'Final allocation calls rest with our fund managers'

Model-driven vs human-led portfolios?

As active fund managers, we use a mix of quantitative models and human judgment to make investment decisions. Our models provide valuable insights into market trends and regimes, but final allocation calls rest with our experienced fund managers. This hybrid approach allows us to capitalise on both data-driven insights and nuanced, qualitative analysis.

In the Indian market, we see opportunities for human judgment to add value in areas such as underdiscovered segments, policy-linked sector rotations, special situations and emerging themes.

These areas require a deep understanding of governance, policy intent and trend-spotting that models often miss. By combining quantitative and qualitative expertise, we aim to generate long-term wealth for our investors.

Post-stress test safeguards?

Stress tests are now part of our routine to monitor portfolio liquidity and ensure we can meet redemptions when market volumes shrink. Our process now has mechanisms to monitor average volumes and overall portfolio liquidity. Portfolio liquidity is managed by increasing allocation to large caps or liquid mid caps. While SEBI norms haven’t altered our portfolio construction process, we remain conscious of the various aspects of the stress tests and endeavour to build our portfolios accordingly to handle large flows with low impact costs.

On low-friction investing and investor churn.

As Indian investors increasingly embrace digital platforms, we’re seeing a shift towards informed, long-term investing, democratisation of fund selection and a reduction in patience with underperformance.

To ensure our investors make better informed decisions, we are focusing on empowering them through education, nudging behaviour through volatile periods and leveraging our existing product suite designed for simplicity, consistency and compounding at scale. Our messaging is now focused on a predictive targeted mechanism, which involves behavioural analysis of different cohorts of investors and responding in a proactive manner.

Rapid-fire questions

• One AMC you admire (not yours): PPFAS Mutual Fund.
• One hot trend you’re glad to have skipped for your investors: Complex bespoke index funds.
• One fund manager, past or present, you would love to have on your team: Jim Simons.
• Beyond returns, one criterion you want investors to judge your AMC on: Our customer service centricity and excellence.
• If not running an AMC, what would you be doing? Wildlife photography and teaching at a B-school.

This article was originally published on October 24, 2025.