PrimeInvestor - Articles and Reports

Tax changes in mutual funds: How to manage your investments now

Mutual funds & ETFs

Tax changes in mutual funds: How to manage your investments now

Changes in tax rules at the end of a financial year is not something that you routinely expect. And not when it is a sweeping change on taxation in your mutual fund! In this article, we are going to discuss the tax changes in mutual funds in 4 parts:
One, the changes effective April 1, 2023 and the categories impacted
The tax impact for you and what you can do to plan better
What should you do with your existing investments?
How should you plan your fresh investments?

PrimeInvestor Research Team March 27, 2023 38 Comments

Low returns from debt funds? know how to manage this risk

Mutual funds & ETFs

Low returns from debt funds? Know how to manage this risk!

Low returns from debt funds? Know how to manage this risk!
After Silicon Valley Bank revealed large losses on its US bond portfolio that had eaten into its capital, there’s been a lot of social media outrage. Some folks are shocked that banks can make losses on a cast-iron investment such as US treasuries. Others seem to be appalled that Silicon Valley Bank is not alone and that many other global banks are in the same boat. This shows that investors at large have only a vague understanding of what rising interest rates do to bond portfolios.
You have also been bombarding us with questions on how interest rate risks can play out for debt funds, particularly target maturity, constant maturity and gilt funds. We try to address them here.

Aarati Krishnan March 23, 2023 9 Comments

Debt funds for double indexation and high returns

Mutual funds & ETFs

Debt funds for double indexation and high returns

If there is one thing that has dominated the new fund offer space, and your collective interest, it is target maturity funds. Over the past year, the debt market has dealt with a swift rise in interest rates and we have issued multiple strategies to alert you on opportunities that presented themselves.

Bhavana Acharya March 16, 2023 29 Comments

Nifty Next 50 - what should you do with your investments?

Mutual funds & ETFs

Nifty Next 50 – what should you do with your investments?

The Nifty Next 50 houses the 50 top companies by market capitalisation, after the Nifty 50. This index caught the limelight over the past month for featuring a handful of the Adani group stocks.

As we had pointed out a couple of weeks ago in our write-up on Adani stocks and index funds, the presence of a few shaky stocks in an index is not reason enough to exit it. But even before the Adani-fuelled upheaval, the Nifty Next 50’s once-outstanding performance was being eroded.

PrimeInvestor Research Team March 7, 2023 33 Comments

4 easy steps to picking good mutual fund schemes

Mutual funds & ETFs

4 easy steps to picking good mutual fund schemes

The top-used product at PrimeInvestor, our MF Review Tool, is good for anyone who wants to know our call on your fund (buy/hold/sell) and the reason for the same. It also helps you pick the funds we have a buy on, if you want to go beyond Prime Funds.
But for those of you who want to see the evidence backed by data or wish to do your own filtering, then Prime MF Screener is the only tool available today in town for you to do this evidence-based investing. If you are a subscriber – well, what’s stopping you from empowering yourself using our MF Screener to pick good mutual fund schemes?

Vidya Bala March 5, 2023 5 Comments

NFO review: IDFC US Treasury Bond 0-1 year Fund of Funds

Mutual funds & ETFs

NFO review: IDFC US Treasury Bond 0-1 year Fund of Funds

US stocks and US equity funds have been quite a hit with Indian investors in recent years. Indians invest in these funds to gain exposure to global businesses (Amazon, Alphabet, Mastercard etc). More importantly, they would like to gain an exposure to the US dollar which has appreciated steadily against the Rupee over the years.
But the risks in owning US equities have become apparent lately, with the Fed on a rate hiking spree and the US economy flirting with a recession. US stock indices have lost 12-15% in one year, while US equity funds have seen losses of 6%-12%. But there has been a sharp rise in yields on US government bonds (treasuries).

Aarati Krishnan March 2, 2023 5 Comments

Build your own portfolio with PrimeInvestor’s super tool

General

Build your own portfolio with PrimeInvestor’s super tool

PrimeInvestor’s super new tool, Build your own portfolio is a simple and powerful solution for your need to customise your portfolio the way you wish to, but without choosing the wrong funds nor going wrong on allocation! It guides you into designing a portfolio for yourself using Prime Funds, based on your inputs. Here’s more.

Bhavana Acharya February 21, 2023 No Comments

FAQs: What does the recent rate hike mean for your debt funds?

Mutual funds & ETFs

FAQs: What does the recent rate hike mean for your debt funds?

We bet you must be tired of hearing about rate hikes and debt funds and strategies! But if your queries, comments and activity on our newly-launched PrimeInvestor Community are any indications, there are still several questions many of you have over your funds.

So, here’s collecting them all and explaining what you should be doing with your debt funds and if you need to do anything different in light of the latest round of rate hikes.

Bhavana Acharya February 9, 2023 23 Comments

Mutual funds & ETFs

5 reasons to avoid PSU ETFs

The list of top performing equity funds for the past year features a couple of unusual entries. With a return of 18-21 per cent, CPSE ETF (managed by Nippon India Mutual Fund for the government of India) and the Bharat 22 ETF (managed by ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund) are top rankers among equity funds.
This has many investors asking if they should add these passive funds to their portfolio. The portfolios of CPSE and Bharat 22 ETFs are made up of the PSU oil, energy and financial giants which are the flavour of the season. These ETFs’ costs are ultra-low because they are used as divestment vehicles. Both ETFs would also seem to be ‘value buys’ if you go by their ultra-cheap valuations. The CPSE ETF trades at a portfolio PE of 7 times and Bharat 22 ETF at about 11 times. This is a fraction of the current Nifty50 PE at over 21 times.
But does this make them worth betting on? There are five good reasons for long-term stock investors to steer clear of these ETFs.

Aarati Krishnan January 17, 2023 5 Comments

Quarterly review: Prime Portfolios performance review & quarter changes

Mutual funds & ETFs

Quarterly Review: Prime Portfolios performance review & quarter changes

Prime Portfolios are a set of 19 unique portfolios that meet over 30 different investor timeframes and needs. Prime Portfolios are listed under Ready-to-use-portfolios in the Recommendations dropdown. These portfolios primarily use mutual funds, but where there are better-suited products such as deposits or government schemes, the portfolios include those as well.

We review these portfolios every quarter and make changes to remove underperformers or to include any new investment opportunity or product that may come by. At the end of each year, we review the performance of key portfolios, in addition to discussing the changes we make.

PrimeInvestor Research Team January 5, 2023 2 Comments

Quarterly review - Changes to recommendations in Prime Funds and Prime ETFs

Mutual funds & ETFs

Quarterly review: Changes to recommendations in Prime Funds & Prime ETFs

Prime Funds is our list of recommendations in equity, debt, and hybrid mutual funds that are worth investing in. Prime Funds narrows down your choices from the thousands of funds that there are, into a concise list of funds that span different styles. Prime Funds are selected based on performance, portfolios, and investment strategies.

In this quarter’s review, we have added to equity funds to play themes that are ripe and made changes to the hybrid recommendations to include better return options. We have made minimal changes to our debt fund recommendations.

PrimeInvestor Research Team January 3, 2023 24 Comments

Strategies

Debt fund strategies for the current rate scenario

The Reserve Bank’s monetary policy on Wednesday served up another repo rate hike of 35 basis points, adding to the 190 basis points through this year. That takes the repo rate to 6.25% from the Covid low of 4%. The key driving factor behind the rapid rate hikes – that of inflation – still remains. The RBI has clearly spelt its commitment to bringing inflation within the target range, even in its latest monetary policy.
In this light, debt fund strategies you have now, to make the most of the current scenario, can be decided based on what you want:

Bhavana Acharya December 8, 2022 30 Comments

PrimeInvestor - Articles and Reports

Tax changes in mutual funds: How to manage your investments now

Low returns from debt funds? Know how to manage this risk!

Debt funds for double indexation and high returns

Nifty Next 50 – what should you do with your investments?

4 easy steps to picking good mutual fund schemes

NFO review: IDFC US Treasury Bond 0-1 year Fund of Funds

Build your own portfolio with PrimeInvestor’s super tool

FAQs: What does the recent rate hike mean for your debt funds?

5 reasons to avoid PSU ETFs

Quarterly Review: Prime Portfolios performance review & quarter changes

Quarterly review: Changes to recommendations in Prime Funds & Prime ETFs

Debt fund strategies for the current rate scenario

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