UTI Asset Management (MF)

About

UTI Mutual Fund is managed by UTI Asset Management Company Ltd, the eighth-largest asset management company in India. The AMC was incorporated on November 14, 2002 and commenced operations in the investment domain from February 1, 2003. It has more than 11 million active client base and nationwide presence with 70 schemes to offer.

The AMC is backed by India’s four largest financial institutions – State Bank of India (SBI), Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), Punjab National Bank (PNB) and Bank of Baroda (BOB). US-Based investment management firm T Rowe Price Group, has bought a 26% stake in UTI Asset Management Company and UTI Trustee Company.

UTI AMC has been managing assets across different businesses. These include domestic Mutual Fund, Portfolio Management Services, International business, Retirement Solutions, and Alternate Investment assets. It is listed as BSE: 543238 · NSE: UTIAMC.

The total assets under management as on March 31, 2023 are INR 2,23,853 crores (~ $27.3 billion @82 INR per USD)

Key numbers for the financial year 2021-22 and 2022-23

YearTotal Income (INR crores)Total Expense (INR crores)EBIT (INR crores)EBIT MarginNet Profit (INR crores)Total Income (USD millions)Total Expense (USD millions)Net Profit (USD millions)
2021-221,327.27657.91669.3650%534.59176.9787.7271.28
2022-231,100.00537.00563.0051%424.00134.1565.4951.71

Source –  https://www.moneycontrol.com/india/stockpricequote/finance-investment/utiassetmanagementcompany/UA04

Key staff

Imtaiyazur Rahman, MD & CEO – He has more than three decades of experience in management, business leadership, leading change and forming strategic alliances. He joined the UTI Group in 1998 as part of UTI Investor Services Limited and joined UTI AMC Limited in 2003. He was also the CFO of the Company from 2005. In his role as Group President & Chief Finance Officer, he headed the functions of Finance, Accounts, Taxation, Information Technology, Board related matters, Offshore funds, Alternate Investments and Portfolio Management Services. He is a Science graduate, Fellow member of Institute of Cost Accountants of India and Institute of Company Secretaries of India, Certified Public Accountancy (USA) and GAMP from Indian School of Business & Kellogg School of Management.

Vetri Subramaniam, CIO – Vetri has over 26 years of work experience. He has been in this role since August 1, 2021. Prior to joining UTI in January 2017, he was Chief Investment Officer at Invesco Asset Management Ltd. He was part of the start-up team at Invesco (then Religare Asset Management) in 2008 and helped establish the firm’s proprietary investment process and the team. During this period the firm established a strong track record. The firm also launched several offshore funds investing into India from Japan, Mauritius & Luxembourg.

Ajay Tyagi, Head of Equities He is a CFA Charter holder from The CFA Institute, USA and also holds a Masters degree in Finance from Delhi University. Ajay joined UTI in the year 2000 and has successfully carried out various roles and responsibilities across equity research, offshore funds as well as domestic onshore funds. He has won many awards and accolades for his performance both domestically and globally. 

Amandeep Chopra, Head of Fixed Income – He holds a B.Sc. degree from University of Delhi and an MBA degree from University of Delhi. He joined Erstwhile UTI on June 27, 1994 and was subsequently transferred to UTI AMC with effect from January 15, 2003. Prior to joining erstwhile UTI, he was associated with Aaina Exports Private Limited and Stenay Limited. 

Investment philosophy (for firm)

Its investment philosophy is to deliver consistent and stable returns in the medium to long term, with a fairly lower volatility of fund returns. It believes in having a balanced and well-diversified portfolio for all the funds and a rigorous in-house research based approach to all its investments. Its investment philosophy endeavors to deliver investment outperformance against benchmarks and competitors. It follows a disciplined and rigorous investment process, which is supported by its in-house fundamental research, a comprehensive data-supported framework for disciplined portfolio construction and detailed internal risk management processes. The fund managers construct their portfolios in light of investment objectives and investment strategies with an emphasis on risk, diversification and performance. 

(Source – Annual Report FY 2019-20)

Investment Process (for Equity Funds)

  • Strategies
    • Support diverse strategies
    • Style discipline
  • Process
    • Standardized research methodology – driven by research analysts
    • Identifying good stocks, avoiding poor stocks – driven by fund managers
    • Consistency over time
  • Team
    • Team driven approach
    • Discussion and review

UTI employs a range of investment styles spanning value, growth at a reasonable price (GARP) and growth for different funds. It uses two major fundamental ratios – Return on Capital Employed (RoCE) and Operating Cash Flow (OCF).

Operating Cash Flow (OCF)Profits are an opinion based on accounting principles, cash is a fact. OCF is the fuel for growth. OCF is a hygiene factor. 
Return on Capital/Equity (RoCE/RoE)When RoCE > Cost of Capital, the business creates wealth

UTI AMC goes by the statement “If OCF is hygiene, RoCE creates wealth”

Investment Style (for Equity Funds)

Select Funds from UTI Equity Schemes Spectrum

SchemeRoCEOCFStyle
UTI Flexi Cap Fund 93%95%Quality, growth and cashflow
UTI Mastershare Unit Scheme63%94%Competitive Franchise and GARP
UTI Mid Cap Fund58%85%Blend-Growth Tilt
UTI Value Opportunities Fund50%90%Barbell Approach
UTI Core Equity Fund48%84%Deep Value

Data as on March 31, 2021

In one of the media interviews, Swati Kulkarni, an equity fund manager at UTI explained competitive franchise as – “I believe competitive franchise is built over a long period of time by companies that are fundamentally strong with well-managed capital structure reflected in low leverage, consistent revenue growth focused on profitability as measured in terms of stable EBITDA margins, higher RoE than cost of capital and consistent cash flow generation. Such companies generate free cash flow for future expansion and avoid dilution of existing shareholders.”

Style discipline is measured through continuous monitoring of values in relation with the  benchmark. 

  • Measured on the basis of two style factors – OCF and RoCE
  • A benchmark is defined for each fund
  • Price multiples (Price to Book and Price to Earnings) are compared with benchmark
  • Higher active share implies greater portfolio uniqueness and potential for higher alpha generation

(Source – investors presentation dated April 29, 2021)

Investment Philosophy (for Fixed Income Funds)

  • Deliver consistent and stable returns
  • Lower fund volatility with respect to broad market

Approach

  • Combines top-down and bottom-up approaches
  • Equal importance to asset and sectoral allocation
  • Balanced and well-diversified portfolio
  • Rigorous in-house research based approach
  • Adopt and maintain good fund management practices
  • Aim to consistently remain in the the top quartile

Strategy

  • Delivering better returns
  • Minimize volatility of returns 
  • Low credit risk 
  • Superior performance vis-a-vis competitors

Investment Process (for Fixed Income Funds)

(Source – UTI’s Fixed Income Fund Management Overview Report, February 2021)

Media

Quarterly Results

Source – UTI Asset Management Company Ltd Share Price Live on NSE/BSE | UTI Asset Management Company Ltd Stock Price, Latest News, Analysis & Update – ICICI Direct

(in crores)March 2023Dec 2022Sep 2022June 2022March 2022
Sales263.16280.49316.26239.38262.37
Operating Profit129.14158.42187.67119.75126
Profit after tax98.35108.16119.2101.9874.57

PNB, LIC, SBI & BoB Look to Seek Bids for UTI AMC Stake, The Times Group, June 2023, PNB, LIC, SBI & BoB Look to Seek Bids for UTI AMC Stake (timesgroup.com)

Four state-owned financial entities, namely Punjab National Bank, Life Insurance Corporation of India, State Bank of India, and Bank of Baroda, are planning to sell their combined stake of just over 45% in UTI Asset Management Company (AMC). They have appointed merchant bankers to initiate the sale process. Earlier, the Tata Group was in talks to buy a majority stake in UTI AMC, but the discussions fell through due to a disagreement over the selling process. However, the Tata Group is now expected to submit a fresh bid for the AMC.

Tata AMC Considers Picking Up Stake in UTI AMC, Bazaar Corporate Radar, CNBC-TV18, Youtube, September 2022

Tata Asset Management Company is exploring options to buy about 45% in UTI AMC from four state-owned financial entities — Punjab National Bank, Life Insurance Corporation, State Bank of India, and Bank of Baroda.

UTI Asset Management Company consolidated net profit declines 59.68% in the March 2022 quarter, Business Standard, April 27, 2022, https://www.business-standard.com/article/news-cm/uti-asset-management-company-consolidated-net-profit-declines-59-68-in-the-march-2022-quarter-122042700166_1.html

Net profit of UTI Asset Management Company declined 59.68% to Rs 53.99 crore in the quarter ended March 2022 as against Rs 133.92 crore during the previous quarter ended March 2021. Sales rose 4.12% to Rs 301.15 crore in the quarter ended March 2022 as against Rs 289.24 crore during the previous quarter ended March 2021. For the full year,net profit rose 8.13% to Rs 534.29 crore in the year ended March 2022 as against Rs 494.14 crore during the previous year ended March 2021. Sales rose 12.88% to Rs 1319.08 crore in the year ended March 2022 as against Rs 1168.52 crore during the previous year ended March 2021.

“Covid second wave to have bigger impact on leveraged businesses”, livemint.com, April29, 2021 https://www.livemint.com/companies/people/covid-second-wave-to-have-bigger-impact-on-leveraged-businesses-ajay-tyagi-11619677642342.html

Ajay Tyagi, executive vice president and equity fund manager at UTI AMC talked to Mint about the outlook of the mutual fund industry, how markets will behave amid the second wave of covid-19 and his philosophy of picking stocks. According to him, the markets did go through a very deep correction in the first few weeks of the breakout of the pandemic last year. However, as lockdowns got lifted and economic activity restarted, it became clear that there hasn’t been any structural damage to India’s growth outlook. He also said that UTI Flexi Cap fund follows a philosophy of buying high-quality businesses that have the ability to grow for an extended period of time and his favourite hunting ground for stock selection is the intersection of quality and growth. 

“Invest across market caps based on risk appetite, goals”, Economic Times, May 17, 2021, https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/wealth/personal-finance-news/trying-to-catch-cycles-sounds-attractive-but-is-hard-to-implement-successfully-vetri-subramaniam-uti-mutual-fund/articleshow/82655964.cms

The consumer discretionary sector such as companies in retail, travel and leisure could benefit as we get past the pandemic and vaccination accelerates, Vetri Subramaniam, head of equity funds at UTI Asset Management Company told Economic Times. When asked about the market pullback amid a strong covid 2nd wave, he said that over the past few months, many countries have experienced second or even third waves and there are examples of their equity markets trending higher through such episodes. So, he believes that the same may be the case for India. When asked about the sectors that are investment worthy right now, he thinks the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries remain attractive. 

“Swati Kulkarni of UTI AMC hands out 5 mantras of successful investing for new investors”, Moneycontrol, January 20, 2021, https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/markets/daily-voice-swati-kulkarni-of-uti-amc-hands-out-5-mantras-of-successful-investing-for-new-investors-6365131.html

Swati Kulkarni, EVP & Fund Manager of Equity at UTI AMC, feels in medium term, equity asset class is likely to give inflation-beating returns even though in the near term, equity returns may be lower than in the last 9 months owing to the valuations above the long-term average multiples. Her top 5 mantras are-

  1. She believes ‘Time in market’ is more important than ‘timing’ the market. Not having enough allocation to the equity asset class could hamper absolute wealth creation more than buying at higher valuation. 
  2. Market correction could be an opportunity to allocate more to equity as valuations also correct. 
  3. Trading may give a sense of staying occupied, but it cannot beat the wealth generated by staying invested in good companies for a long period.
  4. Beware of the trading temptations to make quick bucks, rather look for quality investments that you can back even when the prices fall. 
  5. Consider the MF route for the bulk of your equity investments as it is the most cost-effective, diversified, disciplined, informed and transparent approach to create long term wealth. 

“Longer duration funds may not perform like last year”, Business Standard, April 6, 2021, https://www.business-standard.com/article/markets/longer-duration-funds-may-not-be-able-to-perform-like-they-did-last-year-121040500191_1.html

A sharp rise in bond yields has kept equity markets on the edge over the past few weeks. Amandeep Chopra, group president & head of fixed income at UTI AMC said in an interview with Business Standards that investors can look at accrual-oriented funds, like the low duration and short-term funds if the investment horizon is less than three years. He also said that they have been trimming the duration across their flagship schemes so that the impact of rising yields is lowered. He believes that recovery is likely to be slower with the onset of the second wave of Covid-19 and hence, the RBI would support growth by maintaining liquidity. According to him, on the credit front, the worst seems to be over as the credit ratio inches closer to one between October and February this fiscal. 

Prepared by – Kritika Agarwal May 2021, updated Anasuya Dhar Dec 2022

Updated by – Oraina Dsouza, June 2023 

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