Mr. Rajiv Anand, Chief Investment Officer-Standard Chartered Mutual Fund worked in HSBC's treasury department for 4 years and was with Standard Chartered Grindlays Bank for 3 years, before finally shifting to Standard Chartered Mutual Fund
Debt markets are faced with one of their most volatile patches in recent times. We at Personalfn decided to get views from Mr. Rajiv Anand, Chief Investment Officer-Standard Chartered Mutual Fund on the economy, the debt markets and what retail investors should do from here. Following are excerpts of the interview:
Pfn: What is your view on the economy? How soon do you see the optimism regarding economic growth translating into real numbers?
Mr. Anand : The economy looks good. We are an agrarian economy and the rainfalls have been good. A GDP growth of 6-6.5% looks achievable.
Pfn: What is your view on the debt markets, especially in view of the current volatility? We have already had two weeks of negative returns now. Where do you think the markets are headed from here?
Mr. Anand : The ongoing volatility has affirmed our view on it. This was on account of the following factors- the advance tax outflows, maturity of the Resurgent India Bonds (RIB) and profit booking in the world markets. But we expect the volatility to stabilise and by October end the 10 year benchmark yield will push the 5% mark.
Pfn: Do you think a product like the floating rate fund could play a significant role in the future?
Mr. Anand : We believe there is place for floating rate funds in your portfolio as in volatile times when interest rates (i.e. yields) rise, floating rate funds can give you positive returns.
Pfn: What is Standard Chartered Mutual Fund’s investment strategy on the debt side?
Mr. Anand : Standard Chartered Mutual Fund pursues an institutionalised investment strategy with well-defined processes in place. This helps in eliminating subjectivity from fund management. The fund has 3D Factor Process Outlook that it uses while taking investment decisions. The fund does not take aggressive bets on credit risk. It only manages the duration actively.
Pfn: What is your advice to the retail investor?
Mr. Anand : For retail investors this is a good level to enter income funds. Going forward the scenario looks good.
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