Essel Group Debt payment delays have affected HDFC and Kotak Mutual Funds, should you panic?

190411 – We at VRIDHI, in the last few hours, have been receiving some frantic calls from the investors in Essel Mutual Fund, HDFC Mutual Fund and Kotak Mutual Fund regarding the news reports across business newspapers that due to the Essel Debt recast delay, Kotak Mutual Fund may delay the payments of their FMP’s pertaining to Essel Debt and HDFC Mutual Fund may roll over certain of their FMP’s until they receive the money back.

The most amusing thing is that even certain Advisors have called in to check on what may happen so that the same can be informed to their clients. Hence this article to clarify certain things which are spreading negative news unwarranted.

Firstly, Investors in Essel Mutual Fund:

– Please understand that Essel MF and each of the other Essel companies are independent entities. None of the articles in the newspapers mentions that there is any problem in Essel Mutual Fund.

– If you go through the factsheet of Essel Mutual Fund, you will find that they have ‘ZERO’ exposure to any of the Essel companies and hence the investors in their funds don’t have to bother about their money.

– The fund house is looking to sell itself and is close to a deal. Hence, investors need to not worry at all. The Fund House is Going Strong.

– Moreover, the problem is not related to any of the equity funds so please relax, and don’t go just by name and run over it. Recently a problem in a company in America crashed down shares of another similarly named company, go check that. It would be a fun read.

Secondly, Investors in HDFC and Kotak Mutual Funds:

– Please note that the problem is only in few of their FMP’s which have certain exposure to the Zee group. The debt recast steps are under process and may get resolved. The moment money comes in, the fund houses will repay. The worst case situation of no money received doesn’t affect the entire corpus, only to the extent of the exposure.

– The fund houses will take all efforts to get the money soon. Zee group is under talks with various companies to buy stakes in their group.

– Except for the investors in these few FMP’s, other investors have nothing to worry at all. The Equity Funds again have nothing to do with this delay, the shares of the Zee group companies have already fallen and hence the shareholding values will also get least affected.

– Hence both HDFC and Kotak Fund Houses are Going Strong and these are minor blips which will get sorted out soon.

NONE of the VRIDHI clients has any exposure to the above-affected Funds!

In case of more queries, you can WhatsApp us on +91 9551110505

Some Fundamental Discussion:

The above problems arise mainly due to both Clients and Advisors chasing returns and none of them analysing the kind of risks the funds are taking to achieve the Extra Returns.

It has happened to us also many times: Investors call us and say: Sir we invested in X Large, Mid or Small Cap fund but the peer Y Large, Mid or Small Cap fund is giving better returns!

By God’s grace, we have never succumbed to these arguments and shifted the funds of clients just because another fund has delivered better returns. Some times clients even withdraw money to chase better returns and guess what? They get stuck in situations like today and then praise us for our wisdom! Too Late!

We at VRIDHI have avoided this since we generally analyse the holdings of the funds and also have regular interactions with the fund management teams.

Recently SEBI has recategorized funds into Large, Mid and Small Cap funds with clear definitions.

Let me still guarantee you all… most of the Large Cap Funds will also hold Non-Large Cap Stocks, Most of the Mid Cap Funds will also hold Non-Mid Cap Stocks, and Most of the Small Cap Funds will also hold Non-Small Cap Stocks.

So each of the funds in the above categories will still have good variations.

Hence, don’t chase the returns alone, take advisors help. Saving small fees and losing capital is never a good idea. J

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Happy Investing

Vivek Karwa

+91 9381024365