Monday, April 9, 2012

Debt Market Update

. The G-sec market opened the truncated week on a weak note, being apprehensive about the huge supply lined up for the first half of FY13. The first weekly auction of the FY13 for Rs.180 Bn saw a devolvement of 1195 Cr indicating poor appetite for the bonds. However, value buying emerged post auction and the yields covered some of the lost ground towards the close of the trading week. Nevertheless, the 10 year benchmark yield hardened by 15 bps compared to the previous week, to close at 8.69%.

• RBI auctioned off G-sec worth Rs.180 Bn on 3rd April. The cut offs were as follows: 8.19%GS 2020 at Rs 96.80 (8.76%), 9.15% GS 2024 at Rs 102.31 (8.84%), 8.97% GS 2030 at Rs 99.70 (9.00%), 8.83% GS 2041 at Rs 97.65 (9.06%). RBI chose to devolve Rs 319.20 Cr of 8.19% GS 2020 and Rs 875.96 Cr of 8.97% on primary dealers.

• The cut off for 91 day T-Bill was set at 8.81% and for 364 day T-Bill at 8.34% respectively. The previous cut offs for 91 day T-Bill was 9.02% and 364 day T-Bill was 8.40%. The T-Bill auctions were fully subscribed.

• The activity in the corporate bond market was lack luster, with range bound activity. Tracking the weak sentiments in the sovereigns, the 5 year AAA and 10 year AAA bond ended the week in red at 9.63% and 9.59% respectively, up 8 bps. However, the credit spreads compressed by 5-8 bps, as the intensity of supply pressure is much higher in the G-sec compared to corporate bonds.

• Liquidity deficit improved supported by bond redemption to the tune of Rs.260 Bn and government spending. The average net LAF borrowing was lower at 1.23 Tn compared to Rs.1.76 Tn in the previous week. Some banks tapped the high cost marginal standing facility, due to shortage of SLR securities. While the call rates averaged around 9.15%-9.25%, the CBLO rates ranged between 7.7-8.25%.

• The money market yields softened quite a bit during the week as the liquidity situation started improving. While the 3 month CD rates moved down by 75 bps to close at 9.95%, the 1 year CD rates eased by 25 bps to close 9.95% for the week.

The Week Ahead :

• The yields have moved up quite sharply since the announcement of the borrowing calendar. The yields are likely to remain under pressure due to heavy supply going ahead. We expect the 10 year bond to trade in a broad range of 8.55%-8.75% range. However, the fear of any surprise OMO by RBI, as announced in the last week of March, and the expectation of rate cut in the April Policy to be announced on 17th April, may lend support to bond yields at the higher end of the trading range.

• The liquidity deficit is likely to be in the region of Rs.125-1.35 Tn. The corporate bond yields are likely to remain range bound and track the sovereigns, with little scope for further credit spread compression. The money market yields having come off from lofty levels prevailing in the month of March, is likely to remain range-bound, with possibility of mild upward bias on profit booking and fresh issuances. However, any major move on the money market yield could depend on further easing of liquidity situation as well as RBI's move in the coming monetary policy.

Friday, March 16, 2012

General people forget in Budjet

As fas as general people concern finance minister totally ignore them they increase service tax at 12% from 10% it is a big impact on social life because service tax impact on all type of service like elecricity, telephone etc.

Against service tax they increase income tax slab but it is not sufficient because just 2000 to 23000 tax save from 2 lakh to 10 lakh income it is not a good budjet present by finance minister Pranab Mukharji. I am totally disappointed by him.

According to me there is reduce a different type of tax and include in one head because different type of head increase cost if FM want to grow economy very fast try to reduce cost not try to generate more income because if tax increase it's effect to inflation directly and Indian economy suffer very bad. So my opinion is that reduce cost not increase tax.

General people forget in Budjet

As fas as general people concern finance minister totally ignore them they increase service tax at 12% from 10% it is a big impact on social life because service tax impact on all type of service like elecricity, telephone etc.

Against service tax they increase income tax slab but it is not sufficient because just 2000 to 23000 tax save from 2 lakh to 10 lakh income it is not a good budjet present by finance minister Pranab Mukharji. I am totally disappointed by him.

According to me there is reduce a different type of tax and include in one head because different type of head increase cost if FM want to grow economy very fast try to reduce cost not try to generate more income.

Thursday, February 23, 2012

SBIMF :: launching "SDFS 90 Days - 57"

Open 24th February 2012 to 27th February 2012

Fixed Maturity Plans (FMP)-key points :

· FMPs invest their corpus in debt instruments such as Commercial Papers, Certificate of Deposits, Debentures etc., which enable them to earn higher returns at times than bank FD rates .

· FMPs effectively eliminate interest rate risk by investing in instruments whose maturity coincides with the maturity of the FMP, However, an investor is exposed to credit risks depending on the portfolio of an FMP.

· Tax Efficient- Dividend distribution tax of 12.5% (plus applicable surcharge and cess) for individual/HUF /NRI investors investing in FMPs as compared to flat 30%(plus surcharge) TDS in case of NRO FDs.

· Investors willing to take a little risk for that extra return ,should invest in FMPs. Investors who are satisfied with a lower but assured return should invest in bank FDs.

The main aspects of FMP are as under :-

· 1. They are tax efficient (most important feature for HNIs since Fixed Deposit returns are subjected to 30.900% tax)

· 2. FMPs are passively managed funds; the turnover is low resulting in lower costs of transaction. This in turn enhances the returns for the investor.

· 3. The prime reason lies in investors seeking a safer alternative to equity funds, with decent returns and tax efficiency

· The SBI DEBT FUND SERIES – (FMPs) are close-ended 100% Debt Fund. The investment objective of the Fund is to provide regular income, liquidity and returns to the investors through investments in a portfolio comprising of debt instruments such as Government Securities, PSU & Corporate Bonds and Money Market Instruments maturing on or before the maturity of the scheme. The investments in this Fund would not carry any Interest rate risk as the Fund would seek to invest only in such instruments whose residual maturity matches with the maturity of the Fund.

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

NFO Launch : Kotak FMP Series 75 - (370 Days)

The New Fund Offer of the scheme opens on February 16, 2012 (Thursday) and closes on February 21, 2012 (Tuesday)

MINIMUM INVESTMENT during NFO:

Rs. 5,000/- and in multiples of Rs 10 for purchase and switch-ins.

OPTIONS : Growth and Dividend Payout.

INVESTMENT OBJECTIVE:

The investment objective of the Scheme is to generate returns through investments in debt and money market instruments with a view to significantly reduce the interest rate risk. The Scheme will invest in debt and money market securities, maturing on or before maturity of the scheme.

LISTING:

The units of the scheme will be listed on BSE on allotment. The units of the scheme may also be listed on the other stock exchanges.

BENCHMARK : CRISIL Short Term Bond Index.

LIQUIDITY:

Units of this scheme will be listed on Bombay Stock Exchange. Investors may sell their units in the stock exchange(s) on which these units are listed on all the trading days of the stock exchange. The units cannot be redeemed with KMMF until the maturity of the scheme.

MATURITY : 370 Days after the date of allotment of units.

Monday, February 13, 2012

IRDA’s focus on needs-based life insurance sales

IRDA’s focus on needs-based life insurance sales—Will it really work or increase confusion?

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) recently announced guidelines on development and implementation of prospect product matrix by life insurance companies, which will help in needs-based sales. Will this help?

Sale of life insurance policies based on customer needs would surely help. There is a lower chance of buying a wrong policy and painful policy surrenders. IRDA’s step in this direction is welcome, but combining needs analysis and proposal in one form will be cumbersome to both customers and intermediaries. After all, the proposal form is needed only when the customer has agreed to buy a specific product while the needs analysis form will be used to determine the customer’s requirement which will be used to recommend one or more insurance products.

According to Vijay Sinha, senior vice president and head, marketing, Tata AIG Life Insurance, “IRDA’s initiative is most welcome as all mature insurance markets like the UK already have needs-based sales. The needs analysis and proposal form should be separate as its importance comes at different stages in the sales process. The fact-finding stage of the sales process should involve a needs analysis form. After understanding the customer’s requirements, the intermediary can come up with solutions and recommend product. When the customer approves the product, the proposal form will be used. It will confuse the customer if the needs analysis and proposal form are combined.”

IRDA exposure draft specifies that an insurer or a distributor must make “reasonable efforts” to obtain a consumer’s suitability information prior to making a recommendation. It means that customer suitability information is optional which will entail most of the customers bypassing the questions or intermediaries making half-hearted attempts to get answers. Suitability information means information that is reasonably appropriate to determine the suitability of a recommendation. E.g. age, annual Income, financial resources used for funding the purchase of the life insurance product, intended use of the life insurance product, financial objectives with time horizon, existing assets including investment and life insurance holdings, liquidity needs, liquid net worth, tax status, risk tolerance and so on.

Many insurance companies are not happy to adopt a standard proposal-cum-needs analysis form. While they agree on the need to have some mandatory questions to seek customer information, they feel that there should be flexibility in structuring the remaining questions. Insurance companies want to apply their own ingenuity in having questions framed in a sales-oriented manner; the fact finding will naturally lead to sales. They feel that IRDA approach should be flexible rather than prescriptive.

Online life insurance buying is popular with term life insurance as well as ULIPs. The exposure draft is silent about online life insurance. Will the ‘prospect product matrix’ be applicable to online life insurance sales, too? If not, what prevents an aged person from buying long-term online ULIP that is clearly not suitable for his/her needs?

An insurance intermediary is not a financial planner in most cases and hence a customer may be queasy about sharing financial information, especially giving income proof, expected inheritance, details of liabilities, expenditure and so on (as per the proposed form).

According to a senior official in one insurance company, “The customer should have the flexibility to refuse sharing of financial information in the needs analysis form. The prospective customer should state in writing that he wishes to buy the product without sharing his financial information. If it is made mandatory, it will turn-off some customers or the intermediary may end up filling something just to meet the requirement, both the things being undesirable.”

Saturday, February 11, 2012

IT Sector Update

 Cognizant’s guidance for 1QCY12 and NASSCOM’s (National Association of Software and Services Companies) forecast for software and services export growth for FY13 are weak.
 Cognizant’s guidance for 1QCY12 suggests that the company expects a mere 2.2% qoq growth for 1Q.
 NASSCOM’s initial forecast for FY13, estimates 11 -14% yoy software and services export growth for the industry.
 Its implications are negative to the IT coverage universe, as it seems that the industry-wise demand visibility is still poor.
 It looks better to use the current rally to exit from the stocks.
 Target prices on IT stocks and assumptions on the sector remain unchanged. On a relative basis, Infosys looks better because of their conservative guidance and cheaper valuation.