HDFC Flexindex Plan Review & Analysis

In this article, we will provide a review and analysis of the new offering from the HDFC Mutual Fund house, it is called the HDFC Flexindex Fund or HDFC Flexindex Plan.

What is so special about HDFC Flexindex Plan?
This HDFC Flexindex Plan offers the investors a facility to transfer investment money from a set group of HDFC managed select debt/liquid funds to a select group of equity schemes again managed by HDFC Mutual Fund, but based upon the desired level of investors trigger price.


What is the Objective of HDFC FLEXINDEX PLAN
As mentioned in HDFC Flexindex Plan information site and advertisements,
• It helps investors to automatically transfer their investments from select debt / liquid schemes to select equity schemes of HDFC Mutual Fund at closing BSE SENSEX levels of their choice
• It thus facilitates an exposure to equities at targeted BSE SENSEX levels and helps to take advantage of market volatility

How does HDFC FLEXINDEX PLAN work?
• Investor puts money into select Debt / Liquid schemes of HDFC Mutual Fund
• Investor chooses four index levels or "trigger points"
• Money is transferred into select equity funds when specified index levels are reached or crossed
• In case "trigger points" are not achieved, balance amount (registered in select debt / liquid schemes) gets transferred into equity funds after 1 year in a phased manner

What are the investment options available for investing in HDFC Flexindex Plan?
There are two options:
1. Fixed Instalment Option.
Investment amount: Four equal installments (25% each). Transferred into the desired target scheme at specified SENSEX levels
2. Flexible Instalment Option.
Investment amount: Four variable installments (eg. 20%, 30%, 40%, 10% = 100%). Transferred into the desired target scheme at specified SENSEX levels.
In case all trigger options are not activated, the balance amount will be systematically transferred after 1 year from the date of registration into the target scheme. This will be done in six equal installments over 6 months

Advantages of HDFC FLEXINDEX PLAN
As claimed by HDFC Flexindex Plan brochures, they list the advantages as follows:

• It facilitates an exposure to equities at SENSEX levels of your choice; take advantage of market volatility
• It ensures that you invest at a targeted level and do not miss out on an opportunity; it enables automatic decision making at levels you are comfortable with
• Investments are into select equity schemes with long term track record
• Initial investment in liquid schemes help you to earn income till investments are switched to equity funds
• Take advantage of the market movements without the hassle of constant tracking

Related Competitor Product: ICICI Prudential Target Returns Fund Review & Analysis

What are the debt schemes which are available under this HDFC Flexindex Plan?
• HDFC Liquid Fund
• HDFC Liquid Fund – Premium Plan
• HDFC Cash Management Fund – Call Plan, Savings Plan and Treasury
Advantage Plan
• HDFC Floating Rate Income Fund - Short Term Plan
• HDFC Short Term Plan
• HDFC High Interest Fund – Short Term Plan

What are the Target Schemes available under the HDFC Flexindex Plan?
Equity Schemes
• HDFC Index Fund
• HDFC Premier Multi-Cap Fund
• HDFC Core & Satellite Fund
• HDFC Capital Builder Fund
• HDFC Top 200 Fund
• HDFC Equity Fund
• HDFC Growth Fund

Balanced Schemes
• HDFC Balanced Fund
• HDFC Prudence Fund

What are the risks in HDFC Flexindex Plan?
The problem is that everything is managed by HDFC Mutual fund managers. Hence, there is single dependency risk.
Also, I could not find any information about the fund switching charges and administrative costs associated with this scheme.
Since this scheme has a limited no. of source and target funds (again from HDFC), then there is a risk of these funds underperforming.
Then, what if your desired trigger level is not reached, there is a risk of the objective of this scheme to be missed completely

IDFC Strategic Sector 50-50 Equity Fund Review

A new Fund from the investment house or Asset Management company of IDFC has come to the market with its NFO or New Fund Offer. The name of the fund is IDFC Strategic Sector 50-50 Equity Fund and is presently open for the NFO period.

What are the NFO dates of IDFC Strategic Sector 50-50 Equity Fund?
THe NEw Fund offer period or NFO period for IDFC Strategic Sector 50-50 Equity Fund will open on date 28th August 2008, and will close on 18th Septmember 2008.

What is the investment objective of the IDFC Strategic Sector 50-50 Equity Fund?
Same as all other equity funds, the investment objective is the stereotype recorded one - "To seek to generate long-term capital appereciation by investing in equity and equity related instruments."
They claim the following:
Sector Funds have their moments but to profit from these moments there is a huge element of market timing. You can easily lose out on returns if you either delay the getting-in or the getting-out.

But does that mean that there is no way to profit from Sectoral shifts, for in a dynamic macro environment there are one or two sectors that always take a leadership role in the performance of equity markets.

That's where the IDFC Strategic Sector 50-50 Equity Fund comes to the rescue of the investors.
Who is the Fund manager of IDFC Strategic Sector 50-50 Equity Fund?
Kenneth Andrade will be the fund manager of IDFC Strategic Sector 50-50 Equity Fund.

What is the entry load for IDFC Strategic Sector 50-50 Equity Fund?
The IDFC Strategic Sector 50-50 Equity Fund chrges the standard entry load of 2.25%. In case of SIP/STP, the same 2.25% entry load will be applicable.

What is the exit load for IDFC Strategic Sector 50-50 Equity Fund?
IDFC Strategic Sector 50-50 Equity Fund has an exit load of 1% if the investor redeems the IDFC Strategic Sector 50-50 Equity Fund units in less than 1 years time from the date of unit allocation.

What is the minimum investment amount for SIP investments in IDFC Strategic Sector 50-50 Equity Fund?
The minimum investment amount for SIP investments in IDFC Strategic Sector 50-50 Equity Fund is Rs. 1000.

What are the investment plans offered by IDFC Strategic Sector 50-50 Equity Fund?
The IDFC Strategic Sector 50-50 Equity Fund offers 2 standard investment plans - Dividend and Growth options.

JPMorgan India Alpha Fund

The world famous fund house JP Morgan has lauched a new mutual fund in the Indian Markets. The name of the fund is JP Morgan India Alpha Fund and in this article, we will discuss the details about the JP Morgan India Alpha Fund .

What are the NFO dates for JP Morgan India Alpha Fund?
The JP Morgan India Alpha Fund would be launched on 31st July 2008. The NFO period for JP Morgan India Alpha Fund will end on date 29th August 2008.

How will the investors money be allocated to the different assets in JPMorgan India Alpha Fund?
The fund will invest a good amount of money in derivatives.

Equity Derivatives exposure: 40% - 100%

Equity and equity related securities (including ADR, GDR): 25% - 100%

Debt, Money market instruments and Mutual fund units: 0% - 35%

What is the minimum amount required for investment in JP Morgan India Alpha Fund
The minimum amount required for investment in JP Morgan India Alpha Fund is Rs. 5000 and in multiples of Re. 1 thereafter.
Minimum Amount / No. of Units for Redemption is also conditional and is set to Rs 1,000 or 100 Units

What is the price per unit of JPMorgan India Alpha Fund unit?
During the NFO period, the units of JPMorgan India Alpha Fund will be sold at Rs. 10 per unit. Thereafter, they will be sold at the NAV or Net Asset Value.

Related: JM Multi Strategy Fund

What is the load structure of JPMorgan India Alpha Fund?
The entry load for JPMorgan India Alpha Fund is: 2.25% for amount less than 5 Crores (including SIP), NIL for higher amounts.

The exit load for JPMorgan India Alpha Fund is:
- 1% for redemption made within 6 months (Except for SIP)
- 1% for redemption made within 24 months for SIP investment

A switch-out shall also attract an Exit Load like any Redemption.

No Entry Load/ Exit Loads will be chargeable in case of switches made between different Options of the scheme.

What is the investment objective of the JPMorgan India Alpha Fund?
The investment objective of the Scheme is to achieve a total return in excess of the return on short-term instruments through various strategies of buying and selling equity and equity-linked Securities including derivatives. The strategies would be designed to minimize market exposure for investors with a medium to long term horizon. However, there can be no assurance that the investment objective of the Scheme will be realized.

What are the investment options available within the JPMorgan India Alpha Fund?
The JPMorgan India Alpha Fund offers a growth option and a dividend option. The Dividend option offers both a payout and re-investment facility.

JM Multi Strategy Fund NFO

JM Financial Mutual Fund house has come out with a new fund offer or NFO for their newly launched fune called JM Multi Strategy Fund. In this article, let's discuss some basic details about the JM Multi Strategy Fund.

What is the JM Multi Strategy Fund all about?
The name of the fund is JM Multi STRATEGY Fund, so they claim that there will be some special strategies to invest the investors money and produce profitable returns based upon those strategies of investments. The investment objective of the Scheme is to provide capital appreciation by investing in equity and equity related securities using a combination of strategies. Though the JM Financial Mutual Fund house has not revealed any such strategies - it is left to the skill set of the fund managers.

What are the options available for investment in JM Multi Strategy Fund
The Scheme offers investors two investment Options (i) Growth Option (ii) Dividend Option.
Dividend Option will offer investors the facilities of: (a) Dividend Payout and (b) Dividend Reinvestment. The Options will have a common portfolio.

What are the opening dates of JM Multi Strategy Fund NFO date?
The JM Multi Strategy Fund NFO will open on date 31st Juy 2008 to 29th August 2008. The scheme will re-open for continous sales and purchase on 28th September 2008.

What is the offer price for JM Multi Strategy Fund Units?
The JM Multi Strategy Fund units during the NFO period will be offered at a price of Rs. 10 per unit. Following the scheme re-opening, the units will be available at the applicable NAV values or net asset values.

How will the assets be allocated in the JM Multi Strategy Fund
The investors money will be allocated in the following way in the JM Multi Strategy Fund:

Equity & equity related instruments: 65% - 100%
Money market instruments / debt securities (including securitised debt* to the extent of 20%): 0% - 35%

Some amount may also be put in derivatives instruments following the requirements and the SEBI regulations.

Related: JP Morgan India Alpha Fund

What is the minimum investment amount in the JM Multi Strategy Fund?
Minimum amount of Rs. 5,000/- per Plan / Option and in multiples of any amount thereafter during the New Fund Offer period of JM Multi Strategy Fund, and in case of first time investments. For ongoing investments in an existing folio the investment would be Rs. 1,000/- and in multiples of any amount thereafter.

What is the entry load & exit load for JM Multi Strategy Fund?
Entry Load for JM Multi Strategy Fund:
During NFO, 2.25% for less than 5 Crores, Nil for higher amount. Systematic Investment Plan (SIP) Investment - NIL exit load

NO ENTRY LOAD for the following:
-direct applications received by the AMC (i.e applications not routed through any distributor/agent/broker)
-applications received through internet on the AMCfs website
-submitted to the AMC or its ISCs or its Collection Centers

Exit Load for JM Multi Strategy Fund:
1% if redeeemed before 6 months of investment for amount less than 5 Crores.
0.5% if redeeemed before 6 months of investment for amount equal to or higher than 5 Crores.
2.25% for SIP investments, if exit within 1 year of investment.

ING OptiMix Global Commodities Fund

Commodities seems to be the hot flavour of the present time when it comes to investments and trading. Over the past few months, Commodities have been the best performing asset class, as listed in the Best Performing Mutual Funds .

So, it seems that all the mutual fund houses are set to encase upon this commodities sector. The latest offerings in the Commodity mutual funds being : Mirae Asset Global Commodity Fund and then we see a lot of ads about the SBI Magnum COMMA Fund.

Now ING Mutual Fund or ING Investment Management has joined the bandwagon with their fund called ING OptiMix Global Commodities Fund .

What is the ING OptiMix Global Commodities Fund?
ING OptiMix Global Commodities Fund is yet another mutual fund trying to bet the investors money on Commodities. It's an open ended scheme and since it invests in commodities, it is classified as HYBRID fund.

Is this ING OptiMix Global Commodities Fund worth investing?
Experts say yes. The past performance of best performing mutual funds is that in the commodities sector because of the rising commodities prices across the globe. Commodities in itself is a separate asset class and hence this ING OptiMix Global Commodities Fund attempts to encash upon the commodities price boom.

What are the NFO dates for ING OptiMix Global Commodities Fund NFO?
The ING OptiMix Global Commodities Fund will open on date July 29th, 2008 and close on date 25th August 2008.

Any special details about ING OptiMix Global Commodities Fund?
ING OptiMix Global Commodities Fund is a Fund of Funds. It will NOT invest directly in any commodity specific companies, but will buy units in other global funds which are investing in commodities. Hence, the forex risk comes into play.

How will the assets be allocated in ING OptiMix Global Commodities Fund?
The pattern of investment in ING OptiMix Global Commodities Fund will be as follows: 65%-100% in Global mutual funds which invest in commodity related securities., 0%-25% in Debt funds, liquid funds, money market funds and 0%-10% in Money Market Securities.

What is the load structure of ING OptiMix Global Commodities Fund?
Entry load of ING OptiMix Global Commodities Fund: 2.50% for applications below Rs. 5 crores and Nil for applications of Rs. 5 crs and above

Exit Load for ING OptiMix Global Commodities Fund: NIL.
For SIP during ongoing sales and switches from Multi Manager Schemes during NFO, entry load of 2.50% will be applicable. There is no exit load for SIP.

What are the risk factors of ING OptiMix Global Commodities Fund?
Since the fund will be investing the money in global commodity funds, there is a forex risk involved.
Then there is sector specific risk, what if the commodity prices start falling. The returns on this fund will be hit drastically.
Since this ING OptiMix Global Commodities Fund is global in nature, there will be significant exposure to forex risk.
This fund may have exposure to emerging market, which may turn out to be risky. Also, the returns of the global fund may be affected due to security specific local tax laws, accounting methods, geo-political problems, etc., which will ultimately affect the returns on this fund.

More information about ING OptiMix Global Commodities Fund?
Interested investors can contact Call ING toll free no 1800 220042.

Quantum Index Fund (QIF ETF) Review

The Quantum Asset Management Company has come out with another Exchange Traded Fund. Seems like all the AMC are now aware of the benefits of Exchange Traded Fund (ETF’s). At the same time, the investors are now becoming aware of this efficient mode of investments and hence the asset management companies are trying to capitalize on this new ETF product boom.
The latest one to join the bandwagon is the Quantum AMC, which has come out with its latest ETF offering in the name of Quantum Index Fund (ETF).
What is Quantum Index Fund (ETF) and which benchmark index will it be tracking?
The Quantum Index Fund (QIF) is an Open Ended Fund, which will be listed on the National Stock Exchange in the form of an Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) tracking the S&P CNX Nifty Index.

What are the issue open dates for the NFO period of Quantum Index Fund (QIF ETF)?
Applicants can apply for this Quantum Index Fund (QIF ETF) between 9th June and 20th June 2008.

What are the charges and management fee for Quantum Index Fund (QIF ETF)?
The investment management fee for the QIF is 0.25% and the total estimated expense ratio is 0.75% per annum, one of the lowest in India – as claimed by Quantum AMC.

What are the entry load and exit load for Quantum Index Fund (QIF ETF)?
There are no entry load and exit load charges. Once the ETF shares of Quantum Index Fund (QIF ETF) start trading, the standard brokerage will apply and that will depend upon your broker.

Related: Reliance Banking Exchange Traded Fund RBETF: ETF   Kotak Sensex ETF,   ETF: An example with returns calculations,  Simplest way to Invest in ETF,  Gold ETF

How will be the asset allocation in Quantum Index Fund (QIF ETF)?
90% to 100% of the money will be allocated to the stocks covered in S&P Nifty index. Remaining 0% to 10% will be in the cash money market instruments for liquidity purpose.

What is the minimum investment values for Quantum Index Fund (QIF ETF)?
Minimum investment of Rs. 5,000 and further in multiples of Rs. 1,000 are accepted in Quantum Index Fund (QIF ETF)

Any tax benefit available within Quantum Index Fund (QIF ETF)?
No tax benefit is vailable within Quantum Index Fund (QIF ETF).

Any SIP or Systematic Investment Plan scheme available within Quantum Index Fund (QIF ETF)?
No SIP plan is available within Quantum Index Fund (QIF ETF). But it will be easier for investors to invest by buying shares of Quantum Index Fund (QIF ETF) as per their own convenience.

How to apply for Quantum Index Fund (QIF ETF) during the NFO period?
Quantum Mutual Fund follows a direct-to-investor approach. During the NFO, investors can download the application form from Offical Quantum Site (PDF file in New Window). You can also call on toll free number 1-800-22-3863(BSNL/MTNL) or 022-22829414 and request the application form. Email: Info@QuantumAMC.com and postal address:
Quantum AMC Pvt. Ltd., #107, 1st Floor, Regent Chambers, Nariman Point, Mumbai 400021
Application forms are also available at designated offices of HDFC Bank,Deutsche Bank,BNP Paribas and PersonalFn.

Apart from the fund management charges, this scheme appears to be an excellent one where there are no entry or exit loads. Investors having faith in Quantum AMC can bet their money on Nifty for a long term.

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Lotus India Banking Fund Review

The Lotus India Asset management company has come out with its latest offering. The name of the newly launched fund is “ Lotus India Banking Fund”.


What is the investment objective of the Lotus India Banking Fund?
The investment objective of the Scheme is to generate long-term capital growth from a portfolio of equity and equity-related securities of companies engaged in the business of banking and financial services.

How will the investors money be invested by the Lotus India Banking Fund?
The Lotus India Banking Fund will invest 65-100% in equity and equity related instruments of the constituents of CNX Bank Index, 0- 35% in equity and equity related instruments of banking and financial services companies other than the constituents of CNX Bank Index and 0-35% in debt and money market instruments.

What are the subscription dates for Lotus India Banking Fund?
The Lotus India Banking Fund is open for application between 19th may 2008 to 17th June 2008. Investors can apply for units during these dates.

What is the price of each unit of Lotus India Banking Fund?
The standard value of Rs. will be taken per unit of Lotus India Banking Fund during the NFO period.

What is the entry load and exit load for Lotus India Banking Fund?
Entry Load : Retail Plan - 2.25% if purchase amount is less than Rs. 5 Crores. Institutional Plan - NIL

Exit Load : Retail Plan – 1% if redeemed on or before the expiry of 6 months from the date of allotment (including the date of allotment) or 0.6% if redeemed after 6 months and on or before the expiry of 1 year from the date of allotment (including the date of allotment). Institutional Plan – NIL

Related: Kotak Sensex ETF,   Reliance Banking Exchange Traded Fund (RBETF),   Lotus India Agile Fund

What are the valuations and analysis of Lotus India Banking Fund?
Lotus India AMC said, “From a Banking and Financial Services perspective, India is an under penetrated market. This offers tremendous growth potential for this sector .Consistent and high economic growth in India over the recent past has led to robust growth in banking assets. Further, the Indian Banking and Financial Services sector has largely been unaffected by the global credit crisis due to its strong fundamentals

What is the minimum application amount for Lotus India Banking Fund?
Minimum Application Amount : Retail - Rs. 5000/- per application and in multiples of Re. 1/- thereafter. Institutional – Rs. 5 Crores per application and in multiples of Re.1/- thereafter.

Risk in Lotus India Banking Fund?

The biggest risk is that it is concentrated only on the banking sector. Hence, if investors are lucky, they may get a real good bargain when the banking sector is down. Else, they may take a hit by buying high and then the banking sector going down.

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Sahara Power & Natural Resources Fund Review

Sahara Mutual fund house has come out with its new fund offering or NFO, under the name Sahara Power & Natural Resources Fund

When will the Sahara Power & Natural Resources Fund NFO open for subscription?
The Sahara Power & Natural Resources Fund NFO offer opens on April 28th, 2008 and closes on May 27th, 2008.

What is the scheme type of Sahara Power & Natural Resources Fund?
Sahara Power & Natural Resources Fund is a Open ended diversified equity fund, which means that primary portion of the investments will be in equity, while any number of fund units can be created and redeemed, as per the demand and supply requirements.

What is the entry load & Exit load of Sahara Power & Natural Resources Fund?
The Sahara Power & Natural Resources Fund has a standard entry load of 2.25%.
No Exit load.

What sector will be the primary focus of Sahara Power & Natural Resources Fund?
As the name indicates, the primary focus of the Sahara Power & Natural Resources Fund will be the power and Natural Resources sector. The fund will invest into the stocks of these power and natural resources companies which aim to make business out of these sectors like Power Transmission, Distribution, etc. Natural resources may include base metal industry stocks, Coal, water, etc.

What is the price of each unit in Sahara Power & Natural Resources Fund?
Rs. 10 per unit during the NFO period.

Related: Sundaram BNP Paribas Financial Services Fund, Sundaram BNP Paribas Entertainment Fund

Options available for investments?
Two – Dividend Option and Growth option is available under the Sahara Power & Natural Resources Fund.

What is the minimum investment in Sahara Power & Natural Resources Fund?
Rs. 5000 is the minimum investment.

Which Benchmark Index will the Sahara Power & Natural Resources Fund be tracking?
S&P CNX NIFTY.

Any tax benefit available under the Sahara Power & Natural Resources Fund?
No tax benefits are available under the Sahara Power & Natural Resources Fund.

A simple scheme from Sahara fund house. May be a good option to look for.

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Sundaram BNP Paribas Financial Services Opportunities Fund Review

A new fund based upon the Banking sector is launched by Sundaram BNP Paribas Mutual Fund.
The entire exposure of this fund will be in the BFSI or Banking and Financial Service sector. The name of the fund is Sundaram BNP Paribas Financial Services Opportunities Fund. In this article, I will attempt to highlight the good and bad of this fund and whether one should invest in BNP Paribas Financial Services Opportunities Fund.

What is the NFO period for Sundaram BNP Paribas Financial Services Opportunities Fund?
The NFO for BNP Paribas Financial Services Opportunities Fund will is presently open and will close on May 14, 2008.

Which benchmark index will Sundaram BNP Paribas Financial Services Opportunities Fund be tracking?
The BNP Paribas Financial Services Opportunities Fund will be tracking the CNX Bank Index

Where will the Sundaram BNP Paribas Financial Services Opportunities Fund invest?
The BNP Paribas Financial Services Opportunities Fund will primarily focus on investing in stocks of PSU banks, private banks like ICICI, HDFC, etc. and other financial services companies which may also include insurance companies, brokerage firms, mutual fund AMC and exchanges.

How will the investment pattern be for Sundaram BNP Paribas Financial Services Opportunities Fund?
65 to 100 percent of the capital allocated will be invested to equity instruments of the BFSI sector. The remaining 35 to 0 percent may be held as cash or can be invested in other sectors, as the need arises.

What investment options are available in Sundaram BNP Paribas Financial Services Opportunities Fund?
Three options are available
• Dividend Payout
• Dividend Reinvestment
• Growth
These options are available to both institutional and retail investors.

Entry Load and Exit Load charges for Sundaram BNP Paribas Financial Services Opportunities Fund ?
Standard Entry load of 2.25 per cent will be applicable on investments of less than Rs 2 crore. No entry load will be charged on investment equal to or more than Rs 2 crore

Related: Sundaram BNP Paribas Entertainment Opportunities Fund Review

Assumptions of the Sundaram BNP Paribas Financial Services Opportunities Fund?
The fund managers give the following criteria “Due to growing aspiration levels among young Indians who constitute 70 per cent of the population and are multiplying their earnings level, BFSI sector is anticipated to grow. There is huge potential in this sector in India as it has a long way to go in comparison to other economies like US, UK,” said Sunil Subramaniam, executive director - sales & marketing, Sundaram BNP Paribas Asset Management Company.

Any tax benefit available in Sundaram BNP Paribas Financial Services Opportunities Fund?
No tax benefit is available in Sundaram BNP Paribas Financial Services Opportunities Fund.

What are the risks of Sundaram BNP Paribas Financial Services Opportunities Fund?
The biggest risk is exposure only to the banking sector. Management can give its own justification and assumptions as stated above, but the biggest problem in the present time is that the banking sector is really struggling hard to fight the global recession. Inflation is at its peak, so are the interest rates are volatile. Coming out with such a bank specific fund is a bit risky.

Anyways, things work randomly. You can get a bargain in the recent turbulent times and make a fortune if luck is in your favour over the next 5-10 years investment horizon. Investors who are having faith in Sundaram BNP Paribas Financial Services Opportunities Fund Management can bet their money on it and pay the commission to the fund manager.

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Sundaram BNP Paribas Entertainment Opportunities Fund Review

A new fund based upon the Entertainment (Media sector) is launched by Sundaram BNP Paribas Mutual Fund.
The entire exposure of this fund will be in the Media sector in the beginning and may be it is later extended to companies related to sports and other recreational events. The name of the fund is BNP Paribas Entertainment Opportunities Fund. In this article, I will attempt to highlight the good and bad of this fund and whether one should invest in BNP Paribas Entertainment Opportunities Fund.

What is the NFO period for Sundaram BNP Paribas Entertainment Opportunities Fund?
The Sundaram BNP Paribas Entertainment Opportunities Fund will open for subscription on Aril 24 and close on May 20.

Which benchmark index will Sundaram BNP Paribas Entertainment Opportunities Fund be tracking?
The BNP Paribas Financial Services Opportunities Fund will be tracking the CNX Bank Index S&P CNX Media and Entertainment Index.

Where will the Sundaram BNP Paribas Entertainment Opportunities Fund invest?
Initially, the Sundaram BNP Paribas Entertainment Opportunities Fund will invest in some niche media companies. For example, it may be Balaji Telefilms, Adlabs, etc. Probably that’s why there are many media IPO’s in making, like the Shahrukh Khan led Red Chillies Entertainment IPO. The fund will primarily focus on the entertainment and media industry sector. The fund may also invest in the global markets in the similar sector, as the need arises and valuations appear to be good.


What investment options are available in Sundaram BNP Paribas Entertainment Opportunities Fund?
Three options are available
• Dividend Payout
• Dividend Reinvestment
• Growth
These options are available to both institutional and retail investors.

Entry Load and Exit Load charges for Sundaram BNP Paribas Entertainment Opportunities Fund ?
Standard Entry load of 2.25 per cent will be applicable on investments of less than Rs 2 crore. No entry load will be charged on investment equal to or more than Rs 2 crore

Related: Sundaram BNP Paribas Financial Services Opportunities Fund Review

Any tax benefit available in Sundaram BNP Paribas Entertainment Opportunities Fund?
No tax benefit is available in Sundaram BNP Paribas Entertainment Opportunities Fund.

What are the risks of Sundaram BNP Paribas Entertainment Opportunities Fund?
The biggest risk is exposure only to the entertainment and media sector. Coming out with such a bank specific fund is a bit risky.

Anyways, things work randomly. Investors who are having faith in Sundaram BNP Paribas Entertainment Opportunities Fund Management can bet their money on it and pay the commission to the fund manager.

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AIG World Gold Fund Review

AIG Investments have come out with an NFO or New Fund offer, for a fund dedicated to investing only in the Gold based business.
The fund is called the AIG World Gold Fund.

What is the offer period or subscription dates for AIG World Gold Fund?
The fund will accept applications from April 15th to may 14th.

When will the fund re-open for further purchase and redemption?
The AIG World Gold Fund will again open on June 12, 2008

What is the AIG World Gold Fund all about?
The primary objective of the AIG World Gold Fund is to capitalize and gain from the stocks and other instruments based in the gold business – namely, processing, extracting & marketing of gold. Interestingly, the company or the AIG World Gold Fund will NOT be purchasing the shares of the Gold business based companies directly. Instead, what it will do is simply invest the investors money into the Zurich based AIG PB Equity Gold Fund. This is the fund which will actually invest in the stocks and other instruments of gold based company. Hence, for the investors in India, it is only a simple business of buying units of a fund, which will invest in another fund units. (Read: How fund of Funds work?)

Since they are simply collecting money from investors here, and investing in some other fund, why are they taking the fund management charges? How about simply buying a gold based ETF, instead of paying heavy fund management charges to the AIG World Gold Fund?

Moreover, AIG is the same company which has lost heavily on derivatives recently

Related: Quantum Gold based ETF, Investing in Gold?

What is the underlying principles behind the AIG World Gold Fund?
Simple and straightforward, since the gold prices have going up in the recent past, so the fund management is betting on the assumption that it will go up in future as well. Ultimately, it’s the investors who have to take the call.

What is the risk involved in AIG World Gold Fund?
High Correlation and dependency on gold prices. What is you buy this fund unit when gold price is at 12,000 and for the next 5 years the gold prices keep falling down.

What about Entry and exit load information of AIG World Gold Fund?
No information is available about the entry and exit load of AIG World Gold Fund.

But definitely there will be the standard charges minimum 2.25% (my assumption, please check while applying for this gold fund) Any tax benefit available in AIG World Gold Fund? No tax benefit is available.

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SBI MF Real Estate Equity Fund Review

One of the Indian’s largest mutual fund houses have filed application with SEBI for yet another new fund or NFO, that too in the Real Estate or Infrastructure sector.
The fund will be launched with the name of SBI Real Estate Equity fund or
Magnum Sector Funds Umbrella (MSFU) Real Estate Equity Fund. As per the offer document, the aim of SBI MF Real Estate Equity fund is to provide investors an opportunities for long-term growth in capital through active management of investments in equity and equity-related instruments (including derivatives) of companies in the realty and similar sectors and in debt and money market instruments.

The SBI Real Estate Fund scheme will be available in 2 plans:

1) Growth Option: Where the dividend money will be re-invested
2) Dividend Option: Where the dividend money will be paid to the investors

Unfortunately, Tax benefit is NOT available under the SBI MF Real Estate Equity Fund.

It is an open-ended scheme and it would be available in Retail and Institutional Plan with growth and dividend options.

Minimum investment for the individual retail investors is Rs 5,000 while under the institutional plan, it is at Rs 5 crore.

The SBI Real Estate Equity fund will be tracking the benchmark composite benchmark created using BSE Realty Index to the extent of 60 per cent of the portfolio and BSE 100 for the remainder 40 per cent.
So ultimately, it seems to give a mix of Real Estate as well as other BSE 100 companies when it comes to performance management and tracking.

However, one thing to note is that the Real Estate index is dominated primarily by the Real Estate giant DLF – which has a 35% weightage to move the Real Estate index up or down. Probably that may be the reason why the SBI Mutual Funds have kept a portion of this fund benchmarked against BSE 100.

No details are available about when this NFO will be made available. Investors who are really bullish about the real estate price rise, which is witnessing a downfall in US and UK markets, may like to take a bet!

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ICICI RICH ULIP NFO Review

ICICI Prudential Life Insurance has come out with its New Fund offer of NFO in the name of ICICI R.I.C.H. Fund or ICICI RICH Fund. Interestingly, they have a disclaimer saying that RICH does not necessarily mean Rich – it’s an abbreviation. In this article, I'll attempt to present a review of ICICI RICH (R.I.C.H.) fund. It should help you decide whether you should invest in ICICI RICH (R.I.C.H.) fund or not.

RICH stands for Resources, Investments, Consumption and Human Capital. So basically, what this fund will do is that it will invest in the companies which fall in the above 4 RICH categories and hence it will try to generate capital appreciation for the investors money in the long run. Suddenly from somewhere, these 4 categories have become the most promising sectors for ICICI fund management business. Does it mean that other funds from ICICI investing in other categories are not worth investing?

Then comes the advertisement part – There is a picture of 4 cricketers taken from behind their back. From the height & hair style, they seem to resemble Dhoni, Sachin, Bhajji and Ishant. There is a name on each of the t-shirt of the cricketers – Dhoni lookalike mentions “Resources”, Sachin for “Investments”, Bhajji for “Consumption” and Ishant lookalike for “Human Capital”. Not sure about others, but does Bhajji consume too much?? : -)

Anyways, the investment scheme is to invest in stocks and stock related instruments for the following four sectors:

• Resources: Stocks and companies which belong to natural resources like Oil, petroleum, Natural Gas, Metals, etc.

• Investments: Capital goods, Infrastructure, Engineering services, etc.

• Consumption: Consumer durables, Entertainment, Media, etc.

• Human Capital: IT, Technology, Biotech, any service or research oriented company stocks and shares.
However, I’m getting the question that what have they left out? Almost every single stock sector has been covered. What are they trying to invest in in the name of RICH? Don’t they think simply buying an ETF would be better option than offering this new scheme.

Related: An example of ETF

Portfolio allocation will be 80% to 100% in stocks, shares and equity related instruments, and remaining 0% to 20% will go to Debt related, Money market instruments or cash holdings of the company.

NFO for ICICI RICH fund will open on 15th march 2008.

Each NFU Unit will cost Rs. 10 per unit.

Tax Benefit under ICICI RICH (R.I.C.H.) fund: Not Available!

No info is available about the entry load and exit load of the ICICI RICH NFO The scheme is a ULIP or Unit Linked Investment Plan and will work on the basis of NAV or Net Asset Value as the value of the underlying stocks and shares will change every business day.

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Infrastructure Funds: Should you invest in Infrastructure Funds?

You may have seen a lot of funds coming to the markets with their NFO recently - So many of them. Why are there so many funds coming in at this moment?
One reason may be tax savings ad this is the taxing time for the Indian markets. But not all funds give tax benefits. The funds have a lot of variety, ELSS, etc., but the primary domain in which the new funds are being offered is the Infrastructure funds domain.

These infrastructure funds are the ones which invest in the infrastructure companies, either on national or global basis and attempt to benefit from the infrastructure improvement, thereby looking for price appreciation in the infrastructure company stocks in which these funds have invested the investors’ money.

Another reason why so many new funds are coming to the market is due to the recent turmoil in the markets in December-February period, where markets went down at global levels, shattering the trusts of individual investors. Hence the same individual traders and investors are now seeking for professional advice or so called professional money management. How well the fund managers are able to manage the money professionally, is already covered with details in this article

Another reason is the norms setup by regulatory authorities. The regulatory authorites do not allow fund houses to come out with a similar version of a fund which they have already introduced in the past. May be the following sounds familiar to you:
• Growing Economies Infrastructure Fund
• Banking & Infrastructure Fund
• Infrastructure Fund Series 1
• Infrastructure & Economic Reform Fund
• Infrastructure Advantage Fund
• Agri & Infra Fund
• Global Infrastructure Fund
• Small & MidCap Infrastructure Fund
• Infrastructure & Real Estate Fund
As rediff website has pointed out, “Never before have we seen so much 'variety', revolving around a particular investment theme” & “what will happen when fund houses run out of innovative names for their infrastructure funds. We quickly realised that some of them have already planned for this. . . . there will be Series 1, Series 2, Series 3 and so on and so forth!”

Ultimately, with so many funds hitting the markets, the investors have a lot of choice. The same is backed by the ever growing demand of Infrastructure. The promise of the growth story, the next emerging market, the next emerging economy, and so on.
However, we should not forget that there are global signals of a recession- which will definitely hit the Indian growth story. The growth rate of 9% is not easily achievable.

Another thing that these funds claim is that there are lot of Infrastructure companies coming to India and working in India, hence there will be loads of opportunities to benefit from the profits if we invest in these infrastructure companies. However, one should not forget that the more competitive a sector becomes, the more difficult it is to make money from the stocks. When the sector itself is full of competition, then obviously the profits will be shared between various companies. Which company will get what share, no one knows. How will the fund manager select the best performing infrastructure companies, there is no guarantee of anything.

I should not miss out on mentioning the case of Emaar MGF IPO, which was cancelled because of this recent market turmoil.

A union of a Dubai based construction company and an Indian counterpart, the IPO failed miserably and succumbed to market pressure and had to be cancelled. Things work randomly. Therefore, let’s not just get fascinated by the jazzy names and titles of the various NFO that are hitting the markets. No sector can grow forever, no company can continuously make profits, no country can have a consistent growth record. Invest wisely and with caution. All the best!

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Review: Mirae Asset India Opportunities Fund NFO

Mirae Asset Mutual Fund has launched its first ever equity fund in India. The offering from Mirae Asset MF is called Mirae Asset India Opportunities Fund.
The fund is an open-ended diversified equity fund, which means that any no. of units can be created and redeemed as per the demand and supply of the Mutual fund units.
The fund is said to have an objective to generate long-term capital appreciation by capitalizing on potential opportunities through predominantly investing in equities and equity related securities.

On their official website of Mirae Asset Mutual fund and in advertisements in leading news papers of the country, they have the following table to make some claims:

The claim is that at any given point of time, there are few sectors which are underperforming, while there are a few sectors which are out performing – A fact very well known even by every Tom, Dick and Harry in the world of investments and trading.. Also, the data presented in table above confirms the same. For e.g. in 2003, it was Metal, Capital Goods and Auto sectors that performed well over other sectors, while in 2005, Consumer Duarables, Capital Goods and FMCG outperformed others. In 2007, Metal, Capital Goods and Oil & gas beat the rest of the sectors. Nothing wrong in these numbers as they are based on historical data. But the claim for the future is based upon these historical assumptions.

Mirae Mutual Fund claims that it has the capability to pick and choose the outperforming sectors and hence this mutual fund money will be switched between the stocks belonging the sectors that Mirae MF believes will outperform. How well they can do it, is a debatable question and is left to the investors to decide upon.

Interestingly, This is the first ever mutual fund by Mirae in India. They have been an international asset management company in the past and have now offered their first ever fund in India. Ultimately, this is another new NFO of a Mutual fund with the same kind of claims – no guarantee of any returns. Mirae claim to use their international experience and equity research for the benefit of their investors, hence investors can make a bet.

The New Fund Offer priced at Rs.10 per unit (plus applicable entry load)
Open from: 11 February 2008 to 10 March 2008.
The fund would invest between 65-100% in Indian equities and equity related securities and 0-30% in money market instruments and debt securities investments. It includes investment up to 25% of in securitised debt.
Minimum amount for investments: Rs. 5000 and thereafter in multiples of Re 1.
Entry load: 2.25% for each purchase of less than Rs. 5 crore. Nil for higher amounts
SIP Facility is available: The fund offers SIP facility even during the new fund offer. For SIP, the minimum investment is 6 installments of Rs 1000 each or 4 installments of Rs. 1500 each, i.e. Rs 6000 and thereafter multiples of Re.1. A major benefit to the investors' is that there is no entry load on the SIP investments.
Benchmark Index: BSE 200 Index.
Offers Tax benefits: NO

The fund house is also planning to launch a quant-based fund. All the best to investors who want to invest in Mirae Asset India Opportunities Fund!

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Review: UTI Long Term Advantage Fund (Save Tax benefit)

UTI Mutual Fund has come out with the NFO of its UTI Long Term Advantage Fund
UTI Mutual funds have been the front runners in the mutual fund industry in India and they have established a reputed name in money management. They have come out with this new fund called UTI Long Term Advantage Fund. Though the NFO is open from 19th December onwards, the scheme offering tax benefit will make it an attractive and considerable option for the people who want to desperately invest to save tax at the last minute.

Another thing is that presently, the markets are having a high level of volatility and have seen hovering around the bottoms. The 3 year lock-in period will ensure your money is invested in for a relatively long term of 3 years and may appreciate, provided you trust the UTI Fund management and they have good stock picking skills.
Another good feature is that this scheme being closed ended, does not qualify to claim entry load charges. Hence, it is attractive for investors who are dying for making a last minute tax savings investments.

Details of the scheme: 10 year long close ended ELSS scheme, which also offers tax benefits under section 80 C of the Income Tax Act.
NFO Period: From December 19, 2007 to March 19, 2008.

Options Available
Growth Option and Dividend Option with Payout and Reinvestment facilities.

Tax Benefit Offered: Yes, under section 80 C of Income Tax Act

Lockin Period: 3 years (minimum)

Minimum initial investment: Rs.500/- and in multiples of Rs.500/- thereafter with no upper limit.
But as per section 80 C of the Income Tax Act, 1961, the tax benefit will be available only upto a maximum amount of Rs.1,00,000/-

Entry Load: The scheme, being a close-ended scheme, is not permitted to charge Entry Load.

Exit Load : Nil. If the investor opts for redemption before the completion of 10 years the proportionate unamortized portion of the NFO expenses outstanding as on the date of the redemption shall be recovered from such investors.

Fund Manager: Ms. Swati Kulkarni
The scheme aims to provides an opportunity for capital appreciation through investment in well managed high quality companies that have potential to grow at reasonable rate in the long term

The so-called claimed benefits of investment in Equity Linked Saving Scheme

1 Opportunity for capital appreciation through power of equities


2 Tax benefits under Sec 80 C of Income Tax Act – 1961 - Contribution made by individuals & HUFs will be eligible for deduction of the whole of the amount paid or deposited subject to maximum of Rs. 100000/-
(along with other specified investments) under Section 80 C of Income Tax Act, 1961 as provided therein.


3 No long term capital gains tax (Subject to Securities Transaction Tax) on investment under equity oriented fund including ELSS Scheme.


4 Tax free dividends.

5 Shorter lock-in period in comparison to most of other tax saving instruments. 6 3 year lock- in period helps in minimizing volatility. However, the biggest advantage for investing in this scheme is that due to the lock-in period of 3 years, there will be no Long Term Capital gains tax and dividends are also taxfree

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Review: Tata Growing Economy Infrastructure Fund NFO

Tata has come out with its so called Tata Growing Economy Infrastructure Fund. The fund is in the NFO period and it closes on 18th March 2008.
The Tata Growing Economy Infrastructure Fund, is said to invest in the so called Growing economies or emerging markets, a concept that I could never understand. India has been growing since independence, so are Brazil, Russia, China, Thailand, South Africa, blah, blah, blah, blah.

They are expected to invest in these so called growing economies and the infrastructure companies of these growing economies. They have namely 2 plans and styles in which your money will be betted upon, details of these 2 plans, A & B are included below.

So if an investor believes that the Tata Fund Money managers will be able to pick out the best performing stocks of the future in the infrastructure sector that too at a world level, then go for this fund NFO.

However, with so many infrastructure funds in offering currently, and so many in the pipeline, I could not understand how can TATA fund management have a heavy entry load of 3% that too on a minimum investment amount of 10,000. The usual conventional NFO’s will have 2.25% as entry load and a minimum investment amount of 5,000 only. Probably, the Tata Fund management believes firmly about their stock picking skills and they are much more confident about the response by investors to their fund.

Here are the fund details:
Name of the FUND: Tata Growing Economies Infrastructure Fund: (open-ended equity scheme – meaning any no. of the units can be created and redeemed based upon the demand and supply).

Price Rs. 10/- per unit with applicable loads during the NFO New Fund Offer.

Minimum Investment Amount (Both Plan A and Plan B): Rs. 10,000 and in multiples of Re. 1 thereafter.

Investment Variations:

  Plan A: Investment objective of the scheme is to generate capital appreciation / income by investing predominantly in equities of companies in infrastructure and other related sectors in the growing economies of the world and in India..

  Plan B: Investment objective of the scheme is to generate capital appreciation / income by investing predominantly in equities of companies in infrastructure and other related sectors in India and other growing economies of the world.

Prescribed Investment Style:
  Plan A: Equity and Equity related instruments of companies engaged in infrastructure and infrastructure related sectors (in growing economies other than India: 51% - 70%; in India: 30% -49%), Other domestic equities, Debt & Money Market Instruments: upto 19%.

  Plan B: Equity and Equity related instruments of companies engaged in infrastructure and infrastructure related sectors (in India: 65% - 85%; in other growing economies other than India: 15% - 35%), Other domestic equities, Debt & Money Market Instruments: upto 20%.

Two Options for Investment: Dividend Option and Growth Option.

Applicable Load Structure: Entry load is very very heavy: For each investment amount less than Rs. 2 crores: 3%, for each investment amount greater than or equal to Rs. 2 crores: NIL. Now 3% is not a small amount of money, if you have to invest a minimum of 10,000

Exit Load: For each investment amount less than Rs. 2 crores: 1%, if redeemed on or before expiry of 12 months from the date of allotment. NIL if redeemed after 12 months from the date of allotment.

For each investment amount greater than or equal to Rs. 2 crores: NIL. NAV Publication / Resale / Redemption: Investors may try their luck on infrastructure of emerging economies by investing in the Tata Growing Economy Infrastructure Fund

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Review: Morgan Stanley ACE (Across Capitalisation Equity) Fund

Morgan Stanley Mutual Fund has come out with its open ended equity scheme Morgan Stanley A.C.E (Across Capitalisation Equity) Fund.

Price per Unit: Rs. 10 (inclusive of entry load of 2.25% - which means that the entyr load charges of 2.25% will be automatically deducted from Rs. 10 and remaining will be invested)

NFO Period: open from February 11 to March 10. The fund will reopen for ongoing transactions from April 2008.

The distinct feature of this fund that sets it apart from other conventional mutual funds is that along with equity investments, this fund will also invest a portion in equity derivatives.

Morgan Stanley claims that the fund house follows a ‘community of boutiques’ model for fund managers, which aims to ensure that each investment strategy is managed by a dedicated team with specific experience in that strategy. For instance, this scheme will be managed by a fund manager who specialises in selection of second line shares. God know what it means – atleast I cannot understand it.

Investing some part of money in equity derivatives will be good for hedging or risk management, however, as explained in this article about hedging, it comes at a cost. Therefore, one may gain substantially if he is in a hedged position, only if he is lucky; and may loose limited if he is unlucky. He may also miss-out on a major bull run due to the hedged position.

So nothing new in this fund as well. Same old claims, same old concepts with jazzy buzzwords and keywords. Investors may try their luck if interested to see if they can make something extra from the 2.25% entry load charges.

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Review: HSBC Emerging Markets Fund NFO

The HSBC Emerging Markets Fund is currently open with it’s NFO or New Fund offer period. The purpose of this fund is to invest in the OVERSEAS emerging markets equity and mutual funds and generate capital appreciation. The concept of the fund is based upon the “Emerging Markets give better returns” – primarily targeted to 4 BRIC countries –namely Brazil, Russia, India and China. The fund, at its sole discretion, may also invest a part of money in domestic equities and money market financial instruments.

Claims of Benefits: HSBC claims that this kind of scheme gives overseas exposure to the domestic investors, who may not be able to invest overseas directly. However, the global picture looking highly bleak, who knows which markets perform in which way.

Here are the key features of this NFO from HSBC Emerging Markets Fund.

Type of Scheme :An open-ended scheme, meaning any number of units can be created and sold as and when required

Overseas Securities Exposure :Up to 100%

Benchmark Index :BSE 200 & MSCI Emerging Markets Index

Offer Period :28 Jan to 25 Feb 2008

Offer Price :Rs 10 per unit plus applicable load

Options :Dividend (Reinvestment/Payout) and Growth

Minimum Application Amount :Rs 10,000

Minimum Additional Investment :Rs 1,000 and in multiples of Re 1 thereafter

Liquidity :Daily redemption available at Repurchase NAV subject to entry/exit load, if any

SIP :Available during NFO and on an ongoing basis.
Entry Load** :2.5% for investments/switch in# below Rs 5 crores, otherwise Nil

Exit Load :1% for investments below Rs.5 crores, if redeemed/switched out# within 1 year from the date of investment, otherwise Nil

Cheques to be drawn in favour of : “HSBC Emerging Markets Fund” or “HEMF”

They have given a comparison graph with the existing funds of HSBC with that of the world standard Morgan Stanley Capital index (MSCI Index) of Emerging Markets. The graph is copied below.

However, no information is provided about how they have calculated the returns – whether it is before the fund administration and management charges and entry exit loads or after the charges.

No tax benefit is available with HSBC Emerging Markets Fund. Investors who firmly believe that HSBC fund management will be able to deliver better returns by managing and investing their money in the so called emerging markets can take a bet!

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Review: Standard Chartered Small & Midcap Equity Fund

In this article, I aim to cover the review of Standard Chartered Small & Midcap Equity Mutual Fund .
Standard Chartered Mutual Fund has come out with its newly launched fund called Standard Chartered Small and Mid cap Equity Fund . This scheme is currently open with it NFO period, so people willing to subscribe to it may apply before 15th February. This fund is a close-ended equity scheme with a duration of 3 years and another important point to notice is that this fund scheme comes with an automatic conversion into an open-ended equity on the completion of 3 years.

All things remain the same. They have declared an investment objective (now-a-days it has become a formality)- to generate capital appreciation from a diversified portfolio of equity and equity related instruments in small and mid cap stocks. There are 2 options for investors - dividend or growth option. Dividend option gives you reinvestment facility

Charges:

The NFO has no entry load charges as it is of close-ended nature. However, after conversion of the scheme into open ended (after 3 years) there will be 2.25% an entry load charged for purchases of less than Rs. 5 crores.
No exit load during the closed ended scheme period if the investment redeemed before the date of maturity. After the conversion of the scheme into open-ended, it may charge 1% an exit load for redemption of investment units within 1 year from the date of subscription.

As per the details The scheme will invest up to 65-100% in equities and equity related instruments included in the CNX Midcap Index or equity and equity related instruments of companies which have a market capitalization lower than the highest components of CNX Midcap Index, of which small cap stocks shall be 15-50% of net assets and mid cap stocks shall be 50-100% of net assets. The scheme will invest 0-35% in equity and equity related instruments of companies, which have a market capitalization higher than the highest component of CNX Midcap Index i.e. in equity and equity related instruments of companies with market capitalization above the defined small, mid cap stocks. Investments in derivatives may be up to 100% of the net asset of the scheme. Investments in securities lending shall be up to 100% of equity investments in the scheme.

Apart from that, there are some vague reasoning quoted on the official website (http://www.standardcharteredmf.com/equityschemes/small&midcapequityfund.asp):

Reason 1: There are enough opportunities in an overpriced" market:
Who knows what is under-priced, what is over-priced and what is fairly priced?

Reason 2: Small and mid-cap stocks have higher growth rates:
Really? Who took the beatings when the stock markets went for a tail-spin recently? The Nifty and Sensex with Large Caps were the once which managed to recover. The mid and small caps are the ones which are still facing the heat.

Reason 3: Burn-out risk for smaller companies has considerably declined:
Really? No financial expert would accept that.

Reason 4: Selection based on the position in the growth - cycle stage:
Is it that easy to identify the growth companies from thousands of mid cap and small cap companies?

Reason 5: Picking winners in the Small/Mid Cap requires skill:
And the people at Standard Chartered have that skill – don’t they? Can you please guarantee a 1% return over the 3 year period?

Ultimately, this is another similar mutual fund with thousands of them already in the market. However, the Nil NFO charges during the first 3 years make it attractive for investors who want to bet on the mid-cap and small-cap stocks. There is no information present on the website about the other charges like Fund management fee, administrative charges, etc. No tax benefits are available. One may try his luck by betting !

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