Zerodha To Helios — What Top Emerging Fund Houses Offer Investors
Mohit Gang and Anant Ladha's picks and all you need to know about the fund managers' past performance, schemes and investment strategy of new fund houses.
India's mutual fund industry has grown from Rs 10 lakh crore in assets under management in July 2014 to Rs 64 lakh crore in July 2024.
This 540% growth in the AUM of the industry has encouraged the mushrooming of new fund houses through the decade.
Understanding factors like investment strategy and fund managers' past performance can help investors better understand the fund house's growth trajectory.
Mohit Gang, co-founder of Moneyfront and Anant Ladha, founder of InvestAajForKal, break down all you need to know about these emerging fund houses and their strategies, in a discussion with NDTV Profit.
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Helios Mutual Fund
The fund house currently has two schemes which have beaten the benchmark and have held fast to their growth strategy. The fund house was founded by Samir Arora in 2005. Arora has had a long stint in the mutual fund industry. Before starting Helios Mutual Fund, Arora was associated with Alliance Capital as the chief investment officer of its Indian mutual fund business, along with managing the company's Asian Emerging Markets mandates.
According to Ladha of InvestAajForKal, Helios has been overweight on finance as it is bullish on financial services.
Its flexi cap fund has invested about 66% in largecaps. "They are doing well to start off, but we need more time to judge performance," said Ladha.
TRUST Mutual Fund
This fund house's flexi cap fund has 60 stocks. This, according to Ladha, is an attempt to reduce sector risk by replicating the benchmark. Since the fund has managed to meet the benchmark in the past, it can be a safe option for an investor who is starting off. The scheme is prone to less volatility, said Ladha.
"They have a trademark in the debt side but they will require some time to prove their equity side," said Gang. Given time, Gang anticipates, TRUST MF's mixed strategy will bring back returns in time.
Old Bridge Capital Management
This asset management company has only one offering which is the Old Bridge Focus Equity Fund with 20-23 stocks. The scheme has had a mixed breed of results, according to Gang. Its fund manager, Kenneth Andrade, has had golden days and has been a "good cherry-picker of stocks", according to Gang.
Their blended approach that has heavy allocations in the industrials sector will also require time to see how these bets play out, according to the experts.
Ladha calls its single scheme being being focused on equities as a bold move as most fund houses start with a flexi cap fund or an index fund.
The anticipation is that the scheme will either outperform significantly or underperform.
Zerodha Fund House
This organisation has been a "master at the patience game", according to Gang.
Passive is the way to the future, said Gang, stating that Zerodha's strategies being passive is a conscious call which positions it in the long-term game to capture the upside of the category.
Its focus on overnight funds and index funds is also highlighted by Ladha, who anticipates that the fund house will bring in a lot more coming once it starts its promotional activities.
Among other fund houses that Gang advises the investors to watch out for is Bajaj because of its "aggressive" reach. In the passive strategy, fund houses like Zerodha and Groww are in Gang's radar.
