Investment Lesson

The Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI) is an industry association dedicated to nurturing and developing the Indian Mutual Fund Industry professionally and ethically. To protect and promote the interest of the mutual fund industry, Asset Management Companies (AMCs), and investors, AMFI aims to enhance and maintain professional standards for the AMCs and distributors through the Code of Conduct.

What are liquid funds?

As per Securities & Exchange Board of India (SEBI) guidelines, liquid funds are mutual funds that invest primarily in debt and money market securities with a maturity/residual maturity of up to 91 days. Accordingly, such funds may invest in money market securities like Certificates of Deposits (CDs), Treasury Bills (T-Bills), Commercial Papers, etc.

UTI Value Opportunities Fund is an open-ended equity scheme that follows a value investment strategy. The Fund follows the principle of intrinsic value — instead of the traditional multiple-based definition of value for portfolio management. Intrinsic value is ‘the discounted value of cash generated by a business during its remaining life’. The Fund has a flexible approach in terms of investing across the market cap spectrum based on available opportunities.

Investors can choose from various mutual fund schemes depending on their financial goals, risk appetite, and investment horizon. Diversifying one's investment portfolio to achieve better stability in a volatile market is always advised. Besides equity and debt instruments, commodity funds help investors diversify their portfolios across different asset classes.

Commodity funds: Meaning

Investing may be considered more of an art than a science. Amidst a wide range of investment options, products may be selected basis individual risk profiles, financial goals and investment horizons. Within an investment portfolio, the focus should also be on diversification and optimal asset allocation.

Diversification of investment portfolio across different asset classes

A demat account is a digital account available through depositories, whereby investors can hold their securities in a dematerialised or digital form. Investors can use it for multiple securities like equity shares, bonds, debentures, ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds), mutual funds etc.

Rate action: The monetary policy committee today voted 5-1 to raise the policy repo rate by 35 bps to 6.25%, in line with the market expectations. The external member Prof. Jayant Varma dissented against the decision & voted against the rate hike. The policy corridor floor, the Standing Deposit Facility (SDF) rate, was also hiked by 35 bps to 6.00%, while the ceiling Marginal Standing Facility (MSF) rate was hiked to 6.50%.

TDS stands for Tax Deducted at Source. As the name suggests, this tax is deducted by the income payer (deductor) while making a payment to the deductee. Such taxes are taken from the total amount payable by the payer and deposited with the Income Tax Department. The person paying the income and deducting the TDS is called the deductor, while the person receiving the income and on whose behalf the tax has been deducted is called the deductee.

National Savings Certificate (NSC) is one of the investment options the Government of India offers. NSC investments are received and serviced by the National Small Savings Fund, managed by the government through the interface of post offices.

While discussing the valuations of markets in general and stocks in particular, the most commonly used tool is undeniably a Price Earnings multiple (PE multiple). A PE multiple is a short-hand for the valuation process — not valuation per se — and no one should fail to make that distinction. The good thing about multiples is that they save time. However, they also incorporate a lot of economic assumptions that need to be unpacked for investors for them to accurately understand their meaning.

Dissecting the earnings multiple