NG 3.7 PubDate: 07-04-2025 Zone: ETWealthDelhi Edition: 1 Page: DETWDFP User: shashi.

bhushan4 Time: 04-04-2025 18:45 Color:

THE ECONOMIC TIMES “LOW

QUALITY HAS
OUTPERFORMED,
BUT DON’T GET
FOOLED”
P8
www.etwealth.co | Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, New Delhi, Pune | Volume 15 No. 14 | April 7-13, 2025 | 24 pages | `8

e s t 1 0 l ak h
Where to inv
for next 1 0 y ea r s P2

GE
FFS OP POWER SECTOR IS ALL
R I OL CHARGED UP P4
TA IT
IC SHOULD YOU RETHINK
S GOLD? P7
HOW TO AVOID FINANCIAL
CONFLICTS P10

WD OWN
RATE C
UTS SLO

***This PDF download is allowed by Economic Times only for the personal use of ePaper/ET Prime/TOI+ subscribers.
Sharing PDF on any Social Media or uploading on Websites will violate copyrights and would result in criminal offence and civil penalties.
 NG 3.7 PubDate: 07-04-2025 Zone: ETWealth Edition: 1 Page: ETWDP2 User: shashi.bhushan4 Time: 04-04-2025 18:40 Color:

cover story
02 The Economic Times Wealth April 07-13, 2025

Tariff shocks

WHERE TO
INVEST
`10 LAKH
FOR NEXT
10 YEARS?
The onset of Trump’s tariffs has added to
the market uncertainty that was already
unfolding—but it also presents an
GETTYIMAGES

opportunity for savvy investors.

By Sanket Dhanorkar fell by 9%, then recovered by 7% by 25 Markets recover, but can take time

I
March. However, any rebound in the
t’s finally here. On 3 April 2025, stock market may prove to be short-
Historically, large market falls (of more than 30%) and subsequent recoveries have
taken around two years, but a few have spanned four-five years.
US President Donald Trump lived, if global uncertainties persist
unveiled trade tariffs on the and domestic slowdown continues.
TOTAL TIME
rest of the world. Any hopes of a Don’t be misled by the nature of mar- TIME TIME
FALL TAKEN
TROUGH RECOVERY TAKEN TAKEN FOR
quick market rebound have been ket corrections in recent years. The PEAK DATE FROM FOR FALL &
DATE DATE FOR FALL RECOVERY
PEAK RECOVERY
dashed, say market experts. Already eq- market hasn’t seen a sustained fall for (MONTHS) (MONTHS)
(MONTHS)
uity markets have been under pressure long, while recoveries have been swift.
after a near-uninterrupted, multi-year No big market shocks in recent years 12 Sep 1994 4 Dec 1996 -41% 14 Jul 1999 27 31 58
uptick. Mid- and small-caps, particular- have led many investors into believing
ly, have been burnt badly. Even though they can handle stock market volatil- 21 Apr 1998 20 Oct 1998 -35% 5 Jul 1999 6 8 14
the stock market witnessed a rebound ity, simply because they haven’t seen
11 Feb 2000 21 Sep 2001 -56% 2 Jan 2004 19 27 46
of sorts in recent weeks, uncertainty much, so far. Many have now come to
prevails. Gold, on the other hand, has expect the market to get back on its feet 8 Jan 2008 9 Mar 2009 -61% 4 Nov 2010 14 20 34
been soaring, as the precious metal’s and climb higher. But history should
allure as a safe-haven asset intensifies. serve as a warning sign. While the 14 Jan 2020 23 Mar 2020 -38% 9 Nov 2020 2 8 10
Meanwhile, fixed income has continued magnitude of the 2008 crash has not yet
Source: FundsIndia
to fetch a stable return. Those who had faded from investor memory, there have
material gold and fixed income alloca-
tion in their portfolios are doing some-
been instances of much longer, drawn
out corrections (see graphic). You can’t “Conservative investors
what better than others.
The big question is: where will the
always count on a swift market recov-
ery. Raghvendra Nath, MD, Ladderup
may go in for multi asset
market go from here? It may easily swing Asset Managers, urges, “While markets funds (25-30%), conserva-
back into action and begin its next phase have shown an upward trend in recent
of growth. On the flipside, it may con- weeks, it is crucial to remain vigilant as tive hybrid funds (30-40%)
tinue to trend downwards or take a long-
winding path to recovery. While market
the sustainability of this rally depends
on factors such as upcoming corporate
and debt funds (30-40%).
experts ponder, what we know is that
every correction in stock markets is an
earnings and the global economy.”
A worse mistake would be to stop
The portfolio would be
opportunity to buy—within your asset your investments or exit. That will halt relatively less volatile.”
allocation, of course. ET Wealth reached your wealth creation. Vivek Banka, RAGHVENDRA NATH
out to market experts to guide on where Founder, GoalTeller, cautions, “Over MD, L ADDERUP ASSET MANAGERS
you should invest your money, now. the near-term investors would do well
to survive and ensure they stay in the
RESET EXPECTATIONS game as structural tailwinds for the term, such fluctuations are both normal and Coming out of a multi-year market rally,
Experts insist that investors need to Indian economy remain strong.” Akhil necessary for wealth generation. What truly investors also need to reset their expecta-
proceed cautiously. Now is not the Rathi, Senior Vice President, Financial matters is your commitment to a diversified tions. Inderbir Singh Jolly, CEO-Wealth,
time to be overly adventurous in your Concierge at 1 Finance, exhorts, investment plan, avoiding impulsive deci- PL Capital, remarks, “The upward journey
investment choices. Between 2 Janu- “Market volatility may seem unset- sions, and conducting periodic (not obses- will be gradual, and investors will need to be
ary and 4 March, the S&P BSE Sensex tling in the short term, but over the long sive) portfolio reviews.” highly selective in choosing stocks. Small

***This PDF download is allowed by Economic Times only for the personal use of ePaper/ET Prime/TOI+ subscribers.
Sharing PDF on any Social Media or uploading on Websites will violate copyrights and would result in criminal offence and civil penalties.
 NG 3.7 PubDate: 07-04-2025 Zone: ETWealth Edition: 1 Page: ETWDP3 User: shashi.bhushan4 Time: 04-04-2025 18:42 Color:

cover story
The Economic Times Wealth April 07-13, 2025 03

Maintain prudent asset allocation “Investors should revisit

While returns from individual asset classes may fluctuate, a well diversified portfo- their asset allocations,
lio can protect the drawdowns and deliver smoother return experience.
liquidity and financial goals
Annualised return (CAGR %)
MAX
DRAWDOWN
to determine an asset
5 YEAR 10 YEAR 15 YEAR 20 YEAR (%)
allocation mix that is best
India equity 16 12 12 14 -59 suited to them.”
US equity 20 18 19 14 -45 VIVEK BANKA
Debt 6 7 8 7 -4 FOUNDER, GOALTELLER

Gold 17 12 11 14 -29
Equity 75%: Debt: 15%:
Gold 15%
15 11 12 14 -40 “Market volatility may seem
Period considered from 3 Jan 00 to 31 Jan 25. Ind Equity: Nifty50 TRI; US Equity: S&P 500 TR; Gold price: Gold.org,
unsettling in the short term, but
Debt: Average returns of ABSL Low Duration Fund, HDFC Low Duration Fund & ABSL Corporate Bond Fund. Portfolio
rebalanced at the end of every year provided the allocation deviates by +/-5% | Source: FundsIndia
over the long term, fluctuations
are both normal and necessary
caps and microcaps, which were trading at
valuations of 40-50 times earnings, are un-
term horizon, aggressive investors can af-
ford to take calculated risks. Equities have for wealth generation. What
likely to rebound quickly. This year, it will
be a stock-picker’s market.”
historically delivered superior returns,
making them essential for wealth creation.
truly matters is your
The ongoing market correction should However, diversification remains key, commitment to a diversified
also serve as a lesson on chasing returns. even for risk-tolerant investors,” observes
According to FundsIndia, six out of 10 top Rathi. He urges aggressive investors to investment plan.”
performing funds of 2019-2021 are cur- shun excessive risk-taking. “Don’t go all-in AKHIL RATHI
rently not even among the top 100. Only two on mid- or small-cap stocks chasing high SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, FINANCIAL CONCIERGE, 1 FINANCE
schemes remain in the top 20. Similarly, returns. Avoid thematic or sectoral funds
only one out the top 10 performing schemes unless you thoroughly understand the
for 2022-2024 was also among the ten for trend.” “(Aggressive investors)
2019-2021 (see graphic). “Many broad
categories’ top performers are now at the
Nath suggests a tilt toward large-cap
(30%), flexi-cap (20%) and multi-cap funds may go in for a
bottom of the charts. No one remains at the
top for long and winners keep rotating. So
(20%) while the rest may be parked in
mid-cap and small-cap funds (around 15%
diversified approach
investors should be careful when chasing each). Jolly suggests a balanced asset allo- across market caps, 50%
returns alone,” insists Juzer Gabajiwala, cation within equities. “A substantial por-
Director, Ventura Securities. tion of the investable sum may be invested large-caps, 30% mid-caps
Investors need to recalibrate and revisit
previous portfolio decisions and goal-relat-
in equities with a diversified approach
across market caps i.e. 50% large-caps, 30%
and 20% small-caps.”
ed math. Banka avers, “Investors should mid-caps and 20% small-caps.” Beyond INDERBIR SINGH JOLLY
revisit their asset allocations, liquidity this, he suggests 20-25% allocation to debt CEO, WEALTH, PL CAPITAL
and financial goals to determine an asset instruments like high-quality corporate
allocation mix that is best suited to them. bonds and G-secs, performing credit and HOW THE PREVIOUS 30 HOW TODAY’S 30 TOP
Ensure you don’t allocate any equities for
funds that are earmarked for goals less
special situation funds. Another 5% alloca-
tion can be in gold via ETFs.
Avoid TOP FUNDS FARED IN THE
SUBSEQUENT 3-YEAR PERIOD
FUNDS FARED IN THE
PRIOR 3-YEAR PERIOD
than three years.” Banka reckons gold and Banka cautions that aggressive inves- chasing FUND RANK FUND RANK
fixed income should do well in the near tors should remain vigilant and consider
term. As the economy slows, further inter- taking some money off the table as their fi- recent 2019-2021 2022-2024 2019-2021 2022-2024
est rate cuts seem imminent, which will
lead to debt funds generating good returns.
nancial goals draw closer. “As you near any
long-term goal, start exiting equity invest-
winners 1 43 42 1

Jolly maintains that the priority now ments through a Systematic Withdrawal 2 13 86 2
should be to diversify investments, focus Plan (SWP), ideally a year in advance, 3 201 NA 3
Best performing funds
on quality large-caps, take a staggered ap- spread over 12 equal monthly tranches,” he
keep rotating every 4 126 130 4
proach if investing in a mid- or small-caps, advises.
few years, so it is futile
maintain some liquidity, rebalance portfo- to keep chasing past 5 107 NA 5
lio and stay updated on the events happen- CONSERVATIVE INVESTORS: winners. 6 148 73 6
ing domestically and globally. DON’T SHUN RISK ALTOGETHER
For investors averse to market volatility 7 72 10 7
AGGRESSIVE INVESTORS: and capital erosion, a cautious stance is 8 100 33 8
TAKE CALIBRATED RISK recommended. Particularly, those who
For investors with a high-risk appetite who have experienced a correction for the first 9 138 173 9
are able to stay invested through market time, and found they don’t have the stom- 10 7 165 10
cycles, this correction could be a blessing. ach for it, should descend a few notches
Source: FundsIndia
“Waiting for the perfect time to invest is a down the risk ladder. If you feel the urge to
myth—the best time is now,” insists Rathi. redeem and exit equities, your threshold 15–20% allocation can significantly boost vours a 70-75% fixed income-centric alloca-
Avoid putting in big lumpsums for now. of risk is clearly low. “For conservative long-term returns.” tion, with another 15-20% parked in quality
Continue to invest in a staggered man- investors, a lower equity and higher fixed Nath suggests a mix of multi asset funds large caps as well as 5% in gold.
ner via SIPs. Top-up your SIPs regularly. income allocation is suggested as they (25-30%), conservative hybrid funds Apart from this, for investments ear-
Banka asserts, “The current decline and might not fare well with too much volatil- (30-40%) and debt funds (30-40%). “This marked for less than three years, Banka
any further falls offer a great opportunity ity,” Banka says. Yet, even conservative portfolio would be relatively less volatile suggests exploring a mix of arbitrage
for investors looking at long term time ho- investors, with a 10-year investment win- compared to an equity-heavy portfolio, funds, liquid funds, short term funds and
rizons to deploy their money into equities.” dow, can afford moderate risk to outpace with the debt component offering stability high-quality corporate bonds with low ma-
Given the risk profile and long-term in- inflation. “Safety doesn’t mean avoiding in returns. Opting for multi-asset funds turities. For both aggressive and conserva-
vestment horizon, experts suggest allocat- growth—it means being selective and stra- is also more tax-efficient compared to dy- tive investors, Banka cautions against
ing a significant portion (around 75%-80%) tegic with risk exposure,” Rathi insists. namically managing asset allocation at an pursuing international exposure due to the
of the portfolio to equities. “With a long- “Don’t completely avoid equities—even a individual level,” Nath explains. Jolly fa- uncertainty in the global markets.

***This PDF download is allowed by Economic Times only for the personal use of ePaper/ET Prime/TOI+ subscribers.
Sharing PDF on any Social Media or uploading on Websites will violate copyrights and would result in criminal offence and civil penalties.
 NG 3.7 PubDate: 07-04-2025 Zone: ETWealth Edition: 1 Page: ETWDP4 User: shashi.bhushan4 Time: 04-04-2025 17:52 Color:

stocks
04 The Economic Times Wealth April 07-13, 2025

Power
sector is all
charged up
Recovery in electricity demand,
incremental demand from emerging
sectors like 5G, artificial intelligence
GETTY IMAGES

and policy support to drive the

performance of stocks.

term power market helps power generating

companies manage short-term demand fluc-
tuations by selling surplus power at market
prices. Rating agency ICRA estimates the
Rising electricity demand bodes annual demand growth for 2024-25 to be
4.5%. However, for 2025-26, demand growth
well for the power sector is expected to recover to 5.5% and 6%.
Recent brokerage reports from Antique
Stock Broking and Motilal Oswal state that
250 India peak electricity demand (GW)
245 growing electricity demand improves the
outlook of the power sector. The significant
237 238 correction in the stock prices has reduced
the valuation premium. The price to book
231 value (PBV) of the BSE Power Index has
227 fallen from 4.99 times in September 2024 to
222 224 224
3.7 times in March 2025, according to the
219 BSE data. While most stocks in the sector
216
by Sameer Bhardwaj still trade at higher valuations (in terms of

A
208 historical perspective), this premium is pos-
mid the scorching sum- sibly attributed to the anticipated pick-up in
mer heat, there’s a silver capex and capitalisation within the sector,
lining for equity investors. states the Antique Stock Broking report.
Analysts and brokerages
expect India’s power sector Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb
The risks
to see strong momentum in 2025-26. 2024 2024 2024 2024 2024 2024 2024 2024 2024 2024 2025 2025 Delays in signing power purchase agree-
Here’s what’s driving the optimism, Source: Motilal Oswal report ments (PPAs) are raising concerns over the
and how you can benefit. reliability of EBITDA guidance provided by
sign. Budget 2025 raised allocations for the in the first four months of 2024-25, but reg- power generation companies, according to
What works PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana and the istered 4.2% year-on-year growth between Motilal Oswal. PPAs are long-term contracts
Summer appears to have set in early National Manufacturing Mission to boost April 2024 and January 2025. under which these companies supply elec-
this year. February 2025 has turned domestic production of solar (photovoltaic) This volatility has affected the perfor- tricity to distribution companies (discoms),
out to be the hottest month in India PV cells, wind turbines, grid-scale batteries, mance of power sector stocks. The sector mostly public utilities, at fixed rates. The
since 1901, when the record-keeping and electrolysers. Meanwhile, falling bat- benchmark, BSE Power Index, has signifi- poor financial health of government-owned
commenced. There are expectations tery prices are encouraging developers to cantly underperformed the market bench- discoms remains a concern. Besides, trans-
of warmer-than-normal days in the ramp up capex on solar and storage, adding mark in the past six months, with -24.7% re- mission infrastructure issues, like land
upcoming season. A pick-up in com- momentum. turns compared to -9.8% returns by the BSE availability and delays in forest clearances,
mercial and industrial activities is Sensex. The constituent stocks of the power create delays in project execution.
predicted by analysts, which would Taking stock index have corrected between 13.6% and Analysts favour Power Grid Corporation
increase the demand for power. The The electricity demand remained volatile 51.2% in the past six months. The analysis is of India, NTPC and JSW Energy.
industrial segment accounts for 50% in the first 10 months of 2024-25. While the based on 1 April 2025 closing values.
of India’s power consumption. demand growth was good in the first four A recovery in the demand for electricity Power Grid Corporation
The power sector is heavily influ- months of the previous financial year, it was visible in February and March 2025, of India
enced by government policy and the moderated in the latter part of the year due with over 6% year-on-year growth. The
outlook is promising. The Centre’s to the slowdown in economic activity, unfa- increased demand led to the surge in prices The story so far
push for nuclear energy, with a 100 GW vourable base effect and the adverse impact in the short-term market, growing 6% year- lS
 trong expertise in power transmission
capacity target by 2047, is a positive of heavy rainfall. The demand grew at 9.9% on-year from 1-22 March 2025. The short- projects has helped the firm maintain

***This PDF download is allowed by Economic Times only for the personal use of ePaper/ET Prime/TOI+ subscribers.
Sharing PDF on any Social Media or uploading on Websites will violate copyrights and would result in criminal offence and civil penalties.
 NG 3.7 PubDate: 07-04-2025 Zone: ETWealth Edition: 1 Page: ETWDP5 User: shashi.bhushan4 Time: 04-04-2025 17:54 Color:

stocks
The Economic Times Wealth April 07-13, 2025 05

market share over the past several years.

l I t transmits around 45% of the total power Wired for growth ment and enjoys Maharatna status.
lT
 he December 2024 quarter was good due
of KSK Mahanadi Power.
lT
 he performance in the December
generated in India on its network, and to the increased energy sales and a fall in 2024 quarter was muted due to low-
owns 86% of the inter-state transmission Power Grid interest costs and other expenses. er realisations in the short-term
PRICE
system. Corporation of India What lies ahead
power market.
l In the December 2024 quarter, higher op- `289
erating costs led to weak performance. ANALYSTS’ RECOMMENDATIONS lP  lans to increase both thermal and renew- What lies ahead
BUY HOLD SELL able energy capacities. lT  he company is transitioning from
What lies ahead 15 1 6 l To ensure fuel security, it is aiming to a thermal player to a RE player
lT  he company’s foray into renewable ener- increase coal mining capacity from 40 with assets across energy storage
gy and increasing its capacity offers huge million metric tonne (MMT) in 2024-25 to systems and green hydrogen.
PRICE
transmission opportunities over the next
NTPC 67 MMT in 2029-30. l Cost synergies in its operations
seven-eight years. `352 l Focusing on the nuclear business and management due to its acquisi-
l A strong project pipeline of `1.4 lakh crore ANALYSTS’ RECOMMENDATIONS (through a JV with Anushakti Vidyut tion of O2 Power (renewable energy
provides healthy revenue visibility over BUY HOLD SELL Nigam) and green hydrogen. player) with assets across solar and
the next three-four years. Additional 20 2 2 wind power.
bidding opportunities in the future will l The O2 Power acquisition will
further build up its order book.
Analysts’ talk create a good blend of solar, wind,
l Its estimated capital expenditure for 2025- PRICE and FDRE (firm and dispatchable
JSW Energy CICI DIRECT: Robust capacity addi-
l I
26 is `30,000 crore. `523 tions are set to drive strong financial renewable power) portfolio.
ANALYSTS’ RECOMMENDATIONS performance in the medium to long
Analysts’ talk BUY HOLD SELL term. Analysts’ talk
NTIQUE STOCK BROKING: Power
lA 9 2 4 XIS SECURITIES: A strong vendor
lA XIS SECURITIES: With 28% of
lA
Grid benefits from low competition in network creates lower execution risks its portfolio in the merchant
Price as on 1 April 2025. Source: Reuters-Refinitiv.
the tariff-based competitive bidding in setting up thermal projects. Its (short-term) market, the com-
segment. A robust bid pipeline, steady robust thermal assets provide strong pany stands to gain from ris-
project wins, and strong opportunities
in the transmission space remain its
The Centre’s push for cash-flow visibility. Aggressive renew-
al power addition targets and stable
ing prices. Recent stock price
correction and an expected
key strengths. nuclear energy, with a dividend yield are key positives. summer demand surge further
strengthen the outlook.
CICI SECURITIES: It is poised to be a
l I
key beneficiary of renewable energy 100 GW capacity JSW Energy OTILAL OSWAL: A key play
lM
capacity additions and remains the
government’s preferred choice for
target by 2047, is a The story so far
on rising merchant power
prices. Moreover, it is least
strategically important transmission
projects.
positive sign. lA  strong operating track record of the
impacted by PPA delays.

company’s thermal power plants has

power sector and is adding capacities helped it to report stable cash flows and
NTPC through acquisitions and expansions. healthy profitability over the past few
l Strong business model with thermal ca- years.
The story so far pacities backed by long-term PPAs. l Its operational capacity has surpassed 10
Please send your feedback to
etwealth@timesofindia.com
l Maintains a dominant position in India’s l Is strategically important to the govern- GW after the completion of the acquisition

Bitcoin miners rush to beat Trump’s tariff clock

Crypto firms scramble to ship equipment from Southeast Asia as steep US levies loom.

L
auren Lin is in a hurry. She has less following Trump’s tariff announcement. The industry’s manufacturing giants
than 48 hours to ship about 5,600 The latest tariffs will “suppress contin- are trying to respond. On 9 December,
Bitcoin mining machines from ued growth in the sector,” said Taras Bitmain announced the launch of a US
Thailand to the US before tariffs im- Kulyk, CEO at Synteq Digital, one of the facility, without disclosing its exact loca-
posed on the Southeast Asian country by largest mining machine brokers. tion. MicroBT, a rival Chinese manufac-
President Donald Trump kick in. Beijing-based Bitmain Technologies, turer, has previously struck purchase
“Today we’re just scrambling,” by far the largest manufacturer of agreements with Riot Blockchain Inc.
said Lin, head of hardware at Luxor Bitcoin mining equipment, has produc- that leverage the vendor’s US manufac-
Technology, a Bitcoin mining software tion lines in Indonesia, Malaysia and turing sites, a Riot spokesperson told
and services company. “Ideally we can Thailand, Bloomberg News reported Bloomberg News earlier.
charter a flight and get machines over— previously. It shifted manufacturing to Luxor in December announced a
just trying to be as creative as possible to the region after Trump set tariffs on elec- $131 million purchase agreement for
get these machines out.” tronics and other goods imported from MicroBT’s WhatsMiner machines—
Her efforts underscore the disruption China in 2018. known as ASICs—in a deal it said aligned
the Bitcoin mining sector faces after The latest tariff announcement means with MicroBT’s expansion in the US,
Trump’s tariff announcement. The in- China will be charged a 34% reciprocal which includes “the assembly of equip-
dustry is caught in the middle of Trump’s tariff rate that could bring the average ment onshore.”
trade war, with many of the largest min- levy on Chinese products to as high as Such efforts are unlikely to fully shield
ers based in the US and the supply chain 65%, according to economists. ASIC buyers from rising costs, though.
rooted in Asia. Miners use specialised nations with the largest trade imbalanc- Bitmain didn’t immediately respond to “If new import duties hit key compo-
computers to solve mathematical puzzles es with the US. Thailand and Malaysia a request for comment. nents, we could see higher capex for
for a chance to verify transactions and are subject to harsher levies of 36% and Crypto miners in the US have already North American mining operators,” said
earn rewards in Bitcoin. 24%, respectively, that will take effect on faced delays receiving deliveries of new Wolfie Zhao, head of research at industry
Trump said on Wednesday that he 9 April. equipment since Trump’s election vic- publication the TheMinerMag. “That
would enforce a minimum 10% tariff on Shares of US-listed Bitcoin miners in- tory, after the Republican pledged on the would add further pressure to an already
all exporters to the US from 5 April, while cluding MARA Holdings and CleanSpark campaign trail to nurture the industry to cooling market.”
slapping additional duties on around 60 Inc. plummeted in after-hours trading ensure that Bitcoin is “made in the USA.”  —Bloomberg

***This PDF download is allowed by Economic Times only for the personal use of ePaper/ET Prime/TOI+ subscribers.
Sharing PDF on any Social Media or uploading on Websites will violate copyrights and would result in criminal offence and civil penalties.
 NG 3.7 PubDate: 07-04-2025 Zone: ETWealth Edition: 1 Page: ETWDP6 User: shashi.bhushan4 Time: 04-04-2025 18:15 Color:

financial planning
06 The Economic Times Wealth April 07-13, 2025

Which bonds should

only reason that the yields are down.
“Another reason is the global macro
uncertainty and lower growth outlook
domestically. With the latest announce-

you invest in now?

ment of tariffs by the US, we anticipate
India’s growth outlook to remain un-
predictable,” says Vishal Goenka, Co-
founder, Indiabonds.com.
Besides, the government has an-
nounced `8 lakh crore of borrowing in
the first half of 2025-26, which was in
line with the market expectations. Since
Bond yields are falling ahead of the expected RBI rate cuts, with global cues, there were no surprises, market senti-

strong demand and stable borrowing plans also playing a key role. ments remained stable and bond yields
continued to ease.
There’s also a strong demand for
bonds, especially from banks and insti-
by Yasmin Hussain tutional investors, which is pushing the

T
prices up and the yields down. Due to
he Reserve Bank of India (RBI) the improved liquidity conditions in the
is set to announce its monetary system, banks have more room to invest
policy this week, and the mar- in bonds now.
kets are buzzing with expecta-
tions of a further rate cut. If LIQUIDITY MEASURES
the central bank lowers the repo rate, it SUPPORTING BOND MARKET
could affect a range of asset classes. Home Better liquidity is another key driver.
loan borrowers might enjoy lower EMIs, The RBI recently announced open mar-
equity markets may rally on the back of ket operations (OMOs) worth `2.6 lakh
cheaper borrowing, and most notably, crore, including `80,000 crore in April
bond markets could see a significant alone. “Driven by these measures by the
movement in yields and prices. RBI, system liquidity has turned surplus
A rate cut typically affects the bond after more than three months,” says
market the most because interest rate Sahni. This additional liquidity has in-
changes have a direct impact on bond creased the demand for bonds, boosting
prices and yields since the two move in op- prices and lowering yields.
posite directions. When interest rates fall, Sahni also expects a further liquidity
bond prices go up, and when the rates rise, boost through a cut in the cash reserve
bond prices drop. ratio (CRR). “There is an expectation of
This happens because newly issued a 25 bps CRR cut in the market, which
bonds reflect the current rates. So, older would infuse about `56,000 crore into the
bonds with higher interest coupons banking system,” he adds. So, the mar-
GETTY IMAGES

become more attractive when rates fall, ket participants are not just waiting for
which increases their prices. The reverse a rate cut, but are also closely watching
happens when rates go up; newer bonds the RBI’s stance on liquidity.
offer better returns, making older ones
less appealing, lowering their prices. WHAT SHOULD INVESTORS
Here’s a simple example. Suppose you DO NOW?
own a bond with a face value of `1,000 and “Given the uncertain out- “Given the uncertain outlook for equi-
an annual coupon of `80, giving you an 8%
yield. If new bonds are being issued with
look for equities and the ties and the fact that there is more room
for rate cuts, bond holders should be
a 6% yield, investors will be willing to pay fact that there is more adding more fixed-income assets to their
more for your higher yielding bond, push- portfolios,” says Goenka. Not only does
ing its price above `1,000. If interest rates room for rate cuts, bond this help with diversification, but it also
rise and new bonds offer 10%, your 8%
bond becomes less attractive, causing its holders should be adding creates room for capital gains if the rates
fall further.
price to fall below `1,000. more fixed-income assets He suggests adding long-dated govern-
ment securities and AAA-rated bonds in
FALLING TREND LIKELY TO
CONTINUE
to their portfolios.” the 7-10-year range, as they are safe and
VISHAL GOENKA respond well to falling rates. At the same
Bond yields have been falling for some CO-FOUNDER, INDIABONDS.COM time, investors can consider high-yield
time and this trend could continue corporate bonds with 2-3-year maturi-
when the RBI announces a rate cut on 9 ties as corporate yields haven’t declined
April. “Markets expect a 25 basis point yet, making this a good time to enter.
rate cut in the RBI’s policy meeting,”
says Harsimran Sahni, EVP & Head,
“We expect the shorter end Sahni agrees that short-term bonds
may give better returns. “We expect the
Treasury, Anand Rathi Global Finance.
“The bond market has already priced in
of curve to perform better, shorter end of the curve to perform bet-
ter, with bull steepening in the medium
this cut,” he adds. with bull steepening in the term. This means shorter maturity
This movement is part of a broader
shift. Since the beginning of 2024-25, the medium term. So, shorter bonds could deliver better risk-adjusted
returns in the months ahead,” he says.
10-year government bond yield has fallen
by 47 basis points, which is the steepest
maturity bonds could de- A balanced approach, with a mix of
durations and credit quality, could help
drop in five years. Experts expect it to set- liver better risk-adjusted re- investors manage risk and optimise
tle between 6.25% and 6.3% in 2025-26. returns.
turns in the months ahead.”
OTHER FACTORS PUSHING HARSIMRAN SAHNI
YIELDS LOWER EVP & HEAD, TREASURY, ANAND R ATHI GLOBAL FINANCE
Please send your feedback to
etwealth@timesofindia.com
However, falling interest rates aren’t the

***This PDF download is allowed by Economic Times only for the personal use of ePaper/ET Prime/TOI+ subscribers.
Sharing PDF on any Social Media or uploading on Websites will violate copyrights and would result in criminal offence and civil penalties.
 NG 3.7 PubDate: 07-04-2025 Zone: ETWealth Edition: 1 Page: ETWDP7 User: shashi.bhushan4 Time: 04-04-2025 18:25 Color:

guest column
The Economic Times Wealth April 07-13, 2025 07

Should you rethink gold?

Even sceptics may need to reconsider the role of the yellow metal as the
global financial order undergoes a sea change, says Dhirendra Kumar.

I
’ve long been a gold sceptic. hedge against currency debasement
Following the wisdom of in- and geopolitical instability. Think of
vestors like Warren Buffett, it as insurance, rather than a growth
I’ve viewed gold as an ar- investment. If you decide to include
chaic relic—a shiny metal gold in your portfolio, consider whether
that produces nothing, pays no physical gold (coins, bars), gold ETFs,
dividends, and merely sits in vaults sovereign gold bonds, or gold mutual
accumulating storage cost. “It has funds best suit your needs. Each option
no utility. Anyone watching from has distinct advantages and disadvan-
Mars would be scratching their tages regarding liquidity, costs and
heads,” Buffett famously quipped. security.
DHIRENDR A KUMAR This perspective made sense in a The key, as with all investments, is
CEO, VALUE RESE ARCH world where the US dollar reigned moderation. Avoid the apocalyptic nar-
supreme as the global reserve cur- ratives often attached to gold by its most
rency. However, the financial land- fervent advocates. History teaches us
money scape is shifting beneath our feet, that financial systems evolve, rather

mysteries and even the most ardent sceptics

may need to reassess.
than collapse, completely, and diversi-
fication across asset classes remains
The gold story has transformed your best protection against uncer-
multiple times throughout history. tainty.
For centuries, gold was money—
real, physical currency that people carried, political risk. Core principles are constant
and nations used to settle debts. The 1944 The response has been telling. Central I remain sceptical about gold’s role as a pri-
Does this mean you Bretton Woods agreement formalised the dol- banks worldwide have accelerated gold pur- mary investment vehicle. My fundamental
should rush to convert lar’s link to gold, with other currencies pegged chases to historic levels. China, Russia, India, investment principles haven’t changed. One
your savings into to the dollar. Each dollar was theoretically and numerous other countries have system- should focus on productive assets, maintain
exchangeable for a specific amount of gold, atically reduced their dollar exposure, while adequate diversification, and avoid emotional
gold bars? Certainly
giving the system credibility. increasing gold holdings. This isn’t just diver- decision-making. Yet, in a world where tra-
not. The principles This arrangement collapsed in 1971, when sification; it signals a deeper erosion of trust ditional financial assumptions face unprec-
of diversification President Nixon severed the dollar’s tie to in the post-1971 monetary order. Gold prices edented challenges, it’s worth considering
and prudent risk gold, ushering in the era of pure fiat curren- have responded accordingly, reaching record whether a modest gold allocation might serve
management remain cies—money backed only by government highs in dollars and virtually every currency. a purpose within those established principles.
as valid as ever. Gold decree and faith in institutions. This system While critics may dismiss this as speculation, The choice ultimately rests with you, the
produces no income, functioned reasonably well for decades, with sustained central bank buying suggests that investor. If, after a thoughtful consideration
the dollar cementing its position as the world’s something more structural is taking place. of the changing landscape, you believe a small
comes with storage
reserve currency. Does this mean you should rush to convert adjustment to your asset allocation makes
costs (or management your savings into gold bars? Certainly not. sense, that’s your prerogative. Just ensure that
fees for paper gold), A fundamental shift The principles of diversification and prudent the decision aligns with your broader financial
and can experience However, recent geopolitical developments risk management remain as valid as ever. strategy, rather than representing an abandon-
significant price have triggered what may be a fundamental Gold produces no income, comes with storage ment of sound investment discipline. The world
volatility. shift. The freezing of the Russian central costs (or management fees for paper gold), and changes, but the core principles of prudent in-
bank assets, following the Ukraine conflict, can experience significant price volatility. vesting remain remarkably constant.
sent shockwaves through the global financial Yet, dismissing gold entirely may no longer
system. Nations suddenly faced a stark real- be the correct position that it once appeared to
ity. Dollar reserves, previously considered be. A modest allocation, perhaps 5-10% of your Please send your feedback to
etwealth@timesofindia.com
the ultimate safe asset, carried unexpected investment portfolio, might be a reasonable

Traders bet on more fed rate cuts

Bond traders have lifted bets Concern that the steepest step up to ease some of the pain as much as 12 basis points to
on interest-rate cuts from the increase in American tariffs from the US’ new global trade 1.92%, while 10-year peers fell
Federal Reserve amid concern in a century will hammer policy.” 10 basis points to 2.63%.
that Donald Trump’s trade economic growth is driving a Trump’s tariff plan came Swaps are now pricing 70
war will backfire on the US fierce rally in global bond mar- much harder than expected, basis points of further eas-
economy, sending the yield on kets, with yields on European as he announced a minimum ing from the ECB this year,
benchmark Treasuries toward and UK bonds also plunging. 10% levy on all exporters to the compared to 60 basis points on
the closely-watched 4% level. Similarly, traders ramped up US and slapped additional du- Wednesday.
Ten-year yields declined as wagers on monetary easing ties on nations with big trade In the UK, traders added
much as nine basis points last from the European Central imbalances. The move esca- about 10 basis points of rate-cut
Thursday to 4.04%, the lowest Bank and the Bank of England, lated global trade tensions and expectations to the year, and
level since October. Money boosting the chances that both sent investors rushing for safe now see a chance of more than
markets started to price a deliver three more cuts this havens. 50% that the BOE will lower
small chance of the Fed deliv- year. The response in bond mar- borrowing costs three more
ering four quarter-point rate “The bond market is a big kets was sharp. European times. Gilt yields fell across the
reductions this year, a scenario winner,” said Kathleen Brooks, yields tanked across the curve, sending the two-year
that wasn’t contemplated on 2 research director at XTB. board, with Germany’s policy- rate to the lowest since October.
April. “Central banks are likely to sensitive two-year rate down — Bloomberg

***This PDF download is allowed by Economic Times only for the personal use of ePaper/ET Prime/TOI+ subscribers.
Sharing PDF on any Social Media or uploading on Websites will violate copyrights and would result in criminal offence and civil penalties.
 NG 3.7 PubDate: 07-04-2025 Zone: ETWealth Edition: 1 Page: ETWDP8 User: shashi.bhushan4 Time: 04-04-2025 18:10 Color:

Interview
08 The Economic Times Wealth April 07-13, 2025

“Low quality has outperformed,

but don’t get fooled”
Vinay Paharia, CIO at PGIM India Mutual Fund, vouches for a disciplined, evidence-based investment
approach over chasing short-term returns. In a conversation with Sanket Dhanorkar, he explains the
recent underperformance of high-quality stocks, possible reversal ahead, and the reason PE multiples
alone don’t tell the full story.

What’s an If you were to meet How much of your current investment

Q investment tip Q Warren Buffett, what style is inspired by Fisher compared with
you’d give your would you ask him? Graham, and why?
younger self?
RAPID FIRE
Investing in a
good business at a Q If you could invest in only
fair price is better one instrument for life,
than buying a fair which one would it be?
business at a good
price. Equity, of course.

If you could alter your What is your personal asset

Q
Any good book you Q career choice, what Q allocation right now?
would recommend? would it be?
Common stocks and
Uncommon Profits by I would not do it even if I Balance of equity, REITs and
Philip Fisher. were given the option. arbitrage.

the time, high-quality and high-growth

Vinay Paharia companies have outperformed the overall
universe. The remaining one-third period
CIO, PGIM India Mutual Fund
has been largely covered in the past three-
Total assets Total assets four years. That is the real danger for peo-
Age managed by under Paharia’s ple who are just looking at a single phase
of outperformance. I think the tide has
44 YEARS Paharia directly supervision
started turning from June 2024 onwards.
Experience
21 YEARS
`22,969 `24,247 We have started seeing some of the low-
quality companies underperforming and
crore crore high-quality companies outperforming.

Has the market correction wiped

out previous excesses?
What do you make of the current nificantly better and higher than almost Having said that, in recent years, we No, we have not yet seen a complete wipe-
market scenario? all the other smaller or larger countries had significant outperformance by very out of excesses. There have been signifi-
Let’s consider this from the lens of histori- of its size. Second, this growth has been low-quality and low-growth companies. cant excesses in previous years. We have
cal data. When we look at market returns sustained even during very weak periods. Correspondingly, we also had very clawed back from some of that, but it’s not
versus earnings, and plot it over long Third, India’s broad parameters, be it weak performance by high-quality and a material portion.
periods of time, one-year returns are com- monetary policy or fiscal policy, have been high-growth companies. The reason I’m
pletely random. As we increase the invest- managed exceptionally well over the past highlighting this period is because of the Your thoughts on valuations have
ing time horizon, the relationship starts many years. The result of all of this is that magnitude of difference between both changed over the years. How has
to show. This tells you that in the market, we are seeing a structural improvement in these segments of the market. This is where your thinking evolved?
you need to zoom out. The more you zoom the underlying economy, and there is struc- investors should be cautious. Over two When I was raw and fresh out of college,
in, the more it appears random. This is the tural growth that is appearing in pockets of decades of data indicates that low-quality, I used to look at the PE multiple. The ap-
reason none of us really know what is hap- the economy. There are a lot of opportuni- low-growth companies have delivered very proach was very straightforward: low PE
pening in the near term. However, when ties in many segments of the economy that weak returns in line with the underlying multiple is cheap; high PE multiple is ex-
you zoom out, there are a few things that are very attractive for long-term investors. fundamentals. High-quality, high-growth pensive. However, over the years, the un-
you can see clearly. These are slightly long- I think this has not changed a bit. Hence, I companies have delivered superior returns derstanding has clearly dawned that the
term trends. would dissuade from even looking at what in line with their underlying fundamen- markets are not just looking at headline
One is that India’s growth has been sig- is happening in the near term. tals. On an annual basis, two-thirds of valuation. The multiples are actually

***This PDF download is allowed by Economic Times only for the personal use of ePaper/ET Prime/TOI+ subscribers.
Sharing PDF on any Social Media or uploading on Websites will violate copyrights and would result in criminal offence and civil penalties.
 NG 3.7 PubDate: 07-04-2025 Zone: ETWealth Edition: 1 Page: ETWDP9 User: shashi.bhushan4 Time: 04-04-2025 18:09 Color:

Interview
The Economic Times Wealth April 07-13, 2025 09

driven by four factors—forward earn- driver’s word for it. Similarly, an invest- then what you are chasing is only perfor-
ings growth, return on equity, riskiness “My objective is ment process must be driven by evidence. mance, not process.
of business and the underlying interest
rates. This, in turn, is derived from a very
to ensure that we On the other side, performance is not
driven by evidence. So, there is a thin, but
So, then, it is dependent on the skill of
the driver and luck of the passenger to en-
simple financial equation—fair value of a have sustainable, very critical line between both. If you seek sure that the outcomes are achieved. Both
growing annuity to perpetuity.
Once you look at this kind of mental evidence-driven an investment process, remember, perfor-
mance is an outcome, and you can only ask
can keep changing. So we obviously stay
away from this.
model, valuation becomes very clear. In investment process, the manager to stick to that process at all
Do you feel that the skies look
simple terms, it means that the higher the
earnings growth, the higher the fair PE which is repeatable, points of time, in the short or long term. If
you desire performance, then you should brighter for quality stocks for the
multiple; the higher the return on equity, and can deliver a ask for performance in both short and next three-four years? If so, how
long periods of time because you have not will you make the most of it?
the higher the fair PE multiple, and so
on. Whether or not a company is cheap or superior experience kept any guardrails. You have said, please I would not look at it as part of a market
expensive should be judged in relation to
its current valuation versus fair valua-
to our clients.” deliver performance. My objective as an
investment manager is to ensure that we
cycle. It is a basic investment strategy that
has worked day-in, day-out. There are
tion, rather than looking at the absolute have a sustainable, evidence-driven in- some periods when it will not do well, but
number. either before time or in time. However, you vestment process, which is repeatable and equally there are periods when it will do
In fact, without this framework, you cannot ask them how. Sober Cabs, on the can deliver a superior experience to many well. That is what we have published as a
would not be able to operate in the high- other hand, has a policy wherein drivers of our clients over a longer period of time. statistical research outcome. So we don’t
quality, high-growth segment of the mar- are instructed to follow the rules. They think along the lines that next three-four
ket. Since there are companies trading at have done a lot of statistical analysis and How do you prioritise this process- years will be good. We think that only the
abnormally high prices, even based on fair they know which lanes on the route are centric approach when the market past two-three years were abnormal. What
multiples, it is very important for you to generally faster. They generally stick to phase is against your style, as it has is happening now is normal. We don’t
separate the wheat from the chaff. A nu- that one particular lane. Due to this, they been for the last three years? think that there is any specific reason for
anced approach like this helps us weed out generally reach on time, not significantly That is where the experience and struc- this to change. We are not going to jump
the really expensive companies from com- early, not significantly late. Their de- ture of the investment manager comes in. from one strategy to another. The objective
panies that appear expensive, but are not. viation is not much. Now the question is, Only if an investment manager has that is to have a stable, time-tested approach
which service would you want to choose? experience will it help him stay true to that will deliver superior returns over a
You have earned a reputation for There is a very small possibility that label. Otherwise, anyone would definitely longer period of time.
helping refine equity strategies at if you choose the first service, you will succumb to pressure. I would think that
some of the smaller fund houses. Is meet with accidents. However, in the last the role of an asset manager is exactly Are there any specific themes or
this where your strengths lie? three-four trips, the drivers have proved this—to stay true to mandate, not keep sectors that you are favouring
I have recently written a post on invest- that they don’t meet with accidents. So you changing sales strategies in response to currently?
ment process versus performance. What have to decide what you choose. You can’t what happens in the market, and deliver a We are positive on the telecom sector
it tells you is that the investment process choose both. Either you reach on time by stable and superior outcome to investors as well as the broader consumer sector,
is a system you follow day-in and day-out, cutting lanes and jumping signals, or you over a longer period of time. The job of an including consumer discretionary and
while the investment performance is its choose to follow the rules, allowing you to investment manager is to resist the pulls staples. We are also positive on private
outcome. However, if you target invest- reach in or around your time. and pushes of short-term returns demand- banks and speciality chemicals. We are
ment performance, the investment pro- When you follow a systematic approach, ed by investors. extremely overweight in the healthcare
cess is an outcome of that. Our industry is which is an investment process, it must sector. In fact, that is the only sector where
yet to grasp this because most people tend be evidence-driven. The problem is, most The funds taking cash calls have we have actually launched a thematic fund
to confuse both. investment processes are, what a fund done well amid this market because we think that this is a long-term
Suppose you want to get to the airport manager would say, a process. No one correction. What is your stand structural growth that we are target-
10 kilometers away from your house in checks the historical outcome of this pro- on cash calls? ing. Within healthcare, we are covering
the morning. There are two sets of cab cess. If you only have some statistical data I would encourage you to share with me healthcare services, not the pure pharma-
services. Let’s call one set of cab services that generally one particular lane is faster, any data historically that indicates there ceutical companies. Apart from this, there
‘Super Cabs’, and the other, ‘Sober Cabs’. based on long-term historical facts, you is a scientific method that generates su- are high-quality and high-growth compa-
The Super Cabs’ service USP is that their will be satisfied that this is a possibility for perior alpha by increasing or decreasing nies across various sectors in the form of
drivers ensure you reach your destination me to reach on time, not just by taking the cash. If there is no empirical evidence, new-age companies.

Can a ‘no-contest clause’ avert family disputes?

While the clause can act as a deterrent to frivolous challenging of the will, it is not legally binding and is not recognised by key succession Acts.
by Riju Mehta (will or trust deed) in court will forfeit intestacy rules. If the challenger loses and sive value in courts. “Its enforceability is
their inheritance, or receive nothing, or the will is upheld, the no-contest clause subject to judicial scrutiny. Indian courts

D
espite their proclaimed efficacy in only a part of the designated bequest for will be triggered, explains Dutta. allow challenges on legitimate grounds,
easing the transfer of assets, wills challenging the wishes of the testator,” such as undue influence or lack of capac-
are often at the centre of murky says Rajat Dutta, Founder & Initiator, Is the clause legally binding? ity. No-contest clauses can’t prevent all
family disputes as they are frequently Inheritance Needs Services. While the clause appears to be a deter- disputes and must be drafted carefully
contested by disgruntled heirs. It was, “The primary purpose of this clause is rent to anyone trying to contest the will, to comply with legal standards, ensuring
perhaps, with the intent of warding off to prevent frivolous or prolonged disputes in effect, it is a toothless tiger. “It is not that they do not infringe upon the funda-
such a family slugfest that Ratan Tata and ensure that the testator’s wishes legally binding and does not prevent the mental rights of citizens,” says Lakhotia.
inserted a no-contest clause in his will. are executed smoothly. It also helps legal heirs or beneficiaries from contest-
What does this clause mean and is it a preserve estate assets by minimising ing or challenging the will,” says Rohan Can anyone use it in a will?
foolproof way of avoiding disputes among costly litigation and ensuring a smoother Mahajan, Founder, LawRato. Yes, anyone making a will or trust can
family members or legal heirs? distribution process,” says Raj Lakhotia, In fact, this clause is not even recog- insert the clause. However, “the rule is
Managing Partner, LABH & Associates. nised by the Indian Succession Act, 1925, based on the assumption that a court will
What is a no-contest clause? It discourages any challenger as the the Hindu Succession Act, 1956, and the not enforce a no-contest clause that is a
A no-contest clause is also referred to as risk is entirely his. If the challenger suc- Indian Trusts Act, 1882, which governs ‘mere’ threat. For a no-contest clause to
an ‘in-terrorem’ clause, which is Latin for ceeds in overturning the will, the entire the running of trusts in India. Hence, be effective, it must name an alternate
‘in fear’. “It states that any beneficiary will, including the no-contest clause, will these clauses are inserted more with a beneficiary for the gift if the clause gets
who contests the testamentary document be cancelled and the bequest will follow precautionary objective and for persua- triggered,” explains Dutta.

***This PDF download is allowed by Economic Times only for the personal use of ePaper/ET Prime/TOI+ subscribers.
Sharing PDF on any Social Media or uploading on Websites will violate copyrights and would result in criminal offence and civil penalties.
 NG 3.7 PubDate: 07-04-2025 Zone: ETWealth Edition: 1 Page: ETWDP10 User: shashi.bhushan4 Time: 04-04-2025 18:17 Color:

financial planning
10 The Economic Times Wealth April 07-13, 2025

How to avoid financial conflicts

In a household, it’s common for spouses to have disparate money personalities, which can lead to flare-ups.
Have a strategy on how to deal with these to ensure a smooth financial journey, says Uma Shashikant.

W
hen he found out that his
parents’ health insurance
cover wasn’t enough, it was
already too late. After paying
the hefty hospital bills for
the emergency surgery, bringing them home
and arranging for nursing care, he remained
anxious. How would he explain everything
to his wife? She would be upset with this
unexpectedly large financial outlay. She
UMA SHASHIK ANT was loving and caring, but would definitely
IS CHAIRPER SON, pull him up for being lax about insurance.
CENTRE FOR INVES TMENT
Financial conflicts are common in most
EDUC ATION AND LE ARNING
households, and there is no easy resolution.

Money personalities
Money personality is a thing. We all have
different views, attitudes and approaches to
money. It is not just childhood memories and
upbringing, but a complex mix of experiences,
There is no alternative social conditioning and status, psychologi-
to open and honest cal needs and insecurities, and our approach
conversations based
GETTY IMAGES

and ability to problem-solving that lead to our

on facts. Many unique money personality.
households pussy-foot Some of us spend easily, others can’t even
part with money for essentials. Some are
around the problem
content with less, while others can’t have
and assume that they enough. Some are willing to sacrifice for a earlier in the relationship, but is never too ing the house, replacing the durables, and
must live with the better future, others prefer living in the pre- late. Without interference and judgement, allocating to entertainment and eating out.
differences, sent. Some are very adept at processes and enable the other to make financial decisions. Make sure the household is aligned on major
fighting every paperwork, while others dislike detail and Depending on your money make-up, the stakes financial decisions that require a large al-
flare-up, and suffering documentation. These differences can be put can be high or low. Observe the other in action. location of routine income.
to work. Divide financial decisions so that the My father would be most upset as the month
the consequences of Long-term planning
household benefits, say, from the wife’s abil- neared its end, as we typically ran out of mon-
sub-optimal decisions. ity to budget and the husband’s ability to keep ey. That we did not have enough affected his Fifth, plan for long-term goals and agree on
Financial conflict accounts. Different money personalities can self-esteem, mood and attitude. My mother de- how they will be funded. If an SIP needs to
resolution needs both be a problem and a solution. cided to go to work, much against the wishes of be started for children’s education, agree
conversations more As modern households do not submit to any her in-laws and family. She knew that stepping on the amount and duration, and work as a
than complaining. hierarchy or authoritarian decision-making, up to enhance the income was the solution, unit to contribute without fail. Agree that
and rightly so, financial conflicts need resolu- and began working when she was 35. The re- all else comes later. If care for the elderly
tion from time to time. Many of us find it very sponsibility for the household is always joint, is required, discuss what it will entail, tap
easy to dictate to the other about how they and both need to find out how to accommodate resources that may be available with them,
must make money decisions. In a marriage, both types of money personalities. including pension and rental income, and
the hope that one can change and modify the Third, identify differences in money al- ensure that the estimates are realistic and
other to one’s liking and approval is a persis- location and negotiate before taking action. A funded. Equitable, transparent and fair al-
tent desire. We constantly communicate our couple was arguing on the airplane about how locations that the couple agrees on, for both
opinion about what the other must do, and their holiday was going to impact the upgrade sides of the family, helps reduce conflicts.
how. To acknowledge that the other is differ- of their car. That one of them had grudgingly Sixth, avoid secretive financial alloca-
ent, and that there is nothing wrong with be- agreed to the holiday was evident. There is tions. Doing something without telling the
ing different, is a tough task. How can we keep only that much money and it needs to be allo- spouse, and being caught hiding it, ruins
financial conflicts down? cated to short- and long-term goals. trust and long-term health of a relationship.
There is no alternative to open and honest If a decision that might be disapproved by
Resolving conflicts conversations based on facts. Many house- the spouse is required to be made, negotiat-
First, make the effort to acknowledge and holds pussy-foot around the problem and as- ing and speaking up for it is the first natural
understand the other person’s money per- sume that they must live with the differences, choice. If that fails, or is tough to do, seek-
sonality. Typically, when the other decides fighting every flare-up, and suffering the con- ing an allocation to spend as one desires is
differently, we protest. We try and correct, and sequences of sub-optimal decisions. Financial the second healthy choice. Many modern
then we offer suggestions. After a while, we conflict resolution needs conversations more marriages survive due to the privacy in
stop arguing, but begin making assumptions. than complaining. financial decisions, but acting without the
Instead, attempt an open approach to truly Fourth, introduce rule-based decision- knowledge of the spouse is a sure recipe for
understanding what the other thinks about making so that discussions about expenses a flare-up. Avoiding financial conflict is not
money, so that we hear it in their own words. can be resolved without resorting to first easy, but agreeing it is present and needs ad-
Whenever a financial conflict arises, allow principles each time. A holiday can be defined dressing and resolution, is a good first step.
space for a calmer conversation after things as a percentage of annual income, to ensure
have cooled down. that the spending is within limits. Such lim-
Please send your feedback to
Second, allow time and space for the money its and rules can be set for many of the large
etwealth@timesofindia.com
personality to play out. This is easier done expenses, such as upgrading the car, renovat-

***This PDF download is allowed by Economic Times only for the personal use of ePaper/ET Prime/TOI+ subscribers.
Sharing PDF on any Social Media or uploading on Websites will violate copyrights and would result in criminal offence and civil penalties.
 NG 3.7 PubDate: 07-04-2025 Zone: ETWealth Edition: 1 Page: ETWDP11 User: shashi.bhushan4 Time: 04-04-2025 15:58 Color:

***This PDF download is allowed by Economic Times only for the personal use of ePaper/ET Prime/TOI+ subscribers.
Sharing PDF on any Social Media or uploading on Websites will violate copyrights and would result in criminal offence and civil penalties.
 NG 3.7 PubDate: 07-04-2025 Zone: ETWealth Edition: 1 Page: ETWDP12 User: shashi.bhushan4 Time: 04-04-2025 18:19 Color:

spending
12 The Economic Times Wealth April 07-13, 2025
GETTY IMAGES

by Niti Singh Fix up “Select your loan based

A without
nubhav Garg, an IT profes- on how much funding
sional, and his wife Neha,
a genetic scientist, spent
you need, the assets you
months scouting swanky can pledge, and the most

falling in
new projects across Delhi-
NCR—only to return to what felt like
favourable interest rate
home. With their eight-year-old daugh- available. It is about un-
ter Siya in mind, they chose comfort
over gloss, settling on a 1,500 sq. ft. flat
derstanding your financial
in a 20-year-old Noida complex. “New limitations, the criticality
buildings come with flashy add-ons
and inflated prices—thanks to load- Make sure your home makeover doesn’t of upgrades needed, and
ing on super built-up areas. And yet, finding the sweet spot.”
you still have to redo the interiors to leave you with a budget hangover. Plan
suit your taste,” says Anubhav. “So, we
decided to buy an older home and rede- ahead, avoid financial traps, and start
sign it to suit our tastes,” he says.
Their renovation journey was no
with a strategy in place.
ADHIL SHETTY
small feat. What started as a budget-
friendly project quickly expanded as CEO, BANKBAZA AR
they decided to upgrade the kitchen,
bathrooms, lighting, and cabinetry.
Home improvement loans
Eight months and after adding an ex- Personal loans and home renovation loans differ on the Thought Leadership,’ demand for home renova-
tra `8 lakh to their original budgeted need for collateral, interest rate and tenure. tions is surging, especially in Tier 2/3 cities.
expense, their total home makeover Rising disposable incomes, easy access to credit,
spiralled to `30 lakh, funded from and the influence of digital platforms have en-
their savings. They are satisfied that Personal loan Home renovation loan couraged homeowners to personalise their spac-
the result is a space that resonates es. Younger and elderly homeowners are renovat-
with their aspirations. Secured ing more frequently, primarily focusing on bed-
Unsecured Type
Similarly, Pooja, a homemaker, rooms and living rooms, often sticking to budgets
and her husband Vinay Khanna, a The loan can be used only for under `5 lakh, the report mentions. Almost 50%
The loan can be used for
renovating a self-owned property.
merchant navy officer, realised their any purpose, including Loan Use respondents indicate a higher frequency of reno-
newly purchased flat needed a makeo- renovating your house. vation within less than five years for bedrooms
8.15% onwards, at par
ver to match their contemporary life- Interest with home loans and living rooms versus other rooms, it adds.
style. The previous owner had already 10.15% onwards The motivations behind renovations vary—
rate
renovated the bathrooms, leaving the Age and income criteria as specified from lifestyle upgrades and customisation to
couple to focus on revamping other ar- by the lender. Ownership of property enhancing property value for resale or rentals.
Age and income criteria as
eas. With a contractor recommended Eligibility needed for which loan is being taken While many people typically renovate proper-
specified by the lender
by friends, they culled out `15 lakh Age, identity, address and income ties they are going to be living in to suit their
from their savings over two months Age, identity, address proofs as mandated by the lender, tastes and styles, homes need to be jazzed up
Documen-
to transform the space. “We wanted a and income proofs as property ownership documents to raise value of rental spaces too. The logic is
tation
temple area, so we partitioned part of mandated by the lender simple: If two houses in the same apartment
Up to 15 years
the living room to make that possible, complex are up for sale, the one fancier would
1-5 years Tenor
and packed the kitchen with the latest Deduction of up to `30,000 each year fetch a higher rent. “Indian tenants have be-
gadgets,” Pooja says. No tax breaks on the EMIs of a home renovation come choosy and won’t settle for lackluster
Taxation
Stories like these reflect a growing loan under Section 24B of the interiors anymore. This is all the truer in the
trend. According to Deloitte India’s Income Tax Act. metros and tech-driven cities,” remarks Rahul
report, ‘Unlocking Opportunities in Phondge, Chief Operating Officer, Residential,
India’s Home & Household Market ANAROCK Group.

***This PDF download is allowed by Economic Times only for the personal use of ePaper/ET Prime/TOI+ subscribers.
Sharing PDF on any Social Media or uploading on Websites will violate copyrights and would result in criminal offence and civil penalties.
 NG 3.7 PubDate: 07-04-2025 Zone: ETWealth Edition: 1 Page: ETWDP13 User: shashi.bhushan4 Time: 04-04-2025 18:27 Color:

spending
The Economic Times Wealth April 07-13, 2025 13

criticality of upgrades needed, and

Renovated finding the sweet spot. Just because
you have access to credit does not
parts of her mean you should go all out and take on
Pooja Khanna 1,600sq ft expenses that you may find difficult
Noida to repay. Plan ahead and use a mix of
home for `15 savings and loans to finance renova-

lakh. Makeover tions, rather than relying solely on

borrowed funds. This strategy keeps
included costs in check.”
Atul Monga, CEO & Co-Founder of
restyling of BASIC Home Loan agrees, and warns

PHOTOS: ASHWANI NAGPAL

kitchen, living that “one major risk is overcapitalisa-
tion”, or spending more on renova-
areas, windows, tions than the property’s value justi-

doors, and fies. Home improvement loans also

take longer to process, as lenders need
lighting. to evaluate property value, credit his-
tory, and repayment capacity
Both experts emphasise the need
to thoroughly compare all available
Uptick in trends challenging, so it’s always good to refer to estimates. It’s crucial to draft a clear budget, loan options—each with different
Observing the trend over the past few years, a designer. For instance, while designing a leaving a 10-15% cushion for unexpected eligibility criteria, interest rates, and
Ajay Mehta of Delhi-based Architechnics kitchen, one needs to work around the gadg- expenses,” he says. Prioritising tasks— repayment terms—to find the best fit.
notes that the pandemic made people more ets that will be fitted in. Many times people separating essential upgrades from luxury Monga advises, “Borrow only what
mindful of their living spaces, especially end up redoing kitchens midway because ones—can help manage costs effectively. you truly need and can comfortably
with the rise of work-from-home culture. they suddenly decide to go in for a different Shetty explains, “Many banks offer home repay to avoid financial strain.”
“Now, with Pinterest and Instagram, many refrigerator or a dishwasher. Such things improvement loans with interest rates com-
clients come with mood boards. Our role will add to the costs and delays,” says Jain. parable to home loans and longer tenures. Tax benefits
with most of such clients is to align their If that’s not feasible, or if you already have If you have taken a home improve-
aspirations with practical solutions,” he Funding home makeovers an existing home loan and need a smaller ment loan, you may claim deductions
says. Mehta emphasises practicality in reno- Financing these projects, that involve mate- amount, a top-up loan is a faster option since on interest under Section 24(b) and
vations, advising homeowners to focus on rial costs and styling professional/contrac- it’s just an extension of your current loan. reduce capital gains tax, says Amit
durable materials and to prioritise spaces tor fees, is a key consideration. While many For larger renovation needs, you could Maheshwari, Tax Partner, AKM
based on lifestyle needs. For instance, fund renovations through savings, there consider a loan against property, using your Global. Section 24(b) of the Income Tax
younger couples with children will want are multiple borrowing options. According existing property as collateral. For smaller Act, 1961, allows individuals to claim a
some work station/study areas, while retir- to the BankBazaar Aspiration Index 2024, projects, personal loans offer quicker dis- deduction on interest paid for loans tak-
ees may have more time to entertain people, around 18% of people have taken a loan for bursals, though at higher interest rates.” en for home improvement, including re-
and hence may jazz up the drawing room. home improvement or upgradation, reflect- Putting it another way, your choice be- pairs, renovations, or reconstruction.
“The costing depends upon how much of ing a growing trend in personalised home tween seeking a personal loan or a home im- “The maximum deduction for such in-
work is required in the area, the age of the enhancements. provement loan depends on the amount you terest payments is capped at `30,000 per
property as well as the materials chosen. Home equity loans, secured against wish to borrow. Some banks give loans of financial year, regardless of whether
This is a matter of budgets, needs, choice and property value, offer higher loan amounts up to `5 crore. If you need a loan for a higher the property is self-occupied, let out, or
aesthetics,” says Mehta. “Kitchens and bath- at lower interest rates, and for longer ten- amount, then it’s better to go for a collatelar- deemed to be let out. However, the com-
rooms typically consume the largest share ures, of up to 15 years. Personal loans, while ised loan. But if you seek a loan of a smaller bined deduction for interest on both
of renovation budgets due to the combina- quicker and more flexible, come with higher amount, `3-5 lakh or so, then a personal loan home loans and home improvement
tion of gadget installations and civil works interest rates and shorter tenures of one to works just as well. loans cannot exceed `2,00,000 annually,
required,” Mehta explains. Older homes five years. Top-up home loans provide a con- He cautions: “Select your loan based on as per the overall limit under Section
may require extensive repairs, plumbing venient alternative for those with existing how much funding you need, the assets you 24(b). Additionally, Section 80C offers a
replacements, or plastering. Lighting, floor- mortgages, streamlining the documenta- can pledge, and the most favourable inter- deduction of up to `1,50,000 per year for
ing, ceilings, and wall finishes can dramati- tion process. (See box) est rate available. It is about understanding the repayment of the principal amount
cally transform a space without overspend- Adhil Shetty, CEO of BankBazaar, ad- your financial limitations, the of a home loan, but this benefit is lim-
ing, he adds. vises meticulous planning to avoid ited to loans for property purchase
Agrees Shweta Jain, owner of Noida- budget overruns. “Home reno- or construction and does not apply to
based S.Jade Architects. “The level of cus- vation projects often ex- loans taken specifically for renovations
tomisation that you seek will have a bearing pand beyond initial or improvements,” says Maheshwari.
on the costs,” she says. Home renovations If the property is sold within five years
can look daunting. “One does not know of completion, the deductions claimed
where to begin, what to look into, dimen- under Section 80C become taxable.
sions, and the material choices can become Furthermore, renovation expenses
can provide significant tax benefits
when calculating capital gains tax, as
these costs can be added to the prop-

Anubhav & erty’s acquisition or improvement cost,

effectively reducing the taxable capital
Neha Garg gain upon sale, he says.
Noida Whether you choose to fund reno-
vations through savings or loans,
careful planning and prioritisation
Renovated 1,500sq ft home, are key. As the Gargs and Khannas
discovered, transforming a house into
for `30 lakh. Makeover a personalised haven requires balanc-

included restyling of kitchen, ing aspirations with practicality—

and a well-planned financial strategy.
bathrooms, living areas,
almirahs and lighting. Please send your feedback to
etwealth@timesofindia.com

***This PDF download is allowed by Economic Times only for the personal use of ePaper/ET Prime/TOI+ subscribers.
Sharing PDF on any Social Media or uploading on Websites will violate copyrights and would result in criminal offence and civil penalties.
 NG 3.7 PubDate: 07-04-2025 Zone: ETWealth Edition: 1 Page: ETWDP14 User: shashi.bhushan4 Time: 04-04-2025 18:29 Color:

guest column
14 The Economic Times Wealth April 07-13, 2025

Is EB-5 giving way to a

new gold card era?
With a $5 million ‘gold card’ on the horizon, EB-5 interest surges too in
India as families seek certainty amid change, says Arindam Sengupta.
ing EB-5 an attractive option for alternative
residency planning.
The differences between the two models
are significant. The investment amount is the
most obvious disparity, potentially pricing
out a large segment of individuals who might
have considered the EB-5 program. In fact, one
of the lesser known developments is the rise
of structured financing for EB-5 investments,
helping a broader range of financially quali-
fied individuals to apply for the program.
ARINDAM SENGUPTA
The emphasis on job creation, a cornerstone
CO-FOUNDER, EDUFUND of EB-5, appears to be absent in the initial
outline of the gold card. There’s also specu-
lation that the gold card could offer a faster
processing period or even a more direct route
to citizenship, advantages not typically as-
sociated with the EB-5 program, which often
The differences involves significant waiting periods due to
between the two visa backlogs.
models are significant. Looming uncertainty

T
The investment The suggestion that the gold card is being
amount is the most he US investment immigration the EB-5 program over the years, the demand intended to replace the existing EB-5 program
obvious disparity, landscape is on the verge of a is not cooling off. Indian professionals and has understandably caused considerable
potentially pricing potentially seismic shift. Recent HNIs are seeing it less as a visa and more as unease within the industry. Developers and
out a large segment pronouncements regarding a a global wealth strategy. EB-5 has become a regional centres, which facilitate many EB-5
of individuals who new ‘gold card’ visa have sent rip- secular solution for a wide spectrum of Indian investments, are grappling with the potential
ples through the EB-5 Immigrant Investor clients, including students, professionals and implications of a system that could drastically
might have considered
Program community and beyond, signalling a business families. shrink the pool of eligible investors. The ex-
the EB-5 program. move towards a dramatically different model Once seen as an expensive shortcut, the isting EB-5 investors, many of whom are in a
The emphasis on job for attracting foreign capital. For years, the EB-5 investor visa is being reimagined by a lengthy processing queue, are also watching
creation, a cornerstone EB-5 program has offered a pathway to the new generation of Indian parents, profession- nervously, wondering how this new initiative
of EB-5, also appears to US residency in exchange for significant als and HNIs. It’s no longer just about migra- might affect their journey.
be absent in the initial investment and job creation. Now, a proposal For the potential EB-5 investors who were
centred on a far higher financial threshold on the fence, lack of clarity has forced them
outline of the gold card.
may redefine who can access this route to The existing EB-5 to finally commit. At EduFund, we’ve seen
American life.
Launched in 1990 to stimulate the US econo-
investors, many of a three times surge in EB-5 applications in
the last quarter across many types of applica-
my, the EB-5 program offers foreign investors whom are in a lengthy tions. The motivations vary widely:
and their immediate families a direct path to l F-1 students looking to avoid the visa rou-
permanent residency, provided they invest processing queue, are lette after graduation.
in a qualifying US enterprise and create at
least 10 jobs. The investment threshold has
watching nervously. l H-1B professionals seeking stability for
their families.
evolved over time. Initially set at at $5,00,000 l Business owners and NRIs using EB-5 as
for targeted employment areas, it rose to to tion. It’s about control, wealth preservation, part of a long-term financial strategy.
$9,00,000 in 2019, and was later revised in and growth across borders, currencies and Different people. Different entry points. One
2022 to $8,00,000 under the EB-5 Reform and generations. goal—to future-proof their place in the US
Integrity Act. This shift is driven by several factors, story.
including job security that many H-1B profes- The road ahead for the US investment immi-
What’s the ‘gold card’? sionals have at the top of their mind. The align- gration remains uncertain. Several scenarios
The proposed gold card presents a stark ment of EB-5 with global portfolio diversifica- are possible. The gold card could gain traction
contrast. The headline figure is a $5 million tion, particularly for those who are already in- and ultimately replace the EB-5 program,
investment requirement, which is a manifold vesting in overseas education or dollar-based ushering in an era focused on attracting ultra-
increase over the standard EB-5 threshold. assets, is an added advantage. high net-worth individuals. Alternatively,
While details remain fluid, the core premise The green card also provides valuable expo- both the programs could coexist, catering
is to attract ultra-high net-worth individuals sure to the US markets, including real estate, to different tiers of investors. What remains
willing to inject substantial capital into the capital markets, and business opportunities. explicitly clear, however, is that the American
US economy. Proponents suggest that this Furthermore, families are leveraging the dream is still very much alive for Indians.
influx could generate significant revenue liberalised remittance scheme (LRS) for more
and potentially contribute to reducing the prudent EB-5 participation. In today’s geopo-
Please send your feedback to
national debt. litical climate, second residency is increas- etwealth@timesofindia.com
Despite the rising capital requirement of ingly seen as essential family insurance, mak-

***This PDF download is allowed by Economic Times only for the personal use of ePaper/ET Prime/TOI+ subscribers.
Sharing PDF on any Social Media or uploading on Websites will violate copyrights and would result in criminal offence and civil penalties.
 NG 3.7 PubDate: 07-04-2025 Zone: ETWealth Edition: 1 Page: ETWDP15 User: shashi.bhushan4 Time: 04-04-2025 18:06 Color:

SMART STATS
The Economic Times Wealth
April 07-13, 2025

In This Section
MUTUAL FUNDS - P16
LOANS AND DEPOSITS - P18

ET WEALTH TOP 50 STOCKS

ALTERNATIVE INVESTMENTS- P19

Every week we put about 3,000 stocks through four key filters and rate them on a mix of factors. The end result
of this is the listing of the top 50 stocks based on the composite rating to help ease your f­ ortune hunt.

RANK PRICE ` GROWTH%* VA LUAT I O N R AT I O S R AT I N G

Value
Current Previous Stock Net PEG Div No. of
Research
Rank Rank Price Revenue Profit PE PB (5-year) Yield (%) funds
Stock Rating

Can Fin Homes 1 1 680 13 18 10.9 1.8 0.9 0.9 27 «««««

1 Fast growing stocks
Kotak Mahindra Bank 2 2 2,133 21 29 18.8 2.8 1.8 0.1 168 «««««
Top 5 stocks with the highest
AU Small Finance Bank 3 7 563 46 14 21.3 2.5 0.8 0.2 43 «««««
revenue (1-year) growth (%)
Indus Towers 4 4 358 5 82 9.4 2.9 0.5 0.0 84 «««««
Bajaj Holdings &
NIIT Learning Systems 5 5 403 5 9 23.7 4.8 2.9 1.3 12 ««««« Investment 234.5

Bajaj Finance 6 6 8,595 29 14 33.4 5.8 2.0 0.4 163 ««««« AU Small Finance
Bank 46.2
National Aluminium Company 7 3 173 14 182 7.6 1.8 0.2 1.7 36 «««««
Nippon Life India
40.0
Karur Vysya Bank 8 9 215 20 26 9.2 1.5 1.0 1.1 59 ««««« Asset Manag

Sharda Motor Industries 9 12 1,568 0 20 14.2 4.6 0.6 0.6 10 ««««« Cholamandalam
Investmenta 38.7
ICICI Bank 10 10 1,330 19 15 19.3 3.3 1.3 0.8 297 «««««
HDFC Asset
Aadhar Housing Finance 11 8 459 21 18 22.7 3.2 1.3 0.0 31 ««««« Management Co 35.5

Aavas Financiers 12 11 2,095 18 19 29.5 4.0 2.0 0.0 34 «««««

State Bank Of India 13 13 779 15 24 8.8 1.5 1.0 1.8 223 ««««« 2 Least expensive stocks
The Great Eastern Shipping Co 14 14 936 7 19 4.6 0.9 0.1 3.9 18 ««««« Top 5 stocks with the lowest
Gulf Oil Lubricants India 15 17 1,126 8 25 15.7 3.8 1.4 3.2 17 «««««
price to earnings ratio
Ashoka
Hero MotoCorp 16 15 3,753 11 15 18.1 3.7 4.4 3.7 98 «««« Buildcon 3.7

City Union Bank 17 16 164 11 11 11.2 1.3 2.3 0.9 37 ««««« The Great
Eastern Shipp. 4.6
Cholamandalam Investment 18 23 1,445 39 25 30.0 5.4 1.6 0.1 124 «««««
Repco Home 4.9
Finance
REC 19 37 425 19 19 7.2 1.5 0.7 3.8 93 «««««
LIC Housing 6.1
Ashoka Buildcon 20 22 200 13 614 3.7 1.6 0.0 0.0 8 ««««« Finance
Just Dial 21 19 836 12 63 13.1 1.6 1.0 0.0 5 ««««« DCB Bank 6.2
Nesco 22 20 949 13 14 17.0 2.6 1.6 0.6 6 «««««

Best PEGs
Chambal Fertilisers and Chem.
DCB Bank
23
24
27
30
629
117
-11
21
32
13
15.6
6.2
2.9
0.7
2.7
0.8
1.2
1.1
7
14
«««««

«««««
3 Top 5 stocks with the least
HDFC Bank 25 29 1,795 31 2 19.7 2.8 1.3 1.1 298 ««««« price earnings to growth ratio
The Great LG Balakrishnan & Bros
Indiamart Intermesh 26 24 2,141 17 63 27.3 6.4 1.2 0.9 27 «««« Eastern Shipping
Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC 27 18 663 26 29 21.0 5.5 2.5 2.0 19 «««««

Supreme Petrochem 28 34 626 19 11 28.4 5.4 0.5 1.4 5 ««««« 0.03 0.12 0.18 0.46 0.46
Bajaj Holdings & Investment 29 26 11,500 234 27 17.0 2.1 0.7 1.1 17 «««««
Ashoka
Repco Home Finance 30 31 354 12 19 4.9 0.7 0.8 0.8 11 «««««
Buildcon National
Indus Towers
Aluminium com.
LG Balakrishnan & Bros 31 33 1,207 11 10 13.4 2.1 0.5 1.5 7 «««««

KPIT Technologies 32 32 1,211 23 40 43.8 12.3 1.7 0.6 61

Income generators
««««

Nippon Life India Asset Mana. 33 28 584 40 37 27.9 8.5 2.0 2.8 41 ««««« 4
Top 5 stocks with the highest
Castrol India 34 38 201 6 7 21.4 9.1 9.0 6.5 13 «««««
dividend yield (%)
HCL Technologies 35 39 1,470 7 9 23.3 5.4 3.1 3.5 115 ««««
Castrol India 6.5
Zydus Lifesciences 36 36 902 17 53 20.0 4.0 1.1 0.3 47 ««««
The Great Eastern
3.9
Infosys 37 21 1,497 4 13 22.5 6.4 3.0 3.1 242 «««« Shipping
REC 3.8
LIC Housing Finance 38 43 573 4 6 6.1 0.9 0.7 1.6 44 «««««
Hero MotoCorp 3.7
HDFC Asset Management Com 39 40 4,044 35 33 36.7 11.7 3.7 1.7 71 ««««
HCL Technologies 3.5
Computer Age Management 40 25 3,823 28 41 41.1 16.4 2.1 1.2 62 ««««

CMS Info Systems 41 41 478 14 4 21.6 3.6 1.5 1.2 27 «««««

5 Most widely held
Amara Raja Energy & Mobility 42 73 1,014 12 17 18.5 2.5 2.1 1.0 23 «««««
Top 5 stocks held by most
Escorts Kubota 43 56 3,276 1 21 30.8 3.6 1.3 0.6 35 ««««
number of mutual funds
Eicher Motors 44 49 5,379 11 16 33.2 7.4 2.5 0.9 89 ««««« ICICI Bank
State Bank Of India
Maruti Suzuki India 45 46 11,688 11 19 25.3 4.0 1.8 1.1 195 ««««

Indian Energy Exchange 46 44 182 19 21 39.7 14.2 2.7 1.4 29 ««««

298 297 242 223 203
Abbott India 47 48 29,909 9 16 47.6 16.4 3.4 1.4 53 «««««

Muthoot Finance 48 58 2,370 32 19 19.2 3.4 1.7 1.0 83 «««««

HDFC Bank Infosys Mahindra &
Mahindra & Mahindra 49 67 2,611 14 12 26.2 4.4 1.3 0.8 203 «««««
Mahindra
Oberoi Realty 50 68 1,591 32 59 22.4 3.8 0.9 0.5 55 ««««
SEE NUMBER OF MUTUAL FUNDS HOLDING THE
*REVENUE AND EPS FIGURES BASED ON ONE-YEAR GROWTH. DATA AS ON 4 APR 2025 SOURCE: VALUE RESEARCH STOCKS IN THE ADJACENT TABLE.

***This PDF download is allowed by Economic Times only for the personal use of ePaper/ET Prime/TOI+ subscribers.
Sharing PDF on any Social Media or uploading on Websites will violate copyrights and would result in criminal offence and civil penalties.
 NG 3.7 PubDate: 07-04-2025 Zone: ETWealth Edition: 1 Page: ETWDP16 User: shashi.bhushan4 Time: 04-04-2025 18:01 Color:

smart stats
16 The Economic Times Wealth April 07-13, 2025

LAGGARDS & LEADERS

ETW FUNDS 100

Taking a long-term view of fund returns, here is a list of 10
funds in each category—five leaders (worth investing) and
five ­laggards (that may be a drag on your portfolio).

LAGGARDS LEADERS

BEST FUNDS TO BUILD YOUR PORTFOLIO Equity: Large cap 5-year returns
ET Wealth collaborates with Value Research to identify the top-performing 17.78 36.15
Axis Bluechip Fund BHARAT 22 ETF
funds across categories. Equity funds and equity-oriented hybrid funds are 18.52 34.93
ranked on 3-year returns while debt-oriented hybrid and income funds are Nippon India ETF Nifty 50 Shariah BeES ICICI Prudential BHARAT 22 FOF

ranked on 1-year returns. 19.22 30.23

RETURNS (%) JM Large Cap Fund SBI BSE Sensex Next 50 ETF
Value Research Net Assets Expense
Fund Rating (` Cr) 3-Month 6-Month 1-Year 3-Year 5-Year Ratio (%) 19.96 30.18
Groww Large Cap Fund - Regular Plan UTI BSE Sensex Next 50 ETF
EQUITY: LARGE CAP
34,211.60
20.27 29.91
Nippon India Large Cap Fund ««««« -5.48 -9.29 5.09 17.33 28.92 1.58
60,177.20 PGIM India Large Cap Fund Nippon India ETF BSE Sensex Next 50
ICICI Prudential Bluechip Fund ««««« -3.42 -8.89 5.97 15.54 27.28 1.47
HDFC Large Cap Fund - Regular Plan ««««« 33,913.31 -4.02 -10.59 3.50 14.90 26.31 1.63 17.33%
THE 3-YEAR
Equity: Flexi cap 5-year returns
Kotak Nifty Next 50 Index Fund - Regular Plan «««« 436.51 -8.79 -18.28 1.29 14.74 — 0.58
1,827.38 RETURN
DSP Nifty 50 Equal Weight Index Fund - Regular Plan ««««« -2.95 -12.42 2.91 14.21 28.88 0.92
OF NIPPON
Baroda BNP Paribas Large Cap Fund - Regular Plan «««« 2,262.51 -7.08 -12.40 3.50 13.70 22.98 2.01 INDIA
1,058.57 LARGE CAP 16.27 37.39
Edelweiss Large Cap Fund - Regular Plan «««« -5.63 -11.49 4.04 12.84 23.68 2.18
FUND IS Motilal Oswal Focused Fund Quant Flexi Cap Fund
Quant Focused Fund ««««« 965.80 -8.06 -17.06 -6.69 12.78 27.91 2.22
THE 32.99
JM Large Cap Fund «««« 457.68 -8.48 -14.78 -1.77 12.75 19.22 2.37 HIGHEST
17.05
Canara Robeco Bluechip Equity Fund - Regular Plan «««« 13,848.24 -5.00 -8.76 7.53 12.49 22.99 1.68 IN ITS LIC MF Children’s Fund HDFC Flexi Cap Fund
1,229.29 CATEGORY. 17.14 32.93
Invesco India Largecap Fund «««« -8.47 -11.89 5.44 12.33 23.98 2.10
ABSL Bal Bhavishya Yojna HDFC Focused 30 Fund
EQUITY: LARGE & MIDCAP
17.62 31.76
Motilal Oswal Large and Midcap Fund - Regular Plan ««««« 7,624.82 -17.51 -14.75 11.20 22.48 30.62 1.75
Axis Focused Fund ICICI Prudential Retirement Fund
Bandhan Core Equity Fund - Regular Plan ««««« 7,233.51 -7.97 -12.32 9.81 20.76 31.38 1.78
ICICI Prudential Large & Mid Cap Fund ««««« 17,818.19 -2.02 -9.04 9.93 19.48 32.65 1.70
17.93 30.58
UTI Large & Mid Cap Fund - Regular Plan «««« 3,789.32 -7.90 -12.02 10.76 18.96 31.84 1.91 ABS Retirement Fund - The 30s Plan ICICI Prudential India Equity FOF
HDFC Large and Mid Cap Fund - Regular Plan «««« 21,526.58 -7.86 -12.53 5.29 18.01 31.49 1.68
Kotak Equity Opportunities Fund - Regular Plan «««« 22,852.62 -8.96 -12.70 5.70 15.97 27.24 1.63
SBI Large & Midcap Fund «««« 27,384.68 -5.36 -9.26 8.85 15.51 28.81 1.62 Equity: Mid cap 3-year returns
EQUITY: FLEXI CAP 10.19 27.41
HDFC Focused 30 Fund - Regular Plan ««««« 15,515.87 -2.34 -5.34 14.11 21.95 32.93 1.68 DSP Nifty Midcap 150 Quality Motilal Oswal Midcap Fund
HDFC Flexi Cap Fund - Regular Plan ««««« 64,124.15 -2.71 -5.76 13.49 21.27 32.99 1.43 21.95% 11.02 23.5
JM Flexicap Fund ««««« 4,899.24 -13.86 -16.68 5.08 20.53 29.18 1.82 THE 3-YEAR PGIM India Midcap Opp. Fund HDFC Mid-Cap Opportunities Fund
Invesco India Focused Fund - Regular Plan «««« 3,181.54 -11.32 -10.25 12.30 18.96 — 1.89 RETURN
OF HDFC 13.79 22.14
ICICI Prudential Focused Equity Fund «««« 9,532.60 -3.55 -9.62 10.35 18.87 30.37 1.76
FOCUSED UTI Mid Cap Fund Nippon India Growth Fund
ICICI Prudential Retirement Fund - Pure Equity Plan «««« 981.86 -6.43 -10.79 5.20 18.07 31.76 2.18 30 FUND
IS THE
14.08 21.46
HDFC Retirement Savings Fund Equity Plan ««««« 5,571.31 -6.37 -10.35 5.74 17.71 30.55 1.80
HIGHEST Taurus Mid Cap Fund Edelweiss Mid Cap Fund
Mahindra Manulife Focused Fund - Regular Plan «««« 1,818.65 -3.60 -11.09 5.60 17.37 — 2.02
IN ITS
Bank of India Flexi Cap Fund - Regular Plan «««« 1,786.77 -12.37 -14.17 1.44 17.26 — 1.99 CATEGORY.
14.43 21.36
Franklin India Flexi Cap Fund - Regular Plan «««« 16,139.31 -7.73 -10.25 7.30 16.31 30.49 1.74 Axis Midcap Fund Invesco India Mid Cap Fund
Parag Parikh Flexi Cap Fund - Regular Plan ««««« 88,004.52 -4.54 -4.32 11.70 16.22 30.46 1.33
HSBC Flexi Cap Fund* «««« 4,182.76 -11.86 -13.05 6.21 15.92 26.46 1.96
Edelweiss Flexi Cap Fund - Regular Plan «««« 2,208.81 -9.97 -13.74 6.69 14.69 26.39 1.98 Equity: Small cap 3-year returns
Franklin India Focused Equity Fund - Regular Plan «««« 10,907.40 -7.48 -12.67 3.82 14.47 28.32 1.80
360 ONE Focused Equity Fund - Regular Plan «««« 6,351.89 -5.03 -11.85 4.99 14.00 26.99 1.76 8.41 23.89
Union Flexi Cap Fund «««« 1,994.95 -9.05 -11.19 2.59 12.12 25.45 2.10 PGIM India Small Cap Fund Bandhan Small Cap Fund
EQUITY: MID CAP 12.17 22.76
Motilal Oswal Midcap Fund - Regular Plan ««««« 23,703.68 -18.57 -14.56 15.23 27.41 37.75 1.61 Canara Robeco Small Cap Fund ITI Small Cap Fund
HDFC Mid-Cap Opportunities Fund - Regular Plan ««««« 67,578.59 -10.28 -11.56 7.42 23.50 35.13 1.42 12.7 21.12
Nippon India Growth Fund «««« 30,276.31 -10.57 -13.11 10.74 22.14 35.42 1.61 27.41% Kotak Small Cap Fund Tata Small Cap Fund
THE 3-YEAR
Edelweiss Mid Cap Fund - Regular Plan «««« 7,729.29 -12.45 -12.24 13.83 21.46 35.18 1.74
RETURN OF 13.2 20.42
Kotak Emerging Equity Fund - Regular Plan «««« 43,941.48 -13.58 -14.25 11.63 17.67 32.30 1.47 MOTILAL ABSL Small Cap Fund Nippon India Small Cap Fund
SBI Magnum Midcap Fund «««« 19,391.73 -8.34 -11.94 5.76 16.90 33.20 1.68 OSWAL
MIDCAP 13.68 20.42
Quant Mid Cap Fund «««« 7,615.71 -8.95 -16.95 -5.57 16.87 36.92 1.79
FUND IS THE Union Small Cap Fund Invesco India Smallcap Fund
EQUITY: SMALL CAP HIGHEST
IN ITS
Hybrid: Aggressive 5-year returns
Tata Small Cap Fund - Regular Plan «««« 8,274.12 -13.80 -16.74 9.71 21.12 36.49 1.73
CATEGORY.
Nippon India Small Cap Fund ««««« 50,826.29 -14.69 -17.50 3.91 20.42 41.26 1.49
Quant Small Cap Fund ««««« 22,832.42 -12.59 -18.62 -3.47 19.46 49.83 1.65
Bank of India Small Cap Fund - Regular Plan «««« 1,389.85 -15.97 -17.10 7.38 16.57 36.95 2.04 15.76 28.92
ABSL Retirement Fund - 40s Plan ICICI Prudential Equity & Debt Fund
EQUITY: VALUE ORIENTED
15.97 28.81
SBI Contra Fund ««««« 39,589.67 -5.87 -11.12 5.05 20.97 37.22 1.54
Shriram Aggressive Hybrid Fund Quant Absolute Fund
JM Value Fund «««« 936.83 -13.30 -18.71 1.61 19.89 30.64 2.26
20.97% 16.03 28.54
HSBC Value Fund* «««« 11,580.20 -9.36 -12.65 5.53 19.18 32.61 1.75
THE 3-YEAR Axis Retirement Fund JM Aggressive Hybrid Fund
ICICI Prudential Value Discovery Fund ««««« 46,114.48 -2.58 -8.02 9.53 19.15 33.47 1.57
RETURN OF 16.52 28.11
EQUITY: ELSS SBI CONTRA LIC MF Aggressive Hybrid Fund BOI Mid & Small Cap Equity & Debt Fund
SBI Long Term Equity Fund - Regular Plan ««««« 25,723.50 -5.57 -10.68 7.99 22.56 31.94 1.60 FUND IS
THE HIGH- 16.61 24.97
Motilal Oswal ELSS Tax Saver Fund - Regular Plan ««««« 3,405.01 -19.12 -16.75 8.53 21.34 28.35 1.87 EST IN ITS Axis Children’s UTI Aggressive Hybrid Fund
HDFC ELSS Tax Saver Fund - Regular Plan ««««« 14,671.37 -3.32 -7.92 10.91 20.33 30.52 1.67 ­C ATEGORY.
DSP ELSS Tax Saver Fund - Regular Plan «««« 14,981.09 -5.28 -9.97 13.98 17.14 29.44 1.65
ANNUALISED RETURNS IN % AS ON 2 APRIL 2025

***This PDF download is allowed by Economic Times only for the personal use of ePaper/ET Prime/TOI+ subscribers.
Sharing PDF on any Social Media or uploading on Websites will violate copyrights and would result in criminal offence and civil penalties.
 NG 3.7 PubDate: 07-04-2025 Zone: ETWealth Edition: 1 Page: ETWDP17 User: shashi.bhushan4 Time: 04-04-2025 18:00 Color:

smart stats
The Economic Times Wealth April 07-13, 2025 17

ETW FUNDS 100 Value Research Net Assets

RETURNS (%)
Expense
Fund Rating (` Cr) 3-Month 6-Month 1-Year 3-Year 5-Year Ratio

Parag Parikh ELSS Tax Saver Fund - Regular Plan

Bank of India ELSS Tax Saver Fund - Regular Plan

«««««

««««
4,477.32

1,182.15
-4.18

-11.66
-6.18

-14.78
11.73

-2.95
16.42

15.14
29.37

27.63
1.73

2.12
1 Top 5 SIPs
Top 5 equity schemes based
Quant ELSS Tax Saver Fund «««« 9,486.28 -7.14 -19.00 -7.97 12.84 37.50 1.68 on 10-year SIP returns
Quant Small Cap Fund
HYBRID: EQUITY SAVINGS
HSBC Equity Savings Fund* «««« 619.25 -8.93 -4.75 8.66 10.36 15.52 1.51 23.89
Kotak Equity Savings Fund - Regular Plan ««««« 7,897.27 -1.84 -2.75 5.93 10.17 13.65 1.76 Nippon India Small Cap Fund
UTI Equity Savings Fund - Regular Plan ««««« 640.83 0.27 -0.45 7.00 10.04 13.85 1.65 10.36%
22.28
Edelweiss Equity Savings Fund - Regular Plan «««« 568.54 -0.84 0.22 9.06 9.77 12.07 1.60 THE 3-YEAR
RETURN OF Motilal Oswal Midcap Fund
SBI Equity Savings Fund - Regular Plan «««« 5,511.97 -2.50 -2.12 6.56 9.22 14.27 1.43
HSBC EQUITY
ICICI Prudential Equity Savings Fund «««« 12,610.02 0.93 1.35 7.59 8.09 11.77 0.97 21.23
SAVINGS FUND
IS THE Quant ELSS Tax Saver Fund
HYBRID: AGGRESSIVE (EQUITY-ORIENTED) HIGHEST IN
ITS CATEGORY. 20.77
SBI Magnum Children's Benefit Fund - Investment Plan ««««« 3,014.82 -11.47 -8.34 19.82 18.45 — 1.92
JM Aggressive Hybrid Fund ««««« 729.07 -9.69 -12.74 5.00 18.43 28.54 2.29 Quant Mid Cap Fund
ICICI Prudential Equity & Debt Fund ««««« 38,507.07 -0.18 -5.12 8.87 17.21 28.92 1.60 20.53
ICICI Prudential Retirement Fund - Hybrid Aggressive «««« 705.10 -5.77 -9.73 4.98 15.57 23.45 2.32
SIP: SYSTEMATIC % ANNUALISED RETURNS
Edelweiss Aggressive Hybrid Fund - Regular Plan «««« 2,289.86 -4.71 -7.07 8.91 15.34 23.34 1.95 INVESTMENT PLAN AS ON 2 APR 2025
ICICI Prudential Child Care Fund - Gift Plan «««« 1,183.32 -3.64 -8.58 5.75 15.21 22.39 2.23
UTI Aggressive Hybrid Fund - Regular Plan ««««« 5,633.37 -4.58 -7.40 10.07 15.11 24.97 1.90
Bank of India Mid & Small Cap Equity & Debt Fund - Regular
HDFC Children's Fund Regular Plan
HDFC Retirement Savings Fund - Hybrid Equity Plan
««««
«««««
««««
974.20
9,057.90
1,485.44
-11.47
-6.05
-4.36
-11.00
-7.15
-7.38
4.05
7.10
5.80
14.55
14.33
13.58
28.11
23.53
21.85
2.20
1.74
2.05
2 Top 5 SWPs
Top 5 conservative hybrid schemes
Kotak Equity Hybrid Fund - Regular Plan «««« 6,324.10 -8.20 -10.02 8.13 12.22 23.52 1.79 based on 3-year SWP returns
Quant Absolute Fund «««« 1,893.04 -3.63 -12.77 -4.03 10.60 28.81 2.06
SBI Magnum Children’s Benefit Fund
HYBRID: CONSERVATIVE (DEBT-ORIENTED)
SBI Magnum Children's Benefit Fund - Savings Plan ««««« 119.31 -0.86 0.02 13.63 11.86 15.30 1.22
11.89
ICICI Prudential Income Optimizer Fund (FOF)
13.63%
ICICI Prudential Regular Savings Fund «««« 3,096.16 0.74 0.99 8.89 9.30 10.89 1.67
Kotak Debt Hybrid Fund - Regular Plan «««« 2,975.06 0.36 -0.80 8.74 9.88 12.92 1.67 11.44
THE 1-YEAR
SBI Conservative Hybrid Fund «««« 9,552.80 0.36 -0.33 8.44 9.61 12.54 1.54 Parag Parikh Conservative Hybrid Fund
RETURN OF
HDFC Hybrid Debt Fund - Regular Plan «««« 3,236.56 1.12 0.56 8.07 10.29 12.60 1.73 SBI MAGNUM 11.15
HDFC Retirement Savings Fund - Hybrid Debt Plan «««« 154.70 0.12 -0.41 7.17 8.52 9.56 2.14 CHILDREN’S
BENEFIT HDFC Hybrid Debt Fund
HYBRID: DYNAMIC ASSET ALLOCATION FUND IS THE
10.70
HIGHEST
ICICI Prudential Balanced Advantage Fund «««« 58,716.56 -0.84 -2.74 7.51 11.70 18.50 1.48
IN ITS SBI Retirement Benefit Fund
HDFC Balanced Advantage Fund - Regular Plan ««««« 90,374.53 -2.76 -4.79 7.43 19.11 27.36 1.37 ­C ATEGORY.
10.57
Baroda BNP Paribas Balanced Advantage Fund «««« 3,832.93 -5.00 -5.72 5.47 11.40 18.59 1.89
Tata Balanced Advantage Fund - Regular Plan «««« 9,754.44 -2.38 -5.09 3.89 9.90 16.23 1.72 SWP: SYSTEMATIC % ANNUALISED RETURNS
WITHDRAWAL PLAN AS ON 2 APR 2025
DEBT: FLOATER
Aditya Birla Sun Life Floating Rate Fund - Regular Plan ««««« 13,190.34 2.22 4.12 8.08 7.07 6.57 0.43

Sectoral-Technology:
DEBT: BANKING AND PSU
Aditya Birla Sun Life Banking & PSU Debt Fund
ICICI Prudential Banking & PSU Debt Fund
«««« 9,585.97
10,092.25
2.67
2.55
4.17
4.42
8.60
8.43
6.69
7.14
6.58
6.77
0.73
0.74
3 Cash Holdings
8.60%
«««««
Bandhan Banking & PSU Debt Fund - Regular Plan «««« 13,421.37 2.49 4.03 8.22 6.49 6.38 0.63
THE 1-YEAR 9.18
DEBT: SHORT TERM RETURN
ICICI Prudential Short Term Fund ««««« 14,390.68 2.56 4.21 8.74 6.91 6.76 0.74
OF ABSL
BANKING & 5.74
HDFC Short Term Debt Fund ««««« 8,825.08 2.66 4.35 8.66 6.71 6.47 0.89 PSU DEBT 4.70 4.63 4.51
Aditya Birla Sun Life Short Term Fund - Regular Plan «««« 8,689.03 2.59 4.22 8.59 6.84 7.07 0.95 FUND IS THE
UTI Short Duration Fund - Regular Plan «««« 213.14 2.45 3.91 8.51 6.62 7.64 1.14 HIGHEST
Axis Short Duration Fund - Regular Plan «««« 20,112.23 2.56 4.24 8.46 7.27 6.94 1.02
IN ITS
­C ATEGORY.
Sundaram Short Duration Fund «««« 2,446.08 2.51 4.08 8.17 6.74 7.55 0.85
Quant HDFC White- SBI Technol- Invesco
DEBT: CORPORATE BOND Teck Tech- Oak Capi- ogy Op- India
Fund nology tal Digital portunities Technol-
Aditya Birla Sun Life Corporate Bond Fund «««« 25,293.29 2.83 4.37 9.22 7.17 7.25 0.51 Fund Bharat Fund ogy Fund
Nippon India Corporate Bond Fund ««««« 6,497.76 2.85 4.38 9.06 7.20 6.89 0.74 Fund
HDFC Corporate Bond Fund - Regular Plan «««« 32,190.90 2.73 4.29 9.00 6.96 6.89 0.59 % OF ASSETS AS ON 28 FEB 2025
Kotak Corporate Bond Fund - Standard Plan «««« 14,448.90 2.72 4.21 8.93 6.85 6.58 0.67
Expense as on 28 February 2025
Axis Corporate Bond Fund - Regular Plan «««« 6,298.58 2.80 4.30 8.79 6.76 6.77 0.91

4
Returns as on 02 April 2025
ICICI Prudential Corporate Bond Fund ««««« 29,545.49 2.60 4.40 8.66 7.35 7.04
All equity funds ranked on 3-year returns. Debt funds ranked on 1-year returns.
0.58 Assets as on 28 February 2025
Rating as on 31 March 2025
Debt: Corporate Bond
Did not find your fund here? Log on to www.wealth.economictimes.com for an exhaustive list.

Methodology Debt funds with less than

Categories
Equity: Large-cap: Funds investing at Hybrid: Conservative: Funds investing
FUND 0.51 0.51
0.55 0.58 0.58

RAISER
18-months performance least 80% in large cap stocks. 10-25% in equity, and the rest in debt.
The Top 100 includes only
history and equity and
those funds that have a Equity: Large & MidCap: Funds investing Hybrid: Equity Savings: Funds investing
hybrid funds with less than at least 35% each in large and mid caps. at least 65% in equity and equity related
5- or 4-star rating from

`1.16
three-years performance instruments, and at least 10% in debt.
Value Research. The rating Equity: Flexi Cap: Funds investing at
track record are not rated.
of a fund vis-à-vis other least 65% in equity with no particular cap Hybrid: Dynamic Asset Allocation: Funds
This ensures that all the on large, mid or small. which dynamically manage the asset
funds in its category is
funds have existed long allocation between equity and debt.
determined by subtracting Equity: Mid Cap: Funds investing at least
enough to be tracked for

lakh crore
a fund’s risk score from its 65% in mid caps. Debt: Short Duration: Funds with Ma-
consistency of performance. caulay duration between 1 and 3 years at Aditya Sunda- DSP Cor- Baroda ICICI Pru-
return score. The resulting Equity: Small Cap: Funds investing at Birla ram Cor- porate BNP Pari- dential
Given the focus on long- the portfolio level.
number is assigned stars least 65% in small caps. Sun Life porate Bond bas Cor- Corpo-
term investing, we have
according to the following Equity: Value Oriented: Funds following
Debt: Corporate Bond: Funds investing the net amount invested by mutual Corporate Bond Fund porate rate Bond
considered only the ‘growth’ at least 72% in AA+ and above-rated
distribution: (Not cov- value/contrarian investment strategy funds in domestic equities in the Bond Fund Bond Fund
plan of funds as it reinvests corporate bonds.
ered in ETW and grouped under ‘Value’ or ‘Contra’ Fund Fund
Top 10% interim gains unlike ‘IDCW’ categories as per SEBI. Debt: Banking and PSU: Funds investing
March 2025 quarter. Comparatively,
Funds 100
Next 22.5% listing) plan which offers periodic at least 72% in the debt instruments of there was a net selling of `1.94 lakh % AS ON 28 FEB 2025
ELSS: Equity: With a lock-in of three years
payouts to investors, and tax benefit under Section 80C.
banks, PSUs, public financial institutions crore in the debt market during the
Middle 35% and municipal bonds. % EXPENSE RATIO IS CHARGED ANNUALLY.
thereby reducing NAV. The quarter.
Next 22.5% fund categories are: Hybrid: Aggressive: Funds investing 65-
Debt: Floater: Funds investing at least METHODOLOGY OF TOP 100 FUNDS ON
Bottom 10% 80% in equity, and the rest in debt. WWW.WEALTH.ECONOMICTIMES.COM
58.5% in floating-rate instruments. Source: ACEMF

***This PDF download is allowed by Economic Times only for the personal use of ePaper/ET Prime/TOI+ subscribers.
Sharing PDF on any Social Media or uploading on Websites will violate copyrights and would result in criminal offence and civil penalties.
 NG 3.7 PubDate: 07-04-2025 Zone: ETWealth Edition: 1 Page: ETWDP18 User: shashi.bhushan4 Time: 04-04-2025 17:59 Color:

loans and deposits

18 The Economic Times Wealth April 07-13, 2025

LOANS & DEPOSITS

ET WEALTH collaborates with ETIG to provide a comprehensive ready ­reckoner of loans and fixed-income
instruments. Don’t miss the information on investments for senior citizens and a simplified EMI calculator.

Top five bank FDs

Interest rate (%) What `10,000
HOME LOAN RATES
TENURE: 1 YEAR compounded qtrly will grow to With effect from October 2019, all banks have made the transition to
Bandhan Bank 8.05 10,830 external benchmarks for pricing new home loans. Most banks have
IndusInd Bank 7.75 10,798 picked the RBI repo rate as the external benchmark.
YES Bank 7.75 10,798
RBL Bank 7.50 10,771 REPO RATE: 6.25%
Karnataka Bank 7.25 10,745 FOR SALARIED FOR SELF-EMPLOYED (%)
BANK
TENURE: 2 YEARS RLLR (%) FROM (%) TO (%) FROM (%) TO (%) WEF
RBL Bank 7.80 11,671 IndusInd Bank -- 8.35 9.90 8.35 9.90 Not Given
IndusInd Bank 7.75 11,659 Bank of Maharashtra 9.05 8.10 10.15 8.20 10.65 12 Feb 2025
DCB Bank 7.50 11,602 Union Bank of India 9.00 8.10 10.50 8.10 10.50 11 Feb 2025
Canara Bank 7.30 11,557
Indian Bank 9.20 8.15 9.55 8.60 10.10 10 Feb 2025
Karur Vysya Bank 7.25 11,545
Indian Overseas Bank 9.10 8.15 8.65 8.25 8.75 11 Feb 2025
TENURE: 3 YEARS
Bank of Baroda 8.90 8.15 10.35 8.15 10.35 10 Feb 2025
DCB Bank 7.50 12,497
Bank of India 9.10 8.15 9.30 8.15 9.30 7 Feb 2025
RBL Bank 7.50 12,497
UCO Bank 9.05 8.35 10.00 8.35 10.00 10 Feb 2025
Canara Bank 7.40 12,460
IndusInd Bank 7.25 12,405 Central Bank of India 9.25 8.40 9.40 8.40 9.40 Not Given
Bandhan Bank 7.25 12,405 SBI Term Loan 8.90 8.25 9.20 8.25 9.20 15 Feb 2025

TENURE: 5 YEARS
IDBI Bank 9.10 8.40 10.75 8.50 12.25 12 Mar 2025
DCB Bank 7.40 14,428 Canara Bank 9.00 8.15 11.00 8.15 11.00 12 Feb 2025
Dhanlaxmi Bank 7.25 14,323 Punjab & Sind Bank 8.30 8.40 9.85 8.40 9.85 16 Feb 2025
IndusInd Bank 7.25 14,323 South Indian Bank 9.85 8.70 11.20 8.75 11.70 Not Given
YES Bank 7.25 14,323 Kotak Mahindra Bank -- 8.65 onwards 8.65 onwards Not Given
RBL Bank 7.10 14,217 J & K Bank 8.85 8.50 9.60 8.75 9.60 10 Feb 2025
HDFC Bank -- 8.70 9.55 8.70 9.55 Not Given
Top five senior citizen bank FDs Federal Bank 9.63 8.80 10.00 9.95 10.05 16 Feb 2025
Interest rate (%) What `10,000 Karnataka Bank -- 9.04 11.06 9.04 11.06 1 March 2025
TENURE: 1 YEAR compounded qtrly will grow to
Karur Vysya Bank 9.60 8.75 11.70 8.75 11.70 8 Feb 2025
Bandhan Bank 8.55 10,883
IndusInd Bank 8.25 10,851
YES Bank -- 9.95 13.75 9.95 13.75 Not Given
YES Bank 8.25 10,851 Bandhan Bank -- 8.91 13.08 8.91 13.08 Not Given
RBL Bank 8.00 10,824 ICICI Bank -- 9.25 9.90 9.40 10.05 Not Given
Karnataka Bank 7.75 10,798

TENURE: 2 YEARS
RBL Bank 8.30 11,786
Your EMI for a loan of `1 lakh
IndusInd Bank 8.25 11,774 TENURE 5 YEARS 10 YEARS 15 YEARS 20 YEARS 25 YEARS
DCB Bank 8.00 11,717
@ 7% 1,980 1,161 899 775 707
Canara Bank 7.80 11,671
IDFC First Bank 7.75 11,659 @ 8% 2,028 1,213 956 836 772
TENURE: 3 YEARS
DCB Bank 8.00 12,682
@ 9% 2,076 1,267 1,014 900 839
RBL Bank 8.00 12,682
@ 10% 2,125 1,322 1,075 965 909
YES Bank 8.00 12,682
Canara Bank 7.90 12,645 FIGURES ARE IN `. USE THIS CALCULATOR TO CHECK YOUR LOAN AFFORDABILITY.
FOR EXAMPLE, A `5 LAKH LOAN AT 10% FOR 15 YEARS WILL TRANSLATE INTO AN EMI OF `1,075 X 5 = `5,375
Bandhan Bank 7.75 12,589

TENURE: 5 YEARS
YES Bank 8.00 14,859
Post office deposits Interest (%)
Minimum
­investment (`)
Maximum
­investment (`)
Features
Tax
benefits

DCB Bank 7.90 14,787 Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana 8.20 250 `1.5 lakh p.a. One account per girl child 80C
Axis Bank 7.75 14,678
Dhanlaxmi Bank 7.75 14,678 Senior Citizens’ Savings Scheme 8.20 1,000 `30 lakh 5-year tenure, minimum age 60 yrs 80C
IndusInd Bank 7.75 14,678
Public Provident Fund 7.10 500 `1.5 lakh p.a. 15-year tenure, tax-free returns 80C

Kisan Vikas Patra 7.50 1,000 No limit Can be encashed after 2.5 years Nil
Top five tax-saving bank FDs 5-year NSC VIII Issue 7.70 1,000 No limit No TDS 80C
Interest What `10,000
TENURE: 5 YEARS AND ABOVE rate (%) will grow to
Time deposit# 6.9-7.50 1,000 No limit Available in 1, 2, 3, 5 year tenures 80C#
DCB Bank 7.40 14,428
Dhanlaxmi Bank 7.25 14,323 Single `9 lakh 5-year tenure, monthly returns Nil
 ost Office Monthly Income
P
IndusInd Bank 7.25 14,323 7.40 1,000
Scheme
Joint `15 lakh 5-year tenure, monthly returns Nil
YES Bank 7.25 14,323
RBL Bank 7.10 14,217 Recurring deposits 6.70 100 No limit 5-year tenure Nil

Savings account 4.00 500 No limit `10,000 interest tax-free Nil

ALL DATA SOURCED FROM ECONOMIC TIMES INTELLIGENCE GROUP
(ETIGDB@TIMESGROUP.COM) Data as on 3 April 2025 #Benefit available only for 5-year deposit

***This PDF download is allowed by Economic Times only for the personal use of ePaper/ET Prime/TOI+ subscribers.
Sharing PDF on any Social Media or uploading on Websites will violate copyrights and would result in criminal offence and civil penalties.
 NG 3.7 PubDate: 07-04-2025 Zone: ETWealth Edition: 1 Page: ETWDP19 User: shashi.bhushan4 Time: 04-04-2025 17:58 Color:

market watch
The Economic Times Wealth April 07-13, 2025 19

ALTERNATIVE INVESTMENT
RETURNS MONITOR
The scope and attractiveness of alternative investments is increasing. Here’s a weekly tracker of returns from such investments. But don’t
compare these with returns from traditional investments since the proportion and purpose of alternative investments is vastly different.

Gold (995) (`) Silver (`) Platinum ($/troy ounce) WTI Crude ($/barrel)
69,086 89,983 77,594 95,957 936.65 956.65 85.48 67.27
3 APR 2024 3 APR 2025 3 APR 2024 3 APR 2025 3 APR 2024 3 APR 2025 3 APR 2024 3 APR 2025
PRICE OF 10 GM GOLD PRICE OF 1 KG SILVER

CHANGE
u 1 WEEK 2.18% 1 WEEK -3.83% 1 WEEK -2.96% 1 WEEK -3.85%
u 1 YEAR 30.25% 1 YEAR 23.67% 1 YEAR 2.14% 1 YEAR -21.3%

PENNY STOCKS UPDATE

Penny stocks as a recommended non-traditional investment? Not exactly. ET WEALTH
neither has the expertise nor does it recommend investing in such stocks. But since the
relatively ‘low’ cost of investment attracts some investors to penny stocks, we provide
a weekly snapshot of this most volatile and uncertain type of stock investing.

Top price gainers Top volume gainers

MARKET 1-WEEK (%) 1-MTH (%) 1-MONTH AVG 1-MONTH AVG MKT CAP MARKET 1-WEEK (%) 1-MTH (%) 1-MTH AVG 1-MONTH AVG MKT CAP
STOCK PRICE (`) CHANGE CHANGE VOL (LAKH) VOL CHG (%) (`CR) STOCK PRICE (`) CHANGE CHANGE VOL (LAKH) VOL CHANGE (%) (` CR)

Covance Softsol 6.93 5.96 153.85 0 -75.64 10.23 AF Enterprises 6.74 -4.4 -8.8 3.2 33,871.84 22.54
Sharp Investments 1.25 58.23 81.16 14.8 153.71 30.26 Enbee Trade & Finance 8.38 10.12 4.49 9.07 25,041.09 47.91
TeleCancor Global 9.92 15.62 75.58 0.07 112.48 11.3 Shangar Decor 1.06 0 9.28 16.97 2,476.40 51.9
Gayatri Highways 1.31 6.5 72.37 0.09 -86.87 31.39 Nivaka Fashions 3.74 0.54 13.33 1.82 2,137.78 38.41
India Steel Works 6.2 22.05 60.21 28.18 963.18 246.82 Music Broadcast 9.66 5 -0.1 2.91 1,305.81 333.95
Kashyap Tele-Medicines 4.93 7.88 59.03 0.11 -41.79 23.52 Neil Industries 8.68 -4.3 -10.61 0.57 1,261.19 16.97
ISF 1.64 -0.61 51.85 2.96 110.16 15.58 Kaiser Corporation 5.7 7.75 38.69 1.74 1,036.24 29.98
Markobenz Ventures 9.1 -1.3 51.16 0.6 -3.37 17.47 Gujarat Lease Financing 6.8 4.94 3.66 0.01 1,003.60 18.45
Quadrant Televentures 0.46 2.22 43.75 78.08 12.51 28.17 Ansal Properties & Infra. 3.88 2.65 -35.12 2.24 988.03 61.07
Sylph Technologies 1.08 6.93 42.11 9.3 96.40 25.17 India Steel Works 6.2 22.05 60.21 28.18 963.18 246.82

Top price losers Top volume losers

AGS Transact Tech. 7.22 -18.51 -60.15 1.25 536.22 92.73 Bodhi Tree Multimedia 9.1 14.61 5.69 1.19 -78.97 164.26
Kesoram Industries 4.39 -6.6 -56.1 3.97 481.79 136.4 Arshiya 2.66 4.72 -9.83 1.08 -77.27 70.09
MEP Infrastructure Deve. 1.34 -5.63 -42.74 1.17 35.13 24.65 Monotype India 0.73 5.8 -7.59 7.39 -75.30 51.33
BC Power Controls 1.94 10.86 -41.39 23.99 299.27 13.54 Reliance Communications 1.7 9.68 4.29 8.23 -74.94 470.14
Premier Energy & Infra. 4.5 20.97 -37.67 1.19 793.16 18.61 Vama Industries 7.4 7.25 3.79 1.07 -67.32 38.89
Ansal Properties & Infra. 3.88 2.65 -35.12 2.24 988.03 61.07 Rajnish Retail 7.54 1.89 3.57 4.57 -65.84 118.23
SRU Steels 5.19 -9.9 -33.46 14.57 197.85 31.11 Orchasp 3.81 72.4 33.22 2.86 -65.84 121.75
Money Masters Leasing 1.96 -4.85 -31.23 2.66 -16.90 19.68 Consecutive Investments 1.72 -8.02 -27.43 6.09 -64.83 27.54
Spright Agro 4.18 -0.71 -30.68 29.4 -61.18 447.89 NHC Foods 0.93 -4.12 0 17.19 -64.48 55.13
Newtime Infrastructure 3.41 -7.34 -29.25 2.73 234.80 178.96 Spright Agro 4.18 -0.71 -30.68 29.4 -61.18 447.89

STOCKS HAVE BEEN SELECTED USING THE FOLLOWING FILTERS: PRICE LESS THAN `10, ONE-MONTH AVERAGE VOLUME GREATER THAN OR EQUAL TO 1 LAKH, AND MARKET
­C APITALISATION GREATER THAN OR EQUAL TO `10 CRORE. DATA AS ON 3 APR 2025. SOURCE: ETIG DATABASE AND REUTERS-REFINITIV

***This PDF download is allowed by Economic Times only for the personal use of ePaper/ET Prime/TOI+ subscribers.
Sharing PDF on any Social Media or uploading on Websites will violate copyrights and would result in criminal offence and civil penalties.
 NG 3.7 PubDate: 07-04-2025 Zone: ETWealth Edition: 1 Page: ETWDP20 User: shashi.bhushan4 Time: 04-04-2025 17:58 Color:

trendmap
map
20 The Economic Times Wealth April 07-13, 2025

Why sector
diversification helps
Welcome to TrendMap, your quick, visual guide to the performance of different
investment segments. In this edition, we present an 11-year performance
tracker of various domestic market sectors. The annual returns are ranked for
nine key NSE Sector indices. This map shows that no single sector reigns
supreme. Hence, diversification helps. By Sameer Bhardwaj. THE ECONOMIC TIMES

Rank 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025*

Pharma Metals Real estate IT Real estate Pharma Metals Metals Real estate Pharma Metals
1 9.5% 44.9% 101.0% 24.9% 25.7% 60.5% 69.4% 19.5% 79.6% 38.9% 4.4%

FMCG Energy Metals FMCG Banks IT IT Banks Auto Real estate Banks
2 0.7% 19.5% 45.6% 14.4% 17.4% 54.2% 58.2% 18.0% 47.0% 33.8% -0.5%

IT Auto Banks Banks Energy Metals Real estate FMCG Infra Auto Infra
3 -0.03% 9.8% 42.1% 7.3% 10.9% 16.4% 53.0% 17.5% 38.0% 22.8% -1.3%

Energy Banks Energy Energy IT FMCG Infra Auto Pharma IT Energy

4
1 -0.5% 6.7% 38.2% 1.4% 8.3% 13.0% 34.7% 13.5% 34.1% 21.4% -6.0%

1
5 Auto
-0.8%
FMCG
2.8%
Infra
32.9%
Pharma
-7.8%
Infra
2.0%
Auto
12.0%
Energy
33.3%
Energy
13.2%
FMCG
29.0%
Infra
15.9%
FMCG
-6.9%

Infra Infra FMCG Infra FMCG Infra Auto Infra Energy Metals Auto
6 -9.6% -2.9% 29.7% -12.7% -0.9% 11.9% 17.9% 4.8% 28.6% 8.1% -8.2%

Banks Real estate Auto Metals Pharma Energy Banks Pharma IT Banks Pharma
7 -9.8% -6.0% 28.8% -19.5% -9.5% 5.8% 13.6% -11.0% 23.6% 5.4% -11.5%

Real estate IT IT Auto Auto Real estate Pharma Real estate Metals Energy IT
8 -15.0% -6.9% 12.5% -22.3% -10.2% 5.4% 9.4% -11.8% 15.8% 4.9% -17.0%

Metals Pharma Pharma Real estate Metals Banks FMCG IT Banks FMCG Real estate
9 -32.2% -14.3% -6.7% -33.2% -10.7% -2.6% 9.3% -26.8% 11.8% -0.9% -20.7%

Source: ACE MF. *2025 data is YTD based on 1 April 2025 closing values. Other years’ returns are calculated between the first and the last trading day closing values. Indices considered: Auto: Nifty
Auto, Banks : Nifty Bank, Energy : Nifty Energy, FMCG : Nifty FMCG, Infra : Nifty Infrastructure, IT : Nifty IT, Metals : Nifty Metal, Pharma : Nifty Pharma, Real Estate : Nifty Realty.

***This PDF download is allowed by Economic Times only for the personal use of ePaper/ET Prime/TOI+ subscribers.
Sharing PDF on any Social Media or uploading on Websites will violate copyrights and would result in criminal offence and civil penalties.
 NG 3.7 PubDate: 07-04-2025 Zone: ETWealth Edition: 1 Page: ETWDP21 User: shashi.bhushan4 Time: 04-04-2025 18:30 Color:

mutual funds
The Economic Times Wealth April 07-13, 2025 21

HSBC MIDCAP

Bets plenty, returns uneven

ET Wealth collaborates with Value Research to analyse top mutual funds. We examine the key fundamentals
of the fund, its portfolio and performance to help you make an informed investment decision.

HOW THE FUND HAS PERFORMED Top 5 sectors in portfolio (%)

BASIC Capital Goods 22.52

Point-to-point returns (%) FACTS Services 21.37

FUND BENCHMARK CATEGORY AVERAGE Healthcare 12.27

DATE OF LAUNCH
35.04 31.73 9 AUG 2004 Technology 9.81
28.32
CATEGORY Consumer
19.96 18.27 7.71
18.08 EQUITY Discretionary

TYPE The fund currently favours capital

5.04 6.20 6.25 MIDCAP goods and services companies.
AUM* AS ON 28 FEB 2025
1-YEAR 3-YEAR 5-YEAR `9,541 crore
BENCHMARK
The fund has lagged the index AS ON 2 APR 2025

and peers in recent years. NIFTY MIDCAP 150 TOTAL Top 5 stocks in portfolio (%)
RETURN INDEX
Persistent
Systems 4.60

Rolling returns (%) FUND BENCHMARK WHAT IT Dixon

Technologies 4.45

1-YEAR
20.12 COSTS Max Healthcare
Institute 4.21

22.51 Eternal 4.10

NAV**
GROWTH OPTION BSE 3.89
19.06 `338.36
3-YEAR IDCW The fund runs a highly diversified portfolio
19.99 `69.19 with healthy positions in its top bets.
MINIMUM INVESTMENT
AS ON 28 FEB 2025
`5,000
17.67
5-YEAR MINIMUM SIP AMOUNT
17.61 `500
EXPENSE RATIO# (%) Recent portfolio changes
1.75 New entrants
The fund’s long term track record indicates it AS ON 2 APR 2025

struggles to beat the index across time frames. EXIT LOAD

Kaynes Technology India (Jan)
For units in excess of 10%
Note: Different benchmark (BSE 150 MidCap TRI) is used due to non availability of stated benchmark data
of the investment, 1% will Abbott India, Ashok Leyland, Axis Bank,
Returns are rolled daily over past decade for relevant time frames
be charged for redemp- Mahindra & Mahindra (Feb)
tion within 365 days
WHERE THE FUND INVESTS *AS ON 28 FEB 2025
**AS ON 2 APR 2025
Complete exits
Kalyan Jewellers India, Power Finance
#AS ON 28 FEB 2025
Corporation, REC (Jan)
Portfolio asset
Fund
allocation
style box
Growth Blend Value How risky is it?
Fund Category Index
Equity
Large

97.49%
Standard Deviation 17.59 16.92 17.28
CAPITALISATION

Large cap 17.96

Mid cap 67.80
Medium

Sharpe Ratio 0.70 0.73 0.81

Small cap 14.24
FUND Mean Return 18.47 18.50 20.11
Debt 0.00
MANAGER
Small

BASED ON 3-YEAR PERFORMANCE.

Cash 2.54

INVESTMENT STYLE VENUGOPAL MANGHAT / The fund’s risk-return profile is on par

CHEENU GUPTA (RIGHT) with its category average.
The fund runs sizeable presence in both large 1 YEAR, 5 MONTHS/ AS ON 31 MAR 2025
AS ON 28 FEB 2025
and small caps, apart from its mid cap tilt. 2 YEARS, 4 MONTHS Source: Value Research

Should This mid cap fund (earlier

L&T Midcap) runs a sizeable
track record and strong financials.
Quality of business, ESG and
bets. The fund has exhibited erratic
performance over the years, unable
You allocation in large and small caps.
Its preference is for scalable
valuation are key parameters for
consideration. The fund runs a
to deliver consistently. Even as it
outperformed sharply last year,
Buy businesses with strong execution
capability, proven management
heavily diversified portfolio, yet
takes healthy positions in its top
only a sustained improvement
would warrant a relook at this fund.

***This PDF download is allowed by Economic Times only for the personal use of ePaper/ET Prime/TOI+ subscribers.
Sharing PDF on any Social Media or uploading on Websites will violate copyrights and would result in criminal offence and civil penalties.
 NG 3.7 PubDate: 07-04-2025 Zone: ETWealth Edition: 1 Page: ETWDP22 User: shashi.bhushan4 Time: 04-04-2025 18:32 Color:

career
22 The Economic Times Wealth April 07-13, 2025

BUILD AI
How to AI-proof your job LITERACY
FROM SCRATCH
Combine human skills with AI literacy
to secure your career for the future, START WITH
1 BASICS
says Devashish Chakravarty. Begin with common AI tools
in use. Like Smart Compose
in Gmail, most e-mail clients
suggest responses, while
assistants like Siri and Alexa
perform common tasks . Over-
come your reluctance and start
using them in your daily life to
boost your confidence at work.

TRY AI APPS IN
2 DAILY WORK
Integrate AI-driven apps in
your work routine. Use Ot-

GETTYIMAGES
ter or Fathom to record and
transcribe your meetings or,
say, Grammarly to assist with
your writing. Try content crea-
tion with Canva or chatGPT

T
and create visuals and content
ech influencers are predicting telling, summarising and presenting in an ing and online inputs to remain relevant. effortlessly.
that 90% of coding jobs will be easy-to-understand way. Then comes trust. Finally, you need to carry people along for
dead soon. The news highlights In a world of layoffs, geopolitical uncertainty any kind of success. Thus, persuasion, influ-
LEARN FROM
massive changes at work with the
rapid adoption of AI across indus-
and business upheavals, trust takes a beat-
ing. Maintaining credibility and building
ence and negotiation is critical. Observe and
learn from successful leaders and practise
3 REAL LIFE
Follow leading professionals
tries, leading to layoffs and redundancies. a reputation for being reliable, consistent using logic, emotions and reputation to build
and observe their shares on
The biggest question is, how can you secure and value-driven makes you indispensable. arguments that bring agreement.
how they use AI. Use social
your job in an AI-powered future? Let’s un- Finally, consider empathy. Humans can, and
derstand what it takes to stay relevant and AI cannot, show social awareness, navigate Bridging human-tech gap media platforms like LinkedIn
that offer insights on how AI is
thrive whenever there is a rapid technologi- human emotions and manage relationships. Human skills are not enough. Real outcomes
enhancing productivity across
cal change in your domain or the world. need blending these with technical aware-
Enduring human skills ness. The first skill is AI literacy, or the abil-
different industries. Take notes
Becoming resilient Begin with communication skills. Where ity to use AI to deliver your employer’s goals.
and reflect on how you can
leverage the information.
Morgan Housel, in his book, Same as Ever, data is cheap, the ability to be a masterful Become familiar with AI tools and AI-driven
says that while change is extremely scary, storyteller in creating compelling narratives platforms without becoming a tech expert.
PRACTICAL,
some things remain the same. Through
industrial revolution, Internet, pandemic,
and spelling things out clearly is a game-
changer. From a founder raising capital from
Next comes conflict resolution. Massive
change includes hybrid work and diverse 4 SHORT COURSES
and now AI, there are enduring human needs investors to the job-seeker demonstrating teams, where disputes need resolution. Next Look out for AI courses for
and human nature that is unchanging. When business impact in an interview, story- is the critical skill of public speaking where hands-on learning that you
you understand the truths of human behav- telling makes the data relatable, human and you are able to present your ideas in person can use immediately. Start
iour, you can use it to focus on what doesn’t memorable. Every time you speak, practise or online. Use your team meetings as a labo- with ‘Introduction to AI’ and
change, and grow your human-centric skills converting complex information into simple ratory to experiment. It is your growth mind- then use modules that teach
that AI cannot replace. Instead of resisting stories that have huge impact and resonate set that will enable you to accept change, em- application, not programming.
change, accept it and ride the wave. Whether with your audience. Next is decision-making brace challenges as learning opportunities Check out the skills your peers
you are a CEO or a graduate, invest in build- or problem-solving. While AI can process and successfully bridge the human-tech gap. are showing on their profiles
ing skills that AI cannot replicate, and your data, it cannot tell you what to do. Develop to shortlist modules you can
career will remain resilient. your mindset for critically evaluating infor- Practical steps dive into.
mation, applying logic, and understanding Start with a personal skill audit and identify
Timeless human elements real-world impact of problems. Recognise your current skills and gaps. Work with APPLY AT WORK
What doesn’t change are human elements and adopt tried and tested frameworks for mentors or colleagues to get feedback and 5 Your learning evapo-
that add value to our lives. The first is per- problem-solving and learn to use multiple avoid blind spots. Seek targeted learning rates unless you apply it. Seek
sonal connection. Humans value relation- perspectives to reach sound decisions. Use in human-centric skills and AI awareness. outcomes that save time or
ships, so despite automation, the customer team meetings to practice your skills. Basic courses like ‘AI for Everyone’ may help. reduce drudgery. Start small
in customer service, team members and Next is emotional intelligence, which Convert this knowledge into outcomes by and use AI to automate e-mail
clients in creative fields will continue to need includes reading people’s emotions, motiva- applying AI in daily tasks. To enhance learn- sorting and scheduling. As you
empathy and authentic connect. In a tech- tions and social cues, and using these to man- ing, network with those who are integrating become comfortable, use AI in
driven world, your ability to form genuine age relationships. Focus on active listening, AI in their roles, and showcase your new AI larger projects, including data
bonds sets you apart. Next is the human need thoughtful responses, instead of emotional and human skills to the world. analysis or reports. Demon-
to find meaning or purpose at work. While reactions, and learn tools of conflict resolu- strate AI literacy to become an
AI will handle routine tasks, humans want tion. Build a reputation for collaboration and Start now asset to your team.
roles that are in line with personal values or for being a supportive leader. Next is adapta- The real goal is not to acquire skills, but to
offer fulfilment. Where your contribution bility, which includes speed of learning. Life- develop the mindset that welcomes change.
is aligned with the broader mission, you are long growth is not an option, but a necessity. Once you accept that the environment will
immensely valuable. Your core skills are rapidly degrading as the continue to evolve, you can build a routine
THE WRITER IS FOUNDER
Next is the need for clarity and simplic- world changes so seek new tools and skills that prioritises learning and adaptability.
SALARYNEXT.COM, A JOB LOSS
ity. When work is driven by data analysis that you will need tomorrow, along with the The future belongs to those who and master ASSURANCE FIRM, AND AUTHOR
and algorithms, the ability to simplify and fastest way to master them. Combine real- technology and align with timeless human OF GET HIRED IN 30 DAYS .
communicate clearly is critical. Think story- world experiments and projects, peer learn- skills. Begin today by staying human.

***This PDF download is allowed by Economic Times only for the personal use of ePaper/ET Prime/TOI+ subscribers.
Sharing PDF on any Social Media or uploading on Websites will violate copyrights and would result in criminal offence and civil penalties.
 NG 3.7 PubDate: 07-04-2025 Zone: ETWealth Edition: 1 Page: ETWDP47 User: shashi.bhushan4 Time: 04-04-2025 18:33 Color:

financial planning
The Economic Times Wealth April 07-13, 2025 23

PAPER WORK
What to do when
the PPF account
matures
The Public Provident Fund (PPF)
is a long-term savings scheme
with a tenure of 15 years. On
maturity, account holders have
multiple options to decide the
future course of action based on
their financial goals. It is impor-
tant to understand these options.

Withdraw amount

GETTY IMAGES
On maturity, the
account holder can
withdraw the entire
balance, including
principal and accumulated inter-

Why real estate isn’t

est. The entire corpus is tax-free.
To withdraw, submit Form C, along
with the PPF passbook and KYC
documents, to the bank or post
office where the account is held.

always the best bet Extend account

The account holder

R
can opt to extend the
PPF account beyond
Riya Kapoor is a banker iya Kapoor should realise Selling at a loss is painful, especially
15 years, in blocks
that overexposure to any amid conflicting views on the market
and is in her late 40s. She one asset class, especially recovery. However, she must remain of five years, without making any
additional deposits. The existing
feels she is currently stuck real estate, can hurt long- focused on the fact that the flat is not
balance continues to earn interest
term financial health. generating any return and it would
with her property invest- While property may seem like a solid be difficult to sell or monetise it in
at the prevailing PPF rate. Partial
withdrawals can be made once a
ments. Tempted by easy investment, it involves large capital parts, if the need arises. For greater
year, subject to balance restrictions.
outlays and carries risks, such as de- financial flexibility, liquidity, ease of
loans, she had purchased lays, cost overruns and limited liquid- access, and ability to borrow against
three flats—one for self-oc- ity. Paying large EMIs also limits her investments, she should consider exit-
cupation, another as an ear- ability to build a diversified portfolio. ing now. Continue contributions
However, she has age on her side. If Given the legal complexities and To continue investing
ly investment, and the third she gives herself 10 years to rebuild her paperwork involved, especially since in the PPF account
one on the outskirts of the wealth, she can recover the loss from she already owns two properties, real beyond its 15-year
selling the flat. Unlocking the capital estate may not be the best choice for maturity term, the
city. The vacant third apart- stuck in the property and investing it her at this stage. Selling now and real- account holder can
ment is earning no rental in other financial assets, like equities, locating the funds to growth-oriented extend it in five-year blocks with
can offer better long-term growth. investments could offer her better fresh contributions. This decision
income. Should she consider Being EMI-free will also allow her to returns and greater control over her must be communicated within a
selling this flat now? start SIPs and boost her savings. financial future. year of maturity to the bank or post
office. The subscriber must continue
Content courtesy Centre for Investment Education and Learning (CIEL). to deposit a minimum of `500 an-
Contributions by Girija Gadre, Arti Bhargava and Labdhi Mehta. nually to keep the account active.

smart things to know Neo banks

:: Points to note

1
2 4
l No fresh contributions are allowed
after maturity unless Form H is
These are submitted within a year.
They lever-

3 5
primarily l If no action is taken, the account
age artificial
Neo banks targeted at is automatically extended for five
They offer all intelligence Many neo banks
operate tech-savvy years, but deposits are not per-
banking services, and data ana- offer services with
exclusively millennials mitted.
including savings lytics to offer nil or negligible fees,
online and and Gen Z l The interest earned after maturity
accounts, digital personalised such as zero main-
do not have consumers, remains tax-free, making the PPF
wallets, payments, financial tenance charges,
physical who prefer a great long-term investment tool.
and loans, through products and free fund transfers,
branches. digital-first,
mobile apps or services. and low-cost or free frictionless
Web platforms. debit cards. banking.

***This PDF download is allowed by Economic Times only for the personal use of ePaper/ET Prime/TOI+ subscribers.
Sharing PDF on any Social Media or uploading on Websites will violate copyrights and would result in criminal offence and civil penalties.
 NG 3.7 PubDate: 07-04-2025 Zone: ETWealthDelhi Edition: 1 Page: DETWDPBP User: shashi.bhushan4 Time: 04-04-2025 18:39 Color:

your feedback & more...

24 The Economic Times Wealth April 07-13, 2025

Readers’ response, online and in print, to ET Wealth stories has been ­enlightening.
We pick some that add information and perspective to our articles from previous issues.
The cover story is a timely reminder
for new investors. Many were drawn in
by soaring returns, only to face anxi-
Remain cautious The article, ‘Should you mix debt, arbitrage?’
provides a crucial insight into the evolving
One should not get swayed by claims of
ety as the markets turned volatile. It landscape of mutual fund offerings. While the
quick profits through stock market trad-
rightly emphasises the importance tax advantages of combining fixed income
ing, as highlighted in the cover story, ‘First
of discipline, long-term perspective, with arbitrage are appealing, it’s essential for
time, full of hope, and now in the red’. If you
and understanding one’s risk appe- investors to recognise the potential impact on
tite. Educating retail investors about are keen to invest in stocks, set aside only the risk-return profile. Thoroughly assessing
market cycles is essential to building surplus funds and avoid exceeding the lim- whether such hybrid instruments align with
sustainable wealth and avoiding panic- it. Invest after thorough research and book one’s financial goals and risk tolerance is imper-
driven decisions during downturns. profits without holding out for unrealistic ative, especially in these turbulent times.
Rama Nair gains. Repeat this process until your cumu- Manish Yadav
lative profits equal or exceed your initial
Dhirendra Kumar’s article ‘Invert to investment. Once the capital is recovered, Underwriting in insurance has been elo-
succeed’ highlights Charlie Munger’s one may consider long-term investments in quently explained in the ‘Back to basics’ col-
investing models and real threats to blue-chip stocks, and avoid impulsive deci- umn. However, genuine underwriting has
investment success—impatience, fear sions as they often lead to losses. been replaced by a trend of aggressive under-
and greed. Investing in fundamentally Tharcius S. Fernando cutting. The focus has shifted to offering rates
strong stocks, backed by research, is a lower than competitors. As a result, most
sound strategy, whether through direct financial success. ments and track their performance closely. major general insurance companies are now
equity or mutual funds. Staying commit- N.K. Thukral While investment advice comes from reporting significant underwriting losses.
ted to long-term SIPs reflects disciplined all directions, I’ve learned to tune it out. P.K. Bhagat
investing. Avoid reacting impulsively I agree with the late Charlie Munger’s Munger’s grandfather’s wisdom—‘swim as
to short-term market noise like FII out- inversion technique as it resonates with long as you can, but stay near the shore’—
flows or geopolitical events. In the end, a my own approach. Avoiding loss is indeed will always stay with me. Please send your feedback to
disciplined approach is key to long-term a gain. I focus on a few well-chosen invest- S. Ramakrishnasayee etwealth@timesofindia.com

Arbitrage vs liquid funds

If you are confused by personal finance terms, jargon and calculations, here’s a series to
simplify and deconstruct these for you. In the 45th part of this series, Riju Mehta
explains the difference between the two types of short duration mutual funds.

What are arbitrage funds?

If you want to park your idle funds
for a short duration and would also Arbitrage funds are hybrid funds instance, if an asset is priced at
like to earn some return, mutual that invest at least 65% of the `100 in one market segment,
funds offer some good options. Two corpus in equity and equity- and at `110 in another market,
such instruments are liquid and related instruments. As the name the fund buys from the former
arbitrage funds. Though both serve suggests, these funds use the and sells in the latter, earning
the same purpose and offer similar arbitrage strategy. They make a profit of `10. Despite being
risk and returns, these differ in the most of the price difference classified as equity funds, they
several ways and cater to different in cash and futures markets to are extremely safe because they
categories of investors. buy and sell simultaneously. For are fully hedged.

What are liquid How are these different?

funds? Liquid fund Arbitrage fund
Category Debt Hybrid
These are short duration debt funds
that invest in debt and money market Very low; carries credit No risk; 100%
Risk
instruments, such as commercial and interest rate risk. hedged.
papers, government securities like Return Low Moderate
treasury bills, and certificates of
deposit, all with maturity periods of High. Takes 2-3
91 days or less. These have no lock-in Very high. Can redeem in
Liquidity business days
periods or exit loads. These also have one business day (T+1).
for redemption.
GETTY IMAGES

the highest liquidity among all mutual

funds as these can be redeemed Added to income and
12.5% LTCG tax
within one business day. Taxation taxed at applicable slab
after one year.
rate.

The Economic Times Wealth is available at an invitation price of ` 8/issue. To book your copy, contact your newspaper vendor or call 1800 1200 004.
The Economic Times Wealth, published by Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. exercises due care and caution in collecting the data before publication. In spite of this, if any omission, inaccuracy or printing errors occur with regard to the data contained in this newspaper, The Economic Times Wealth will not be held
responsible or liable. The content hereof does not constitute any form of advice, recommendation or arrangement by the newspaper. The Economic Times Wealth will not be liable for any direct or indirect losses caused because of readers’ reliance on the same in making any specific or other decisions. Readers
are recommended to make appropriate enquiries and seek appropriate advice before making any specific or other decisions.

Published for the proprietors, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. by Rajeev Yadav at Times House, 7, Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, New Delhi-110 002, Phone: 011-23322000, Fax: 011-23323346 and printed by him at The Times of India Press, 13 & 15/1, Site IV, Industrial Area, Sahibabad, UP. Regd. Office: Dr Dadabhai Naoroji
Road, Mumbai 400 001. Editor: Kayezad Edul Adajania (Responsible for selection of news under PRB Act). © Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission of the publisher is prohibited. All rights reserved.RNI No. DELENG/2011/37994. MADE IN NEW DELHI

***This PDF download is allowed by Economic Times only for the personal use of ePaper/ET Prime/TOI+ subscribers.
Sharing PDF on any Social Media or uploading on Websites will violate copyrights and would result in criminal offence and civil penalties.