Dear Friends,
Advance Diwali wishes from team PenguWIN !
Right from my childhood days, Deepavali day has been my favourite day of the year (birthday comes latter) as I used to be deeply obsessed with Crackers. I have even had ideas to open a fireworks shop during Diwali eve, not with money-making motive, but get a chance to visit Sivakasi and buy fireworks at cheap prices so that I get a huge quantity to burst. But till date, it remains an unfulfilled wish.
I am aware that Fireworks cause health hazards, but was unaware of its intensity – Apparently, burning snake tablets is equal (how many boxes is something that was not published and obviously it’s not just 1 tablet or a box containing a dozen tablets) to 475 cigarettes (courtesy NDTV). Fireworks have been banned in many places in NCR (in and around Delhi) and I guess it’s only a matter of time that it ceases to exist for retail consumption.
I would like to brief about a category of equity funds called Equity Savings Fund, which as a concept I am really impressed. The fund category has only a 2-year history and long-term performance is yet to be tested. All major fund houses have launched this fund, starting 3rd quarter of FY 15-16. After the 2014 budget when the Finance Minister changed the taxation of debt funds, all debt funds need to be held for 3 years for indexation benefit and subsequently taxed at 20%. Manufacturers in mutual fund industry (who create new schemes) are extremely savvy and came up with the concept of Equity Savings Fund.
For a fund to be categorized as Equity Fund, it has to have a minimum of 65% exposure to Equity (Stocks) and the balanced fund category is based on this principle, though SEBI continues to say that Balanced Fund should be 50%:50%, Equity and Debt. Meanwhile a separate category of funds called Arbitrage Funds came into existence, where the fund manager tries to identify opportunities of mispricing between cash and futures markets. Without getting too technical, Arbitrage Funds belongs to equity category but potential returns are like debt category (about 5 to 6% ROI now). There is no issue of losses in these funds as purchase and sale of securities are done at the same time.
Using the advantage of Equity for high returns, Debt for stable returns and Arbitrage for Equity tax treatment and stable returns, Equity Savings Fund was conceptualized. They take 1/3rd exposure to Equity, Debt and Arbitrage, with specific schemes taking a little higher or lower proportion of securities. They maintain a minimum of 65% exposure to Equity and Arbitrage so that the fund enjoys equity taxation. From a risk perspective, it’s a lot lower than Balanced Funds giving a comfort feel to investors.
This category of fund, caps both the upside and downside quite well through its composition and has potential to generate 10% to 12% (net of tax) over a 3-year time frame. If this fund category proves its mettle, they will become a great hit among investors who don’t have the appetite for high exposure to Equity and Tolerate Volatility. Balanced Funds have attracted huge inflows in the recent run, higher than any other equity fund category – good returns with reduced risk. Equity Savings Fund could well be the next category to bet on.
< PenguWIN TITBIT # 103 – Equity Savings Fund>