With the opening up of the insurance sector and with so many players entering the Indian insurance industry, it is required by the insurance companies to come up with innovative products, create more consumer awareness about their products and offer them at a competitive price. New entrants in the insurance sector had no difficulty in matching their products with the customers’ needs and offering them at a price acceptable to the customer. But, insurance not being an off the shelf product and one which requiring personal counseling and persuasion, distribution posed a major challenge for the insurance companies. Further insurable population of over one billion spread all over the country has made the traditional channels of the insurance companies costlier. Also due to heavy competition, insurers do not enjoy the flexibility of incurring heavy distribution expenses and passing them to the customer in the form of high prices. With these Continue reading
Investment Management
Meaning of Bonus Shares
The term bonus issue also called as stock dividend means an extra dividend paid to shareholders in a company from additional profits. When large fund gets accumulated out of profits of a company much beyond its expectations and needs, the company’s directors may decide to share out a part of it among the existent shareholders of company in the form of bonus. Bonus can be paid in two forms either in cash or in form of shares. The company pays cash bonus when it gains large amount of profits as well as cash to pay dividend. But many a times, it happens that a company is not in a position to pay bonus in cash though it has enough amounts of profits because of poor cash position or because of its unfavorable effects on the working capital of the company. In such a situation, the company pays a bonus to Continue reading
Portfolio Performance Evaluation in Investment Portfolio Management
Portfolio evaluating refers to the evaluation of the performance of the investment portfolio. It is essentially the process of comparing the return earned on a portfolio with the return earned on one or more other portfolio or on a benchmark portfolio. Portfolio performance evaluation essentially comprises of two functions, performance measurement and performance evaluation. Performance measurement is an accounting function which measures the return earned on a portfolio during the holding period or investment period. Performance evaluation, on the other hand, address such issues as whether the performance was superior or inferior, whether the performance was due to skill or luck etc. The ability of the investor depends upon the absorption of latest developments which occurred in the market. The ability of expectations if any, we must able to cope up with the wind immediately. Investment analysts continuously monitor and evaluate the result of the portfolio performance. The expert portfolio Continue reading
Depository System in India
India has adopted the Depository System for securities trading in which book entry is done electronically and no paper is involved. The physical form of securities is extinguished and shares or securities are held in an electronic form. Before the introduction of the depository system through the Depository Act, 1996, the process of sale, purchase and transfer of securities was a huge problem, and there was no safety at all. Key Features of the Depository System in India 1. Multi-Depository System: The depository model adopted in India provides for a competitive multi-depository system. There can be various entities providing depository services. A depository should be a company formed under the Company Act, 1956 and should have been granted a certificate of registration under the Securities and Exchange Board of India Act, 1992. Presently, there are two depositories registered with SEBI, namely: National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL), and Central Depository Service Continue reading
Market Timing for Investors
persoMarket Timing is a top down view of the stock market and its prospects. Market Timing is an approach that attempts to determine when to be in the market, when to be out of the market and when to short (bet on a price decline by borrowing stock and selling with the hope to buy it back at a cheaper price and repay at cheaper prices). Market timing includes the following four components. Trends of interest rates: The future behavior of interest rates, i.e., the tightening or easing bias of the Central Bank. Interest rates are critical to market values for three reasons. Stocks are basically the present value of future earnings. An investor invests his money in an expectation of certain rate of return. The higher the general level of risk-free rates, the greater the expected rate of return and the lower the present value of future returns. Additionally, Continue reading
An Introduction to Hedge Funds
What are Hedge Funds? A hedge fund is a type of private placement investment that is managed by investment management firms and is made up of sophisticated or institutional investors. The fundamental reason why various individuals participate in hedge funds is to protect themselves from losses in other assets. Managers of investment pools employ a variety of tactics, including leverage and esoteric asset trading, in an attempt to outperform the markets in terms of returns. Hedge funds invest in portfolios built with high risk management strategies in order to produce large returns even in the worst-case scenarios. Hedge funds displays multiple characteristics which are discussed below: Hedge funds are financial instruments which requires investment of large amount of capital and thus is not available to general public just as mutual funds are. Hedge funds are not regulated like mutual funds are which makes them highly risky asset acting as the Continue reading