Is it compulsory for asset management companies to disclose the portfolio of a new fund offering (NFO) after a particular period? If so, which code of conduct will they violate if they fail to make such a disclosure?
- Ankit Zaveri
Yes, it is compulsory for asset management companies (AMCs) to disclose the portfolio of their funds after a particular period.
According to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) guidelines, a mutual fund should send a copy of its scheme portfolio to all its unit-holders or publish it by way of advertisement within a month, from the year-end on March 31 and half-yearly on September 30. It is mandatory for all AMCs to publish on these two dates, but most of them disclose their fund portfolio on a month-on-month basis.
The Fifth Schedule of Sebi (Mutual Funds) Regulations, 1996, describes this code of conduct. It says that the trustees and AMCs must ensure that adequate, accurate, explicit and timely information should be provided to all the unit-holders about the investment policies, investment objectives, financial position and general affairs of the scheme.
Can you explain how gold exchange-traded funds (ETFs) work? Also, how do we redeem the investments? Will the accumulated units be converted to physical gold or will it be converted to cash and paid to the investor at the time of redemption?
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- Sumesh
Gold ETFs track the performance of gold bullion. These funds buy gold with investors’ money and convert it into units. These units can be bought or sold on a stock exchange, just like the shares of companies. For this, the investor needs to open a demat account at the stock exchange, on which the units are listed. The daily net asset value (NAV) of gold ETFs is decided by the price of gold.
Retail investors can only exchange their units for cash and not physical gold. The other provision is only available to the large investors, who can get the units of the gold ETF redeemed directly from the AMC and get the equivalent amount of physical gold. But the minimum number of units that the AMC would accept for this redemption has to be multiples of the creation unit. This creation unit is different for different AMCs, varying from 100 units to 1,000 units. However, such redemptions could involve complicated tax implications.
I am 29 years old and a very aggressive investor. Should I opt for a long-term pension plan or should I make a long-term investment in a mutual fund?
- P Solomon
If your objective is to generate a sufficient corpus to provide for your post-retirement needs, a well-rated equity fund would be a better option over a pension fund, considering your age and your high-risk appetite.
A top-rated, well-diversified equity fund can help you generate better corpus by the time of your retirement compared to that of pension funds. It also offers more freedom; as at the time of retirement, the corpus can be invested in any of the regular-income avenues of your choice, unlike pension funds, where only up to 33 per cent of the corpus amount could be withdrawn at the time of retirement. The rest is used to buy an annuity plan (a source of regular pension till death).
We suggest that you invest in aggressive equity funds having a good performance track record, like Kotak Opportunities, Reliance Growth and Sundaram BNP Paribas Select Midcap. But if you are looking for tax efficiency similar to that of pension funds, then you can choose from well-rated ELSS funds like Magnum Taxgain, Sundaram BNP Paribas Tax Saver, Principal Tax Savings or Franklin India Taxshield.
Apart from these, you can also consider mutual fund schemes that offer pension plans. The two existing funds are Templeton India Pension Fund and UTI Retirement Benefit Pension Fund.
Why do the Standard Deviation, Alpha and other parameters mentioned in the fact sheet of mutual funds vary from the data available in the scorecard? Standard Deviation measures the deviation from mean. But what does a Standard Deviation of 28 imply? Is it in percentage? Is the calculation made is on an annualised basis?
- Shweta
Standard Deviation, Alpha, Beta and others are statistical measurements that help investors determine the risk-reward profile of a mutual fund.
There can be a difference in the values of Standard Deviation, Alpha, etc in our scorecard as compared to those in the fact sheets. This is because of two reasons -- the time span considered for calculation of the average return and the frequency of calculation. For instance, Value Research calculates Standard Deviation (SD) for equity funds on the basis of trailing three years’ monthly returns, whereas for debt and gilt funds, it is based on the weekly returns over the past 18 months. The time span or frequency for calculation of Standard Deviation would be different between fund fact sheets and the scorecard, hence resulting in the discrepancy.
Standard Deviation of a fund depicts the amount of returns that the fund has deviated from the mean level. The higher the value of Standard Deviation, the greater will be the volatility in the fund’s returns. A Standard Deviation of 28 means that the fund’s return can fluctuate in either direction (up or down) by 28 per cent from its average return. These values are annualised and updated on a monthly basis.
Is there any tax benefits on infrastructure funds?
- Srividhya
Infrastructure funds do not have a lock-in period like ELSS funds and hence do not carry the tax benefit provided by the latter.
Closed-end infrastructure funds do have a maturity period though there is no such restriction in an open-end infrastructure fund. Generally close-ended infrastructure funds become open-ended after completion of their maturity period. The tax treatments of these funds are similar to other equity funds (except ELSS).In case of funds having maturity period, redemptions can be made during the close-end tenure on paying some charges.