Page 15 - Banking Finance November 2019

MUTUAL FUND

MUTUAL FUND

NEWS
NEWS
NEWS
NEWS
NEWS

Canara Robeco Mutual Axis Mutual Fund looks at auto industry

Fund appoints Shridatta Axis Mutual Fund is looking at the auto industry, in order to help keep it in the
top ranks of the nation’s as-
Bhandwaldar as head of set managers. The investor
equities is slowly increasing exposure
to select companies as it
Shridatta Bhandwaldar has been ap-
pointed as head of equities of Canara sees “some signs” of demand
Robeco Mutual Fund. Bhandwaldar revival with a better-than-
expected monsoon and
has replaced Krishna Sanghavi, who lower corporate tax rates
left the fund house recently. The supporting sentiment.
19th largest mutual fund house by
AAUM has also appointed Sanjay “We are adding auto to our
Bembalkar as fund manager- portfolio," Jinesh Gopani,
equities. head of equity for Axis Asset
Management Co., overseeing about Rs 57,000 crore ($8 billion) of assets, said
Both appointments are effective
during the interview. “In another two years, the sector could come back," he
from October 1. Both the officials
added.
have been working with Canara
Robeco Mutual Fund for a while now. The S&P BSE Auto Index has dropped by 14% so far this year. That is the second-
Shridatta Bhandwaldar has a total worst performance among 19 sector sub-indexes compiled by BSE Ltd. Passen-
experience of 14 years. He has been ger car sales plunged 33% in September from a year earlier, down for an 11th
with Canara Robeco Mutual Fund as consecutive month, industry data showed earlier this month.
fund manager-equities from July Axis prides itself on investing for the longer term, and its biggest fund, Axis Long
2016 till September 2019. Term Equity Fund, offered a return of 20% over the past year, beating 92 per-
Before joining Canara Robeco, he centile of its peers. Over five years, the returns are 14%, higher than 96 per-
worked with SBI Pension Funds as centile.
headresearch/portfolio manager July With assets of Rs 20,400 crore under management, the fund added shares in
2012 to June 2016. He was senior eq- the nation’s largest car manufacturer Maruti Suzuki India Ltd., Eicher Motors
uity analyst with Heritage India Ad- Ltd. and auto component maker Motherson Sumi Systems Ltd., data compiled
visory from October 2009 to June by Bloomberg show.
2012. He started his career as a re- “The idea is to pick leaders in large, mid and small caps from each sector and
search associate with MF Global Se- just be with them over their business cycle," Gopani said. “We don’t want to be
curities in April 2006.
a rock star in one year and a pop star in another," he added.

BANKING FINANCE | NOVEMBER | 2019 | 15