50 shades of value investing in India

While everyone agrees that value investing is buying a stock for less than its intrinsic value, this is easier said than done. There is no one way to calculate intrinsic value. Over time Warren Buffet’s definition of value has changed from the ‘cigar butt’ approach that his mentor Ben Graham espoused to a more broader
tracking error of indian equity funds

How active and skilled are Indian equity funds?

While retail investors and advisers track various performance-based quantitative parameters such as excess returns and Sharpe ratio on mutual fund fact sheets, the professional investment consulting industry uses more advanced measures such as tracking error and information ratio to evaluate active funds. We calculated and analysed these measures for the Indian equity fund universe with
Tagged under: , , ,

P2P lending in India

Peer-to-peer lending is a small sub-segment of the fast growing lending segment within fintech. It allows investors to lend to a diversified portfolio of small borrowers through digital platforms, thereby cutting out the traditional middlemen (like banks and non-banking financial companies) and earning a higher return. We look at the p2p lending landscape in India.
pms vs mutual funds - which is better

Are PMS better than mutual funds?

With increasing flows into portfolio management services (PMS), we hear PMS providers claiming that they outperform mutual funds as a category. We decided to take a high level look at the performance. While the median PMS performance is not too different from that of mutual funds, the dispersion of returns is higher. We suggest investors

Indian financial reporting standards

In India, the state of financial reporting has changed dramatically in the previous five years. As trade expands beyond national borders, compliance and reporting standards must adapt as well. The reporting standards ensure that the transactions are reported by the firms similarly. However, standards must remain flexible and allow discretion to management to properly describe

Bond markets: issues and implications

This post collates some of the issues being highlighted by experts regarding the Indian corporate bond markets, and the implications for debt mutual funds. Debt funds are risky… Suyash Choudhary, head of fixed interest at IDFC AMC, outlines the market structure and issues – The macro Markets for financing in India Behavioural thinking and operating

Share buy-backs in India

A share buyback means a company buys their own shares from the market when they want to reduce their number of shares available in the open market. Share buyback in India – legal provisions In India, buyback of listed shares was permitted by the Companies (Amendment) Act, 1999 by the insertion of Sections 77A, 77AA
Tagged under:

Differential voting rights in India – a summary

What are DVRs? Dual Class Shares (DCS) or shares with Differential Voting Right (DVR) as popularly known in India, simply mean that a company has issued more than one class of stocks with different voting rights. In other words, DVRs are shares that give the holder different voting rights compared to someone who owns ordinary
Tagged under:

Unlisted stock investing

In addition to investing in the 5,000-odd listed stocks, investors can invest in unlisted stocks, either pre-IPO or delisted stocks. The CFA Society India organised a webinar on this topic – https://www.cfainstitute.org/en/research/multimedia/2018/investing-in-indias-growing-unlisted-space The webinar discusses what unlisted stocks are, their types, valuation, how to invest. Unlisted securities are not listed on stock exchange and those

Does ETF liquidity matter for investors?

The Indian asset and wealth management industry laments the lack of liquidity in ETFs, encouraging investors to buy passive funds instead. But what is liquidity and does it matter? In the recent past, two papers have been issued to address this topic – The CFA Society India issued a report on ETFs generally with some recommendations
Tagged under: , , ,

Valuing real estate

Subhankar Mitra of Jones Lang LaSalle explains the basic methodologies used for real estate valuations in India. Valuations are very important in any private equity/real estate investing not only while buying and selling but also for ongoing reporting. Hence, it’s important to understand how valuations work in India. 1. What qualifications does one need to
Tagged under: ,

Forget track records for responsible investing

The United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment now claims over 550 signatories with more than USD 18 trillion in assets. UNPRI provides a framework for institutional investors to integrate environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors into investment processes. Also, the International Finance Corporation has sponsored a study on the prevalence of RI in emerging markets.
Tagged under: ,