Current market is extremely difficult to grapple with: Bandhan fund manager

Daylynn Pinto had already taken an unconventional path for a Goan with limited exposure to stocks to be in finance, when, one day, the head of equity at UTI Mutual Fund stumbled upon Pinto's breakeven analysis on whether to buy a petrol or diesel car. "That was a pivotal moment," says Pinto, as it led to an offer for him to join the auto sector as an analyst shortly thereafter. Cut to the present day, Pinto is the Senior Fund Manager of Equity at Bandhan AMC. He manages 5 funds at the fund house, with a collective AUM (assets under management) of about Rs 21,000 crore. Of these, the Bandhan ELSS Tax Saver and Bandhan Sterling Value Fund are currently rated four stars by Value Research. In an exclusive conversation, Pinto reflects on his early days in the financial sector, the factors impacting the ELSS fund's performance and why he's not too keen on adding PSU stocks to his funds' portfolios. Here's the edited transcript of our conversation. What drew you to the world of equity investing? I was out of college when the UTI Mutual Fund recruited me from the campus. At that time, I only had a vague idea of the markets, as I was from Goa. The stock market is typically not the first thing that resonates with someone who didn't grow up in Mumbai. When I joined UTI Mutual Fund in 2004, the industry just grew on me over time. So, my entry into the equity market was more by accident than design. Did you try elsewhere before joining UTI Mutual Fund? I was very young, having just completed an MBA (Master of Business Administration), and had no work experience before the course, unlike my classmates or colleagues. So, I had to keep an open mind about the opportunities I could look at. 2003-04 was a fairly testing time for getting jobs, especially for fresh graduates of college. It was not as vibrant in terms of opportunities as we see today. I had applied to several companies, but UTI Mutual Fund knocked on my door, and I ended up joining them as part of their management training program. I take pride in saying that I've only ever