Yes, you have to concentrate upon various intangibles other than the return and performance such as the pedigree of the fund house their experience in managing money either locally or world wide , the commitment of the organisation for service standards and the most important the transparency of the organisation in disclosing investment philosophy investment process , portfolios and performance.
[05:04:38 PM] => Ranjiv: Why is it that MFs in India do not advice their customers to shift from IT to debt funds when they build a view that IT sector is expected to underperform terribly. After all fund houses get paid to manage investor's funds - be it IT funds or debt funds. Why start marketing debt funds after the fund house has sunk enough of the investible funds in dead investments in a once hot sector? The fact is that fund houses cannot get away from their responsibility by saying that the choice of a fund is the investor's. If investor's were so smart as to fathom, which segment of the market to invest in, they would not have invested in MFs in the first place. Afterall getting the right market/sector to invest in is half the battle won and if one were to stick to the large and reputed names within the chosen segments, not much of an investment decision is left to be made.
[05:05:21 PM] => Mutual Funds Manage many customer accounts. It is physically impossible to monitor each individual accounts financial plan. The job of asset allocation lies with the financial planner or the distributor who is having personal knowledge of his client total financial profile. In our monthly commentary as well as meetings with distributors we do share our views on the market and it is upto the distributor to reflect that in their clients portfolio.
[05:05:59 PM] => Anant: Will the new regulations restricting mutual funds activities in the call money market affect fund performance?
[05:06:57 PM] => NS:We are hopeful that with the introduction of negotiated dealing system (NDS) and Electronic Clearing System (ECS) will develop a vibrant repo market on international standards . This will mitigate any impact of non-participation in the call money market.
[05:08:27 PM] => T N Balaji: Please give me one good pick each from Pharma & FMCG sectors. Also is Reliance Petro a good buy at Rs.50
[05:09:13 PM] => NS: No individual stock comments please. We may be an interested party to the same for buying as well as selling.
[05:10:53 PM] => Kapil S and Rashesh: What is your outlook for the technology stocks in medium term 3 - 6 months, don�t you think they would yet again make lower bottom then before? Also what valuations would group A companies have after they are in introduced in rolling settlement later in June? What percentage lower?
[05:12:35 PM] => NS: We are fairly bullish on the Technology Sector at current valuations. The Indian IT Industry has the man power ability and the cash to with stand any slowdown which may emerge with global meltdown. There are exciting markets in Europe and Japan for Indian IT Industry. Our global share is less than one and half percent of the total software services market. The offshore model does provide value for money proposition. The tech sector may not witness 100% growth arising from the dotcom mania and the telecom sector expansion. They will continue to have robust order flow from the `Old Economic Sector` like auto, banking insurance etc...
[05:13:44 PM] => Suraj: As an Equity fund manager do you believe in protecting your investors money and giving dismal returns when the market is in a bull phase (compared to other funds) or would you prefer risking your investors capital and hope for the best
[05:15:51 PM] => NS: This is the perennial question that we have been asking to all our distributors. Do customers want absolute returns or relative returns as stated in a previous answer. Most of the times we have been told that the asset allocation will be done by the distributor and our job is to outperform benchmark indices which effectively forces us to go for relative performance.
[05:16:42 PM] => Jagkrish: Is bullishness in a particular sector like a one-night stand - not in flavour tomorrow . your comments
[05:18:13 PM] => NS: The markets have a tendency to over react on both sides .In India it is over exaggerated. We have seen hypes and meltdowns occurring in finance, granite aqua
[05:21:38 PM] => Deven: Our equity markets over the past 10 yrs have given a return of less than 10%. Is long term investing a thing of the past -? My second question is that do you see an index of 6000 by March 2002
[05:24:22 PM] => NS: No. The equity markets is a long-term bet and the last decade has been exceptionally volatile .We have seen emergence of 2 big scams which has virtually reduced investors returns. However as you see the introduction of fair trade practices, higher corporate governance standards, institualisation of markets and growing economy the equities will start outperforming all other avenues of investments. You may want to refer the link `Guide` on the myiris chat page for the last two-decade returns where equities outperformed all other forms of investments
[05:24:50 PM] => Shankar: The FII investments so far are encouraging- do you see this trend remaining given that rolling settlements are not far away
[05:25:29 PM] => NS: As long as Indian Equities offer attractive valuations the FII flows will continue. Introduction of rolling settlements will bring the Indian Stock Exchanges at par with its International Counterparts. Though it may impact liquidity in the short term it will be very positive step for attracting long term FII money.
[05:26:10 PM] => Jignesh: Is there a correlation between the Nasdaq and our markets - if it is sentiment driven how would you disassociate them?
[05:26:53 PM] => NS: The incidence of correlation in our markets increases with higher volatility or swing on the Nasdaq. This is more sentiment driven than fundamentals. These sentiments are influenced by increasing globalisation of our economy and cannot be wished away. However take any abnormal movement driven more by sentiment than fundamental as an opportunity.
[05:27:54 PM] => S.S.Prashanth: With the recent Credit Policy restricting the call money and money market investments only to banks, what according to you would be the affect of this measure on Liquid and Money market mutual funds? Does this mark the end of the sheen in Liquid Funds?
[05:28:30 PM] => NS: Answered above
[05:29:58 PM] => Bimal Gala: Nilesh, can u see any trend emerging from here in the market? I mean the NASDAQ�s soaring, fed Rates cut, improving forex reserves, positive forecast for industrial growth, rupee getting stable, inflation under check, govt is also stable after tehelka, markets bottoming out (Valuation wise and technically too) and so on & on... so is that all indication for investors to invest now? Can u also highlight the concerns that we should bear in mind while investing?
[05:31:50 PM] => NS: This is probably the wish list of any investor like you and me. The current valuations are fairly attractive and with a good monsoon and a kicker from privatisation our markets can look forward for better days. We need higher standards of corporate governance, avenues for unlocking values by means of takeovers mergers etc to permanently keep equity indices in upward sloping positions.
[05:36:37 PM] => Shiva Deepak: Suppose I have with me Rs.100000/- to invest, How and where do I invest, considering the volatile situation both in the Stock and Bond Markets?
[05:37:33 PM] => NS: You have to look at a proper asset allocation model, you may want to refer to `Guide link on myiris.com on the chat page`, this gives you a thumb rule on allocation between debt & equity
[05:38:22 PM] => Rajnish: Low credit off-take, depreciation of the rupee, a stagnant pvt. sector, depleting investor wealth - given all of this do you still expect our economy to grow > 6%?
[05:39:42 PM] => NS: This is a pessimistic scenario, I can counter that by a good monsoon pickup in rural demand, productivity gains by the Indian companies, stable rupee on record Forex reserves, higher portfolio & FDI flows, a robust privatisation programme and increased outsourcing to IT services companies. Obviously the truth will lie somewhere in between. We truly believe India has the potential to grow at a pace much higher than 6 %? However that requires sensible policies and series of reforms in Labour & Infrastructure market.
[05:41:00 PM] => Sandeep: Why do you have separate portfolios for dividend & growth options in your balanced Fund? As the returns would be different, how should an investor decide which option to invest in?
[05:41:59 PM] => NS: The subscription pattern for both the plans are different and hence sometimes it ends up with a different portfolio. The Investment process is common for the both the plans. The differentiation exist mainly at the tax level and one should choose the option which is most suitable from post tax return point of view.
[05:42:50 PM] => Rishi: After loosing 50% from IPO how much time will it be till at least that amount is realised?
[05:43:22 PM] => NS - The Indian Markets at current valuations are offering good investment opportunities, if sensible policies are followed on privatisation reforms labour & infrastructure sector and global economy bounce back in second half of current financial year, we should be able to see very healthy returns.
[05:44:25 PM] => P Bindu: How safe is investing in Equity funds? Don`t you think investing in FD`s gives a much better return with no loss of principal amount for an non speculator?
[05:45:12 PM] => NS - Investment in equity market is risky, you can refer to the `guide link provided on myiris.com chat page` which shows that equity has outperformed all other avenues of investment including fixed deposits in the long term by a handsome margin.
[05:48:01 PM] => Bimal Gala: Do u see investors faith in mutuals funds being retained in equity based funds after the melt-down of tech and other stocks? is there any redemption pressure in MF industry? If you can give percentage-wise details instead of amount involved in redemption that would be a better picture to understand.
[05:49:16 PM] => NS: We have seen investor�s faith getting jolted in the recent meltdown in mutual funds. However within the Franklin Templeton Family surprisingly we have received kudos from the Investors. This is mainly possible due to the disciplined process followed by us. We have kept our investors and distributors informed about the necessity of taking long term views on the Equity Markets and follow disciplined process of investment on a regular basis. Kindly have a look at the link `Guide` provided on www.myiris.com on your chat page.
[05:51:34 PM] => Kishmu64: What is an `ideal` equity fund in this market in your opinion? If the market indices go up in the long run, will the fund beat the index? How can investors identify good performing equity funds?
[05:52:07 PM] => NS: The ideal equity fund is a fund that follows transparent, disciplined investment process to create no surprise investment portfolio. As long as you can link the funds portfolio and its investment process with the marketing approach that would be an ideal fund.
[05:53:17 PM] => myiris.com: We are running out of time. Hence, the last 3 questions
[05:54:40 PM] => Akila_82: Will mutual funds do better than the market?
[05:55:34 PM] => NS: It is our endeavour to outperform the markets. Our goal is to generate above average return with below average risk. Our value addition comes either by outperforming the market by taking market risk or equalling market return with less then market risk.
[05:56:07 PM] => Mahesh Peswani: What is the reason Templeton Funds in India have not invested in software stocks?
[05:58:08 PM] => NS: We were worried about over valuations of technology stocks in last couple of quarters. We stayed away from this sector from valuation point of view.
[06:00:32 PM] => Mittul Shah: I have put in money in of the growth funds of a leading company now the said fund's NAV is very much depreciated. So should, I wait or exit out of it and put it in some of the income fund ?
[06:01:33 PM] => You have to look at your asset allocation. Don�t get depressed by the present negative return If your horizon is reasonably long, you will end up with healthy return. Just ensure that you have selected a fund whose investment process is disciplined enough.
[06:03:29 PM] => Nilesh Shah: I thank all the participants for all the queries. Please feel free to get in touch with us for any further clarifications. Thank you!!
[06:05:06 PM] => myiris.com: Dont forget to send in your queries to Mr Sanjay Dutt, Quantum Securities. Log on for the LIVE chat on Friday, 27th April at 4:30pm
[06:07:44 PM] => myiris.com: THANK YOU for participating in our chats. myiris.com will bring you an expert chat every Friday and a Fund Manager chat every Monday at 4:30pm. Stay tuned!!