Innholdsfortegnelse for 9 November 2025 i Business Today

EVERY MONTH, MILLIONS of bank accounts send out small, automated payments. Nobody celebrates. Nobody posts about it. Nobody even notices. But ten years later, these unremarkable transactions have built something remarkable. This is the story of how India’s savers became investors, not through dramatic market calls or guru predictions, but through the simple act of showing up. Month after month. Year after year. Through crashes and euphoria alike. Three decades ago, when someone mentioned mutual funds, the typical response involved confusion with cooperatives or perhaps even chit funds. The few who understood were treated with suspicion. Why would you give your money to strangers to invest when your brother-in-law was an ‘agent’? Why pay fees when bank fixed deposits and PPF are always there? The answer, it turns out, wasn’t…

INDIA’S EQUITY MARKET is entering a phase where returns are no longer uniform and leadership is becoming more dispersed. The result is that investors are rediscovering the charm of diversified equity funds, including flexi-cap, multi-cap, and large & mid-cap schemes, which blend growth potential with risk control. There is now a shift from chasing “top-performing” categories to seeking risk-adjusted, consistent returns. According to Value Research data as of October 15, over the past year, about 46% of flexi-cap funds in the diversified equity category outperformed their benchmarks. In comparison, around 37% of multi-cap funds and 47% of large & mid-cap funds delivered returns higher than their benchmarks. “Selective, bottom-up stock picking and concentrated bets in quality companies will matter more. In this environment, diversified funds can do well because they…

IF EQUITIES ARE the drama queens of investing, with swings and high rewards, and debt funds are the calm monks, then hybrid funds are the diplomats: forever trying to keep the peace between the two. They promise investors the best of both worlds, the upside of equities and the cushion of bonds. Their purpose isn’t to win the race but to ensure the investor sleeps well at night. No wonder hybrid funds are a favourite of those who want steady wealth creation without heartburn. Yet, the landscape has become complex even since the capital markets regulator, Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), in 2017 identified seven official hybrid fund categories. Now there is an entire galaxy of hybrid-like schemes that blend assets in creative, and sometimes confusing, ways. There…

THE DARLINGS OF Dalal Street—small- and mid-cap funds—are now undergoing a reality check. After two years of stellar gains, volatility has crept in, and the correction has eroded the short-term euphoria. However, history often suggests that those who ride the dips often create the most wealth over time. EARLY ADVANTAGE Experts say small- and mid-caps typically have lower institutional ownership, allowing fund managers to enter early before valuations catch up. “This helps ride the full growth curve as these companies mature into large caps, says Abhishek Tiwari, CEO, PGIM India Asset Management. Take this into consideration. In June 2021, the 250th largest company had a market cap of `11,819 crore. As of June 2025, the figure stands at `30,756 crore, per AMFI categorisation. Similarly, in the mid-cap space, beyond the…

DON’T LOOK FOR the needle in the haystack. Just buy the haystack.” John C. Bogle, the founder of Vanguard and inventor of the index fund as we know it, famously said once. What he meant is simple. Instead of trying to pick individual winners and looking to beat the market, own the entire market through index funds. Mumbai-based Parth Parikh, 37, who works in the fintech and investment space, seems to have heeded that advice. He keeps a core part of his portfolio in broad market exchange-traded funds (ETFs) like S&P 500 ETF, Nasdaq 100 ETF, and even some exposure to Vanguard Total World Stock ETF. “These give me diversification and keep me aligned with global market growth,” he says. Parikh’s is not an isolated view. Index funds and ETFs…

UNIVERSE Fund managers across actively managed schemes were evaluated. The universe includes managers of all currently active open-ended equity & debt schemes except Liquid, Overnight, Ultra Short Duration, Low Duration & Money Market. ELIGIBILITY Fund Managers with minimum fund management tenure of 3 years in the respective asset class were considered subject to meeting the following AUM threshold: EQUITY `5,000 CRORE  DEBT `2,500 CRORE EQUITY FUND MANAGER MUST BEDESIGNATED WITH AT LEAST ONE DIVERSIFIED EQUITY SCHEME EVALUATION CRITERIA Rolling returns over two time periods—1.5-year and 3-year—were evaluated to capture behaviour across market cycles. Returns are post-fee (embedded in NAV), pre-tax from an investor perspective. Scores are aggregated at Fund Manager level based on asset weighting of the schemes managed. DISCLOSURE & INDEPENDENCE No AMC paid for inclusion or ranking; no…

One of India’s leading mutual fund companies, Parag Parikh Financial Advisory Services (PPFAS), has two of its schemes in the BT-VR Top 100 Mutual Fund Schemes. Parag Parikh Flexi Cap Fund, with `1.15 lakh crore, has the largest assets under management (AUM) among equity schemes, while Parag Parikh ELSS Tax Saver Fund has an AUM of `5,524 crore. In this exclusive interview with Siddharth Zarabi, Group Editor, Business Today, Rajeev Thakkar, CIO & Director of PPFAS Mutual Fund, shares his insights on market trends, evolving investor behaviour, and what lies ahead for India’s mutual fund investors. Edited excerpts: Q: At the outset, can you share how your core investment philosophy balances conviction in fundamentals with the lure of short-term themes and high-beta opportunities? A: Typically, the life situations, goals, aspirations,…

FOR YEARS, EQUITY funds have captured all the limelight on account of a boom in equity markets. But behind the scenes, India’s debt mutual funds have built a strong foundation for investors seeking stability, liquidity, and steady income. Experts say debt funds are entering a promising new phase. India’s debt mutual fund industry has grown consistently over the last decade and a half. The total assets under management (AUM) of all debt funds have jumped six-fold from `3.68 lakh crore in FY11 to `22.38 lakh crore in FY25. The journey wasn’t smooth. The growth was slow in the early years but picked up after FY16 as institutional participation increased and liquidity in fixed-income markets improved. After a mild dip in FY23, the AUM rebounded in FY24 and FY25, showing renewed…

STEP 1 I START WITH THE GOAL AND THE CLOCK First, I write one plain sentence: “`25 lakh for my daughter’s college in eight years.” Then I write a number: 8 years. That’s it. The moment I see < 3 years, I know equity will be just a garnish, not the dish. Note to self: If you can’t say the goal in one sentence, you can’t buy a fund for it. First the clock, then the calculator The clock says eight years. Once that’s set, the SIP amount simply adjusts to reality STEP 2 I FIX THE ASSET MIX BEFORE TOUCHING ANY FUND This is the most boring—and most important—bit. Horizon and risk capacity determine the allocation between equity and debt. Then I rebalance once a year (or when any…