Page 17 - Banking Fiannce March 2018

MUTUAL FUND

Re-categorisation of mu- LTCG buzz and recent market correction hit MF invest-
tual fund schemes ments
"Many investors call us up to ask whether they should stop their SIPs or is it
worth investing in mutual funds anymore. These are
all direct investors who are directionless after the re-
cent market volatility and the buzz around LTCG tax,"
says Harpreet Singh, Founder, Vserv Capital Services.
He adds that many of these investors are still not get-
ting in touch with mutual fund advisors. "Some in-
vestors are still not getting help. This might result in
SEBI's re-categorisation of mutual bad investment decisions," says Singh. Recent market correction resulted in
fund schemes may lead to a lot of un- large investors moving to equity mutual funds fold.
necessary churning of portfolios by AMFI data shows that the mutual fund industry added about 9.26 lakh SIP ac-
investors, as feared by MF experts.
counts each month on an average during the FY 2017-18, with an average SIP
"Investors will go for re-shuffling size of about Rs 3,300 per SIP account. "These investors were happy with their
their portfolios a lot as more fund investment decisions when the market was running up. Every scheme was giv-
houses announce re-categorisation ing good returns, so they forgot about their risk appetite. After the correction,
of their existing schemes," says they have nowhere to go. Now they are making frantic calls to advisors. This
Sridevi Ganesh, CFP, Chamomile In- should have been the first step," says Harpreet Singh.
vestment.
As of now, only DSP BlackRock and Mutual funds platform Kuvera raises $250,000 from
Motilal Oswal Mutual Fund an- angel investors
nounced changes in 11 and 4
Kuvera, an online platform for mutual fund investments, has raised $250,000
schemes' features, respectively. The from angel investors for product expansion and
changes would be effective from growth, it said. Investors included Baskar
March 16, 2018. Sridevi Ganesh
Subramanian, co-founder of Amagi Media
says that "just because the scheme Labs, Saket Kumar, managing director at
is changing to adjust to the SEBI's Swank Capital, Gaurav Suri, managing direc-
amendment, it need not be taken tor at Livermore Capital, and Ankit Kesarwani
out of an investor's portfolio. Inves- from New Vernon Investment Management.
tors must remain calm and take a
look at their goals. If the amended "This capital will go towards deepening our offerings and to double the size of
schemes fit into their desired asset our technology team. We see opportunities to build more value-added services
allocation, they need not make un- for our users to make their financial lives easier," Kuvera co-founder and chief
necessary changes." executive Gaurav Rastogi said. Since launching the online site in October 2017,
Kuvera said it had grown to a user base of 15,000 and had over Rs.250 crore in
Surya Bhatia, a certified financial plan-
assets under management.
ner said, "Investors should review
their portfolio to make alterations to "Kuvera brings together the promise of low-cost intelligent solution to invest-
match their risk profile and goals." ments, transparency around commissions and removal of conflicts of interest
while leveraging the trend in financialization of savings and quantum jump in
"Mutual fund industry is going
internet penetration. I'm excited to support the idea and the team," said
through a lot many changes and in- Kesarwani from New Vernon Investment Management, a US-based investment
vestors actually need much profes- firm. Kuvera was founded in 2016 by bankers Rastogi and Neelabh Sanyal.
sional advice to keep their invest- Rastogi was earlier a portfolio manager at Morgan Stanley and Sanyal was a
ments in line with their goals," says
vice-president with Axis Capital. Mayank Sharma joined as the third co-founder
Sridevi Ganesh.
in 2017 and is currently head of technology at Kuvera.

BANKING FINANCE | MARCH | 2018 | 17