| Big developments for your fund house and the industry during the year... |
| The good thing about the industry is that it is nascent and the fresh inflows coming in are robust. Demographically speaking, the industry has expanded. More importantly, with the rising young population, money, which was earlier confined to traditional products, is now steadily shifting to other products. |
| Our assets under management is 8-9 per cent of our size of our savings pool. In developed economies this is around 30 per cent, while in the US its more than the GDP. |
| The asset size of the industry has grown following the appreciation in assets and fresh money coming in. We are very bullish on the market. Though the number of distributors has gone up nearly five times, the industry remains largely under-penetrated. |
| More than 60 per cent of your asset value comes from debt schemes. Following the recent developments in the money market, debt funds, especially short- and long-term fixed maturity schemes, are the flavour of the season... |
| As per regulatory norms, fixed maturity plans (FMPs) could not assure any rate of return, despite being very stable. In reality, FMPs are superior products compared with term deposits, but we cannot advertise the products the way the banks are doing. |
| We hope that over a period of time, retail investors start buying FMPs, not just for returns but by understanding the product. Three months back, the short-term FMP rate was similar to that of an open-ended liquid fund, but today there is some discrepancy. We have to see how long it remains. |
| What about the ongoing weakness in the market? |
| This is more of a global phenomenon, the way you saw pressure on the carry-trade and the US mortgage markets. Our belief is that the yen-exchange rate has stabilised. |
| Like India, Japan also follows March-April as the financial year. Going forward, we see far more favourable trends in the equity market. Next earnings season would be much similar to the last one. |
| At present, the market is ultra light, but global liquidity seems to be on track, hence, the slow recovery. We believe, April could surprise people. |
| Normally, very few fund managers in India use cash as a strategic measure, as they believe in staying fully invested. Our equity funds are also fully invested, we don't run cash positions. We are not market timers and believe in long-term performance. |
| How is UBS planning to restructure the StanChart's AMC business? |
| Till date only an agreement has been signed between UBS and Standard Chartered. UBS is not, at present, playing any active role in the business and its involvement would begin only on receiving regulatory approval. UBS has significant value to offer. |
| It has a global research platform, connecting their research analysts. It has a very interesting valuation model, right across asset classes, and also has a sound product strategy. Besides, this partnership would help us in coming out with global diversified and offshore investment funds. |
| With the arrival of UBS, around five-six truly global players would be present in the country. Going forward how do you see the industry growing, especially following StanChart's exit? |
| The Indian market is maturing. With the kind of growth and regulations, global players are getting attracted to the Indian market. Given the scale of the economy today, their entry means they see robust growth. |
| StanChart was not comfortable with the AMC business as it was running the business only in this country. The decision to quit didn't come out of any belief that the Indian market is not good. |
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