Sanjiv Duggal to head HSBC's Asia, Indian equities

Duggal has been with HSBC for over 17 years; has worked in th eMumbai, London, Singapore offices

HSBC Global Asset Management has appointed Sanjiv Duggal, the ace fund manager, as the head of Asian and Indian equities. He will continue to be the lead manager of the HGIF Indian Equity fund and work out of Hong Kong in his new capacity. Duggal currently serves as the investment director at HSBC Asset Management Singapore.

Duggal has been with HSBC for over 17 years and has worked at the Mumbai, London and Singapore offices. His meteoric rise was during the bull-run of 2003-07 when as chief investment officer, his strategies managed to outperform the Indian benchmarks’ performance.

“People have very fond and profitable memories of Sanjiv Duggal when he was here last managing the money. His funds did very well and then when Duggal left, his funds collapsed,” said Dhirendra Kumar, CEO of Value Research, an online mutual fund tracker.

Industry analysts said that this move could give a boost to the fund house’s schemes and even lead to the fund house attracting more investors, though Duggal may have to establish a fresh track record.

“He will have to come back, prove his worth, and, if he does well again, people will follow,” said Kumar.

In another development, the fund house also announced the appointment of Viresh Mehta as the head of equities for HSBC Global Asset Management India and will move to Mumbai.

Mehta, who has been with HSBC for 11 years, currently serves as the senior portfolio manager for the HGIF Indian Equity fund.

With this appointment, the fund house aims to beef up its team in Mumbai “to support future growth in its domestic funds and to provide analytics for its international funds that invest in Indian equities”, said the fund house in a news release.

HSBC Global Asset Management India manages assets worth over05,200 crore, up 7.6 per cent from a year-ago period.

It is part of the global investment management business of the HSBC group.