PrimeInvestor - Articles and Reports

Interest rates - up or down?
Bonds & Deposits
Aarati Krishnan

Are we at rock-bottom on interest rates?

As the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) decided to defy all expectations to hold its repo rates at 5.15 per cent yesterday, a sigh of relief must have gone around retirees and fixed deposit investors. But as the MPC has kept the door open for further cuts by signalling an โ€˜accommodative stanceโ€™, they must be wondering โ€“ โ€œIs this rock-bottom for interest rates? How much lower can they go?โ€

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Investment Opportunitiesย 
General
Vidya Bala

The emergence of a new class of ETF in debt

Owning bonds, unless you are well-diversified, has become a super risky proposition since September 2018. Credit risk and drying up of liquidity have proved to be lethal combinations to manage for investors. Now the debt ETF space may receive some life with the soon-to-be launched defined maturity PSU Debt ETF.

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Safetyย 
Bonds & Deposits
Aarati Krishnan

What we look for in FDs – The PrimeInvestor approach

โ€œIs my fixed deposit with so-and-so company safe?โ€ This query is cropping up often, after the recent default on fixed deposit repayments by Dewan Housing Finance Limited and RBIโ€™s strictures on PMC Bank.

At PrimeInvestor, our approach to curating a list of fixed deposits is to put safety far ahead of return considerations. Hereโ€™s the approach we use to choose our recommended list of FDs.

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Active funds vs Index funds
Mutual funds & ETFs
Vidya Bala

Is it time to move from active funds to index funds?

Is it time to move from active funds to index funds?

The answer is no. There will definitely be more space for index investing in your portfolio but that doesnโ€™t mean you can ignore active funds. Weโ€™ll show you some numbers on Indian active fundsโ€™ ability to beat the indices currently.

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Direct vs Regular
Mutual funds & ETFs
Srikanth Meenakshi

Direct vs Regular Mutual funds โ€“ How should you decide?

It has been 7 years since SEBI came out with direct plans in mutual funds and a lot has happened during this period. At this time, how should an investor decide which plan to go for – direct or regular? What are the factors to consider? Srikanth Meenakshi distills 11 years of FinTech experience and working with investors to provide a roadmap.

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Active vs Passiveย 
Mutual funds & ETFs
Aarati Krishnan

What are the risks in index funds?

As some categories of active funds in India such as large-cap funds, have struggled to beat the sprinting Nifty50 and Sensex30 in the last couple of years, thereโ€™s a surge of interest in index investing.

But are there risks in index investing that investors are ignoring? Read on to find out.

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Get some debt relief!
Mutual funds & ETFs
Vidya Bala

Vodafoneโ€™s impact on your debt funds: Hereโ€™s what you should do

Recent developments in the telecom space holds the risk of pushing Vodafoneโ€™s debt instruments to junk/default status and a consequent erosion to NAVs of funds that hold the instrument. We tell you what funds are affected, and we recommend an exit on funds that have a significant holding in the instrument and suggest alternatives.

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Insurerย 
Insurance
Aarati Krishnan

Is your insurance company solvent?

Most of us buy insurance to make sure that our finances, or those of our dependants, are protected from fateโ€™s sudden googlies. But what if the insurance company youโ€™re relying on is in a shaky financial situation? This risk is not an outlandish one in India.

Recently, IRDA (Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority) asked Reliance Health Insurance Company to stop selling new health policies and to transfer its older policies to Reliance General Insurance Company, after finding that it was unable to maintain its solvency margins at statutory levels. In June 2017, IRDA had ordered Sahara Life Insurance to stop issuing new life policies and had directed its takeover by ICICI Prudential Life Insurance. The order was later overturned by SAT.

If youโ€™re looking to buy a life or a general insurance policy, it is best to vet your insurer before signing up to avoid such uncertainties. What are the checks you can run to ensure that your insurer is in it for the long haul?

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Declining performanceย 
Commentary
Bhavana Acharya

Large-cap funds are losing the appeal

Performance data is clearly showing a declining trend for large-cap funds. Further, data and index behaviour shows that large-cap equity funds will continue to struggle to beat their benchmark convincingly. Selectively picking large-cap stocks directly or a passive strategy of holding large-cap index funds may become necessary

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Piecing the puzzle
General
Srikanth Meenakshi

Why PrimeInvestor

The financial services marketplace is getting reshaped by three forces – a push to financialization, increasingly complex products, and digitization leading to the emergence of self-serve customers
Consequently, there is a need for providing cost-effective research and guidance to a new class of consumers
PrimeInvestor with its totally independent setup and a remarkable team, seeks to do that as a subscription-based, product-first, digital-channel service.
Itโ€™s a unique service – so, need a lot of feedback, and a lot of support ๐Ÿ™‚

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