Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
(Advisor) Module
Revision Kit
2008
This AMFI Revision Kit has been prepared by ICICI Prudential AMC Ltd. in association with
Pivot Training Pvt. Ltd. No part of this document may be reproduced for any purpose, without
the written consent of ICICI Prudential AMC Ltd.
Some Exam related pointers
1. The examination required to be taken by distributors is the ‘AMFI Mutual Fund (Advisor)
Module’.
2. The exam is of 2-hour duration.
3. Examination has 72-75 Multiple Choice Questions (appx. 50 Questions are for 1 mark
each and balance appx. 25 for 2 marks each).
4. Max Marks is 100.
5. Pass percentage is 50.
6. The exam has negative marking (25% of the question score).
7. Be careful about the language of the question.
8. AMFI expects candidates to be thorough with the key concept before taking the exam
and this is evident in the type of questions in the current examination.
9. Please review the contents of this revision kit very thoroughly before the exam along
with Practice Tests available separately.
10. A read-through of the AMFI Workbook would be an added advantage for the exam taker.
Good Luck!
CHAPTER 1
CONCEPT AND ROLE OF MUTUAL FUNDS
A mutual fund is a pool of money, which is collected from many investors and is invested
by an asset management company to achieve some common objectives of the investors.
The birth place of Mutual Fund is U.S.A.
Advantages of Mutual Fund
• Increases the purchasing power of the investors
• Allows participation in the securities market with small investments
• Enables them to have a well-diversified portfolio (‘Diversification’ is best described by the
tem “don’t put all your eggs in one basket”)
• Reduction of risk
• Money would be managed by professionals at low cost
• Reduction of transaction cost (economies of scale)
• Liquidity (conversion into cash without loss of value)
• Convenience and Flexibility
Disadvantages of Mutual Fund
• No control over cost
• No tailor made portfolio
• Managing a portfolio of funds
An open-ended fund is one that sells and repurchases units at all times.
Investor buys into the scheme and redeems from the fund house directly.
Subscription at all times is not mandatory.
Redemption must be permitted within certain obvious conditions.
The corpus changes everyday
OEFs are subject to higher redemption pressure.
The scheme calculates its NAV on a daily basis.
A close-ended fund Close Ended Funds have a fixed tenure of say 1/2/3/4/5 etc years.
After the closure of its NFO, no new units of M.F are available for sale from the fund
house directly.
Exit option is available to investors in two ways: a) exit window or b) listing on a stock
exchange
Units are repurchased by the fund itself through intermittent periodic exit windows.
The fund corpus in such a case can only reduce.
The units of listed funds are traded usually at discount to its NAV.
The Unit capital of such a fund remains constant, thus no redemption pressure.
Debt Funds, Equity Fund, Liquid (MMMF) and Balanced (Hybrid) Funds
Debt Funds or (Income Funds): A fund can be classified as Debt Fund, which invests
primarily in Debt (loan) Securities. Debts fund can be further classified as:
Gilt Funds: invests primarily in Govt Securities or Gilts (Govt. borrowing programme)
Diversified Debt: invests in different varieties of Debt Securities i.e. say Govt Securities,
Corporate Debts, Securities of different Maturities etc.
Income fund: invests in Debt securities so as to provide regular income to Investors.
Diversified Debt Fund: a fund that invests in all available types of debt - securities issued
by entities across all industries and sectors.
Focused Debt Fund: invest only in specified securities and thus have a higher risk than
diversified debt funds.
High Yield Debt Fund: seek to obtain higher interest returns by investing in debt
instruments that are considered below investment grade.
Assured Return Funds: an Indian variant, were being offered by erstwhile UTI and now no
longer offered.
Fixed Term Plan Funds: essentially close-end in nature and usually for term less than a
year. Being of short duration they are not listed on the stock exchange. Invest in such
securities whose residual maturity is equal to the scheme tenor.
Equity Funds: A fund that invests primarily in equity (ownership) instruments. Equity Funds can
be further classified as:
Diversified Equity Fund: investing in a mix of equity from different sectors
Index Funds: Portfolio replicates a selected Index
Sectoral Fund: invests in equity instruments of one sector for eg. Technology Fund, Pharma
Fund, Banking Fund etc.
Aggressive Growth Fund: target maximum capital appreciation, invest in less researched
or speculative shares
Growth Fund: This fund invests in equities of Growth companies only i.e. the companies
which have the potential to grow at higher rate in future
Large Cap/Mid Cap/Small Cap Fund: These Funds invests in equities of Large/Mid/ Small
Cap companies respectively.
Specialty (or Thematic) Funds: have a narrow portfolio orientation and invest in
companies that meet pre-defined criteria. Eg. Infrastructure Fund or ASEAN Fund
Equity Linked Saving Scheme (ELSS) an Indian Variant: Investment in these schemes
entitle the investor an income tax deduction u/s 80C (max Rs. 1 lakh in year 2007-08). These
are open-ended funds but investment in these schemes (including the reinvested dividends)
gets locked-in for a period of 3 years.
Value Funds: try to seek out fundamentally sound companies whose shares are currently
under-priced in the market. These fund add those shares to their portfolio that are selling at
low price-earnings ratios, low market to book value ratios and are believed to be undervalued
compared to their true potential.
Equity Income or Dividend Yield Funds: invest in stocks which have a high Div Yield i.e.,
Div to Market Price ratio
Balanced Funds: These Funds invest in both equity & debt instruments in varying proportion.
Some have higher proportion of Equity while others have high proportion of Debt.
Growth and Income Funds: Unlike income focused or growth focused funds these funds seek
to strike a balance between capital appreciation and income for the investor. These funds would
be less risky than pure growth funds, though more risky than income funds.
Asset Allocation Funds: where the fund manager has the flexibility to change the allocation of
funds between equity and debt as per own perceptions about direction of the market.
Real Estate Funds: would invest in real estate directly, or may fund real estate developers, or
lend to them, or buy shares of housing finance companies. As of date there are no pure real
estate mutual funds in the country as SEBI guidelines are awaited.
Exchange Traded Funds: It tracks a market index and trades like a single stock on the stock
exchange. It is a unique category of open-ended index funds which gets listed on the stock
market. It combines the features of open-ended as well as close-ended schemes.
Fund of Funds: invests in a portfolio of the units of other mutual fund schemes.
Liquid Funds (Money Market) Mutual Funds: These Funds are actually Debt Funds, which
Invests in Money Market & Call Money Market Debt Securities (T-bills, Commercial Paper &
Certificate of Deposits). These Funds have very little Interest Rate Risk and are considered safer
than even Gilt or other Debt Funds.
Load and No Load Funds: Funds that charge front-end (Entry), back-end (Exit) or deferred
(Contingent Deferred Sales Charge – CDSC) loads are called load funds. Funds that make no such
charges are called no-load funds.
In India, SEBI has defined a load as the one-time fee payable by the investor to allow the fund to
meet initial issue expenses including brokers’ commission, advertising and marketing expenses
etc. As per SEBI definition ONLY those funds that charge an entry load are considered as load
funds.
Risk Hierarchy of Mutual Funds
RETURN
SECTORAL
DIVERSIFIED
INDEX
BALANCED
INCOME
GILT
MMMF
RISK
Quick Wit
2. An investor in a close-ended mutual fund can get his/her money back by selling his/her units
a. Back to the fund
b. To a special trust at NAV
c. On a stock exchange where the fund is listed
d. To the agent through which he/she subscribed to the units of the fund
7. “Making mutual funds work for you – the investor’s guide” was published by:
a. SEBI
b. AMFI
c. UTI
d. Investor Education and Protection Fund
11. Fixed Term Plan series are (as per AMFI Workbook)
a. Closed ended
b. Generally short term in nature
c. Not listed on stock exchange
d. All of the above
Answers
1. b
2. c
3. b
4. c
5. a
6. b
7. b
8. b
9. b
10.c
11.d (as per AMFI workbook)
CHAPTER 2
FUND STRUCTURE AND CONSTITUENTS
MF Structure in the USA: In the USA MF’s are set up as investment companies.
MF Structure in the UK
In UK MF’s have two alternative structures -
• Open-end funds are in the form of Unit trusts
• Close-end funds are in the form of corporate entities or Investment Trusts
MF Structure in INDIA
• In India Open end and Close end funds are constituted along one unique structure as unit
trusts. A mutual fund may have several different schemes, open and close ended, under it
• Open ended and Close ended schemes are governed by the same regulations and the
regulatory body, SEBI (M F) Regulations, 1996.
SPONSOR
TRUSTEE AMC
Trustees
The Trustee is an independent body acts as protector of the unit holder.
They ensure that the fund is managed by the AMC as per the defined objectives and in
accordance with the Trust Deed and SEBI Regulations.
The trust is created through a document called the trust deed that is executed by the Fund
Sponsor in favor of the Trustees.
Role of Trustees
The role of the Trustees is to safeguard the interest of the investor/unit-holder of the fund –
Fiduciary Capacity.
The trustees make sure that the funds are invested according to the investor’s mandate and
objective.
The board of trustees is appointed by Sponsor with SEBI approval and at least 2/3rd of the
board of trustees should be independent.
Trustees of one mutual fund cannot be trustee of another mutual fund.
Trustee of one mutual fund cannot be AMC of another & vice versa.
The board of trustees is required to meet at least 4 times in a year to review the AMC.
Trust created through a document called the ‘Trust Deed’, executed by the Fund Sponsor in
favour of the Trustees.
Rights of Trustees
The trustees appoint the AMC with the prior approval of SEBI.
They also approve each of the schemes floated by the AMC.
They have the right to request any necessary information from the AMC concerning the
operations of various schemes managed by the AMC.
Trustees have the right to dismiss the AMC with the approval of SEBI and in accordance with
the regulations.
The trustees have the right to ensure that, based on their quarterly review of the AMC’s
networth; any shortfall in the networth is made up by the AMC.
Obligations of Trustees
The trustees must enter into an Investment Management Agreement (IMA) with the AMC
according to Fourth schedule of SEBI (MF) Regulations, 1996.
They must ensure that the fund’s transactions are in accordance with the trust deed.
The trustees are responsible for ensuring that the AMC has proper system and procedures in
place and has appointed key personnel including Fund managers and a compliance officer,
besides the other constituents such as the auditors and registrars.
The trustees must ensure due diligence on part of the AMC for empanelment of brokers.
The trustees must furnish to SEBI on a half yearly basis.
Registrar and Transfer Agents are responsible for issuing and redeeming units of the MF and
providing other related services such as preparation of transfer documents and updating records.
Distributors
AMC appoints the distributors who sell units on behalf of the fund.
A sponsor or an associate can act as a distributor for the AMC with which he or she is
associated.
A distributor usually acts on behalf of several MF’s simultaneously and may have several sub-
brokers under him for the purpose of distribution of units.
The distributor community includes brokers as also independent individuals.
Brokers
Engaged for transactions in the securities markets.
Not more than 5% of the trade should be done with a related broker.
Brokers also provide research reports to the AMCs.
Example of AMC Merger - HB & Taurus – Two MF companies in India which merged using the
AMC merger route
Example of AMC Takeover - Zurich acquired Threadneedle globally and bought out ITC
Threadneedle’s India business. Zurich similarly acquired Kemper Twentieth Century Finance. In
recent times Alliance was taken over by Birla.
Example of Scheme Takeover – Zurich finally exited MF business in India and sold all its
schemes in India to HDFC (technically the AMC was not sold but just the schemes)
Quick Wit
2. The structure, which is required to be followed by mutual funds in India, is laid down by
a. Financial Ministry
b. Securities & Exchange Board of India (SEBI)
c. Fund Sponsor Association of Mutual Funds of India (AMFI)
d. RBI
10. The net worth of an asset management company should be greater than
a. Rs.100 Crores
b. Can be decided by the Sponsor
c. Should be at least Rs.10 Crores at all times
d. Should be greater than Rs.10 Crores
12. As per SEBI’s principles, the AMC and the Board of Trustees of a fund should belong to the
same Sponsors
a. True
b. False
14. As per investment company institute, AMFI equivalent in the US, corporate bond funds have
higher risk than:
a. Money Market funds
b. Index funds
c. Aggressive funds
d. Growth funds
1. c
2. b
3. a
4. d
5. a
6. d
7. c
8. b
9. c
10. d
11. b
12. a
13. d
14. a
15. d
CHAPTER 3
LEGAL AND REGULATORY FRAMEWORK
SEBI - Securities and Exchange Board of India has been setup by an Act of Parliament in 1992.
SEBI is the overall Capital Markets Regulator and regulates all MFs.
RBI - Apex Banking Body Regulates the Banking System and Money Market. Mutual Funds are
investors in Money Market and thus indirectly under RBI’s regulation. As the apex banking body,
RBI regulates any bank assured return scheme. Thus if a bank sponsored AMC wants to offer
assured return scheme, it will have to take RBIs approval as well.
Ministry of Finance - Ministry of Finance ultimately supervises both RBI and SEBI.
Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) - created in 2003 to provide the apex appeal mechanism
for actions taken by SEBI.
Company Law Board - is a body specially constituted by the central govt. for carrying out
judicial proceedings with respect to company affairs
Registrar of Companies (RoC) - is the primary legal interface for all companies. All AMC
accounts and records are filed with the RoC. The RoC monitors regulatory compliance by
companies.
Office of the Public Trustee - Board of Trustees of the Trustee Company is accountable to the
office of the Public Trustee, which in turn reports to the Charity Commissioner.
Stock Exchanges - These are SROs under the supervision of SEBI. Eg. BSE and NSE.
Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI) - AMFI is simply an industry association, even-
though it performs certain self-regulatory functions, it does not have an SRO status yet.
Its principle objectives are:
To promote the interest of MFs and unit holders and interact with SEBI/RBI/Govt./
Regulators
To set and maintain ethical, commercial and professional standards in the industry
To increase public awareness and understanding of the concept and working of MFs in the
country
To develop a cadre of well trained distributors and to implement a program of training and
certification for all intermediaries and others engaged in the industry
Investor’s Rights and Obligations
Investor’s Rights
Right to Information
Unit-holders have the right to inspect major documents of the fund like
o trust deed
o investment management agreement
o custodian service agreement
o registrar and transfer agency agreement
o memorandum and articles of association of the AMC
o right to receive a copy of the annual financial statements
o right to receive a complete statement of scheme portfolio before the expiry of one month
from the close of each half year (that is 31st march and 30th September).
Investors Obligations
Study OD
Provide PAN
Monitor their investment
2. AMFI is governed by
a. RBI
b. Ministry of Finance
c. A board of directors elected from among members of AMFI
d. SEBI
5. The accounts and all other records of an AMC are filed with
a. AMFI
b. Registrar of Companies
c. Agent’s Association
d. UTI
6. Fund merger involving 2 or more schemes of different AMCs requires consent of unit holders
with X% voting rights. X is
a. 50
b. 100
c. 51
d. 75
10. Only one of the following is required to pass the AMFI examination
a. trustees
b. officers of SEBI working in the Mutual Fund department
c. employees in a call center dealing with mutual fund investors
d. fund managers
15. An Investor invested in the UTI Money Market Mutual Fund. To see the relevant financial
statements, she should read
a. Financial statement of the schemes managed by UTI trustee
b. Annual report of AMFI
c. Annual report of SEBI
d. Financial statement of the UTI AMC
Answers
1. d
2. c
3. d
4. d
5. b
6. d
7. c
8. a
9. b
10. c
11. a
12. c
13. a
14. a
15. a
CHAPTER 4
OFFER DOCUMENT
Offer Document: contains the details of a scheme that the AMC prepares on behalf of the
trustees and circulates to the prospective investor
Contents of the OD
Details of the sponsor and the AMC
Description of the scheme and the investment objective
Terms of issue
Historical statistics
Investor’s rights and services
Fee structure and expenses
Information on income and expenses of existing schemes
Front page of the offer document contains its date of publication, name & type of fund and
its major objectives. Specifically the following:
Name of Mutual Fund
Name of Scheme
Type of Scheme (Equity/Income/Balanced)
Name of AMC
Unit Price
Opening, Closing & Earliest Closing date
Name of Guarantor if the scheme is an assured return
SEBI disclaimer
Statement to the effect that it is important for a prospective investor to read it and retain for
future reference
4. For assured return schemes, information about the guarantor's net worth which justifies
guarantor's ability to meet shortfalls in the returns assured under the scheme can be found in
a. The offer document
b. The key information memorandum
c. Both (a) and (b)
d. None of the above
5. In the offer document, funds are required to make disclosures summarising associate
transactions and their impact on the performance of the scheme for the last
a. One fiscal year
b. 2 fiscal years
c. 3 fiscal years
d. 5 fiscal years
8. The OD should indicate the management of the fund. The management doesn’t include
a. name of trustees
b. name of the Fund Manager
c. business experience of the key personnel of the AMC
d. registration number of the custodian
9. OD must contain information about unit holder transaction expenses. Which of the following is
not an item under this?
a. Repurchase load
b. Initial issue expenses
c. Max sales load
d. Switchover load
Answers
1. a
2. a
3. d
4. c
5. c
6. d
7. c
8. d
9. b
CHAPTER5
FUND DISTRIBUTION & SALES PRACTICES
Distribution Channels
MF products can be distributed by individual distributors as well as large distribution
companies.
MFs tend to prefer large distribution companies as it tends to reduce their administrative
burden of dealing with individuals and thus saves on costs.
Min Qualification required to be an MF Distributor is Class 12th.
However everyone has to pass the AMFI test before selling MFs.
As of March 31, 2005, almost 50,000 candidates had passed the AMFI certification out of
which 30,000 had registered themselves.
Sales Practices
Distributor’s Obligations
There are no mandatory guidelines for mutual fund distributors’ role and services to
investors.
Distributors need to comply with AMFI’s Code of Ethics titled AMFI Guidelines & Norms for
Intermediaries (AGNI) as well as Code of Conduct given by the AMC they are registered with.
AGNI as well as SEBI prohibits distributors from rebating commission.
AMFI recommends certain distributor practices like knowing important characteristics of the
scheme, identifying clients, know your clients, understanding needs of clients and helping
them choose an investment etc.
5. Generally, which category of investors needs advice for Investing in Mutual Funds?
a. Non Banking Finance Companies
b. Insurance Companies
c. Foreign Institutional Investors
d. Individuals
8. The cut-off time for redemption request kept by an AMC is 3:00 pm. An application for
redemption received at 3:01pm
a. redemption will be based on next day NAV but no exit load will be charged
b. redemption will be based on next day NAV
c. applicant will be asked to resubmit the request 10 am the next day
d. the same day NAV will apply since the gap is less than 30 minutes from cut-off time
9."Sales Practices" cover the following areas
a. Desirable marketing practices
b. Agents responsibilities to the investor
c. Ethical code of conduct
d. All of the above
Answers
1. c
2. d
3. d
4. b
5. d
6. b
7. b
8. b
9. d
CHAPTER 6
ACCOUNTING VALUATION AND TAXATION
Accounting policies to be followed by mutual funds are laid down in the SEBI (Mutual Fund)
Regulations, 1996.
Investor’s subscriptions to the mutual fund are accounted as unit capital, and not as liabilities
or deposits.
However unit capital is found on the liabilities side of the balance sheet and is maintained at
face value.
Assets of a mutual fund are the investments made by the fund.
Other short-term assets in the fund balance sheet are called as current assets.
Liabilities can be in the nature of short-term (Bridge) loans – max 6 months and max 20% of
net assets (for dividend or redemption payment only)
Net assets, in simple terms, refer to market value of investments less current liabilities.
Net Assets are computed as:
(Market value of investments + other assets + accrued income - current liabilities - accrued
expenses)
NAV is computed as Net Assets/No. of units outstanding
All mutual funds have to disclose their NAV everyday, by posting it on the AMFI web site by
8.00 p.m.
Open-ended funds have to compute and disclose NAVs everyday.
Closed end funds can compute NAVs every week, but disclosures have to be made everyday.
NAVs to be rounded off at least upto 4 decimal places for liquid/MMMFs and at least upto 2
decimal places for others.
Sale Price – Price at which MF sells and investor buys (Subscribes) = NAV + Entry Load
Repurchase Price – Price at which MF buys and investor sells (Redeems) = NAV – Exit
Load
!!!CAUTION!!! For Numerical, always do load calculations on NAV.
Taxation
In the hands of the funds – Income earned by all SEBI registered MFs is exempt from tax
under Sec 10 (23D) of IT Act, 1961.
Income Type Fund Type Tax Rate (in the hands of)
MF Investors
Equity NIL NIL
Dividend
Debt Pays DDT NIL
Equity NIL 10%*
STCG
Debt NIL Added to income*
Equity NIL NIL
LTCG Debt NIL 10% flat or 20% with
indexation*
* for NRI Investors, this is deducted at source by the MF. 20% in case of LTCG for Debt schemes
DDT Rates
Individuals & HUFs – 12.5% + Surcharge & Education Cess = Effective Rate of 14.1625%
Other Investors – 20% + Surcharge & Education Cess = Effective Rate of 22.66%
For liquid funds = DDT rate is 25% + Surcharge & Education Cess = Effective Rate of 28.325%
irrespective of the category of investor
Securities Transaction Tax – Levied at the time of sale/redemption of Equity Oriented Funds
@ 0.25%
1. NAV means:
a. (Market Value of Assets – Liabilities) / number of units outstanding
b. (Book Value of Assets – Liabilities) / number of units outstanding
c. unit capital / number of units outstanding
d. net assets / initial number of units
3. In case of listed securities of group companies of the sponsor, mutual fund is not allowed to
invest more than
a. 25% of its net assets
b. 10% of its net assets
c. cannot invest at all
d. >5% of net assets
7. For a scheme that has a load, the AMC can charge an investment management fee not
exceeding
a. 1.50%
b. 2.00%
c. 1.25%
d. 0.50%
11. All expenses and income accrued upto the valuation date shall be considered for valuation.
Some minor expenses need not be so accrued, provided their affect on the NAV is not more than:
a. 2.0%
b. 1.5%
c. 0.5%
d. 1.0%
12. Net Asset Value (NAV) of a mutual fund scheme is defined as the scheme’s
a. Assets minus liabilities
b. Assets per unit
c. Assets minus liabilities per unit
d. None of the above
13. For an open-ended fund, the repurchase price should not be lower than
a. NAV
b. 95% of NAV
c. 93% of NAV
d. 97% of NAV
15. What would be the maximum initial issue expenses charged from the investors, if the amount
mobilized from a mutual fund during the NFO is Rs. 50 crore?
a. Rs. 5 crore
b. Rs. 2 crore
c. Rs. 3 crore
d. Rs. 1 crore
16. The charge to an investor at the time of redemption of units from the fund is known as
a. Recovery charge
b. Repurchase load
c. Redemption weight
d. Exit load
17. The total net assets of a fund scheme increased from 100 cr to 120 cr. Of this, 5 cr was
unrealized gain. The number of units is 10 cr. The maximum dividend per unit the scheme can
declare is:
a. Rs 2
b. Rs 1.50
c. Rs. 0.50
d. Rs. 1
1. a
2. b
3. a
4. c
5. b
6. a
7. c
8. b
9. d
10. d
11. d
12. c
13. c
14. b
15. c
16. d
17. b
18. c
CHAPTER 7
INVESTOR SERVICES
Telephone/Internet transactions
Investors may redeem or purchase units by calling a fund representative or registrar or investor
service centre. Many distribution companies, banks and brokers accept investor’s instructions by
telephone or through internet/e-mail.
Cheque writing
Some open end mutual funds allow the facility of cheques writing by providing the investor with a
cheques book treating his fund account as the equivalent of a bank savings account for this
purpose. The fund must have RBI approval in order to offer this service. RBI rules do not permit
investors to issue cheques to third parties for other payments.
1. What is the proof that the investor has invested in mutual fund units?
a. The investors receive units commensurate with the investment made
b. Investors get an account statement, showing their holdings and their price
c. The receipt of money acts as the proof
d. None of the above
1. b
2. c
3. d
4. d
5. c
6. c
Ordinary shares – constitute ownership of the company and each share entitles the holder to
ownership privileges such as dividend declared by the company and voting rights at meetings.
Preference shares – do not constitute ownership. However holders have preference over
ordinary shareholders in two instances a) in payment of dividend at fixed rates subject to
availability of profits after tax, b) in payment of principal in case of winding up of the company.
Equity Warrants - are long term rights that offer holders the right to purchase equity shares in
a company at a fixed price on a future date (akin to a call option).
Convertible Debentures - fixed rate debt instruments that are converted into equity shares at
the end of a specified period.
Equity Classes
Cyclical Stocks: are shares of companies whose earnings are correlated with the state of the
economy. Their earnings tend to go up during upward economic cycles and vice versa. E.g.
Cement & Steel stocks
Growth Stocks: are shares of companies whose earnings are expected to increase at rates that
exceed normal market levels. They tend to re-invest earnings and usually have high P/E ratio and
low dividend yield.
Value Stocks: are shares of companies in mature industries and are expected to yield growth in
earnings. These companies may, however have assets whose values have not been recognized
by investors in general and are thus underpriced /available cheap.
Short-Term
Certificate of Deposit are unsecured instruments issued by banks for 91days to 1 year at a
discount to face value
Commercial Paper are unsecured instruments issued by corporates for 3 months to a year
at a discount to face value (generally used for working capital finance requirements)
Treasury Bills are short term government obligations for 91days to 364 days, issued at a
discount to face value
Long-Term
G-Secs/Corporate Debentures/ PSU Bonds/FI Bonds issued by the respective issuers
Duration – is a measure of interest rate risk. It measures the percentage change in stock
price for a 1% change in yield
Investment Restrictions
Minimum number of investors – 20, where no single investor should have more than
25% of corpus
Investments in Equity Shares or equity related instruments of a single company cannot
exceed 10% of NAV (except index and Sectoral funds, where the respective index limit
applies)
A Mutual Fund under all its schemes combined cannot own more than 10% of any
company’s paid-up capital with voting rights
Investments in ‘rated investment grade’ instrument of a single issuer cannot exceed
15%. This limit can be extended to 20% with prior approval of AMC board and Board of
Trustees.
For unrated instruments the limit is 10% for one issuer and 25% collectively in a
scheme.
Investment in unlisted shares is capped to 10% for closed-end and 5% for open-
end schemes.
Mutual Funds can also invest in overseas listed companies upto USD 300 million per
fund house and USD 4 billion as the industry combined.
No lending.
Prohibition from investing in unlisted companies of the sponsor.
Only delivery based sale/purchase is allowed.
Securities have to be bought in the name of the scheme.
1. Calculate the current yield on a G. Sec with at par value of Rs. 1000, coupon of 11% and
market price of Rs. 1010.
1. 11.20%
2. 10.89%
3. 11.21%
4. 12.20%
5. As compared to a fund with fluctuating total returns, a fund with stable positive earnings
a. Gives higher returns
b. Is less risky
c. Gives lower returns
d. Is more risky
7. Of the following, which type of the fund would have a higher P/E multiple in comparison to
average market multiple
a. A value fund
b. A growth fund
c. An index fund
d. Could be any of the above three, one cannot generalise
8. The differentiating factor among debt funds of comparable maturity and quality is
a. Gross yields
b. Costs
c. Fund age
d. Tenure of the fund manager
13. When interest rates for similar maturities bonds are 11.5%, bond with a 8% coupon rate will
become
a. More attractive
b. Less attractive
c. At par
d. The price is unrelated to the interest rates for similar securities
1. b
2. a
3. a
4. c
5. b
6. c
7. b
8. b
9. c
10. b
11. d
12. a
13. b
14. a
CAGR
This is the simple compound interest formula solved for r. The formula is:
n
A = P (1+r)
A= Amount at Maturity, P = Principal investment, r = Rate of Interest, n = no of year
Solve the equation for r
1/n
r = (A/P) - 1
For a fund that has not completed a year, only absolute return should be used.
Less than one year return should not be annualized except for liquid funds.
For a scheme that has completed a year, CAGR is used.
Expense Ratio = Total Expenses/Net Average Assets – is an indicator of fund’s efficiency and
cost effectiveness
Income Ratio = Net Investment Income/Net Assets – usually for income oriented funds
Portfolio Turnover Rate = Lower of assets purchased or sold/Net Assets. This indicates churn
and transaction cost
1. The NAV of an open-ended fund was Rs.16 at the beginning of the year and Rs.22 after 13
months. The annualised change in NAV is
a. 6.0%
b. 34.6%
c. 40.6%
d. 37.5%
2. A fund has a front load of 1% and back-end load of 0.5%. The investor enters at NAV of Rs.10
and exits at NAV of Rs.12. The return of investment earned by him is
a. 20%
b. 18.22%
c. 18.5%
d. None of these
7. The difference between NAV change and total return as measures of fund performance is
a. None
b. Total return takes dividend into account while NAV change does not
c. Total return does not take NAV into account
d. Total return does not take the time period into account
1. b
2. b
3. b
4. a
5. a
6. d
7. b
Financial Planning process was first formalized by the Certified Financial Planner – Board of
Standards (USA) and consists of six steps:
I. establish and define client-planner relationship
II. gathering client data, defining client goals
III. analyzing and evaluating a client’s financial status
IV. developing and presenting financial planning recommendations and/or options
V. implementing the financial planning recommendations
VI. monitoring the financial planning recommendations
3. A couple in mid 40s who have children approaching the age of higher education or marriage
are in
a. accumulation stage
b. transition stage
c. reaping stage
d. distribution phase
4. A client whose goal of buying a house or funding a child’s education is close at hand is in the:
a. accumulation stage
b. transition stage
c. reaping stage
d. distribution stage
5. A grandfather wants to make an investment for a newborn grandson. Which is the most
suitable investment?
a. Index funds
b. Income funds
c. Money market funds
d. Gilt funds
1. d
2. d
3. b
4. b
5. a
6. c
7. a
8. d
9. d
10. b
11. d
o Rupee Cost Averaging: investing in a disciplined manner; investing the same amount
each month or at regular intervals will average our the cost of purchase, with per unit price
being ‘always’ less than if you try and guess market highs and lows and invest irregularly
Disadvantage: it does not tell you when to buy or sell a fund or to switch from loosing to
winning funds
o Value Averaging: keeping a target value of investment constant by investing the amount
by which the investment value has come down or by cashing the increased value of his
investment or doing nothing if the value is unchanged
Some key aspects that the client should keep in mind on when to invest and when to cash
out:
o invest whenever they have money
o when to cash out needs more thought and skill
o in case of stock – sell out as the price rises beyond reason or when fundamentals
start to deteriorate
o in case of mutual funds – redeem when the goals have arrived and clients need the
money of if the market appears ‘overvalued’ in terms of fundamentals and historic
valuations
o buy and hold may not be a good strategy with stocks but is good in case of a mutual fund,
provided the investor is willing to wait out a full market cycle
o start planning and investing early
o have realistic expectations
o invest regularly
Besides how much and for how long to invest, the important question is where to invest or
which asset classes to invest in.
Asset allocation means determining the percentage of investments to be held in equities,
bonds and money market/cash instruments.
Over 94% of returns on a managed portfolio come from the right level of asset allocation
between stocks and bonds/cash.
Benjamin Graham suggested a 50/50 split between equities and bonds.
Younger Older
Investor Investor
Accumulation Stage 80E/20D 70E/30D
Distribution Stage 60E/40D 50E/50D
E – Equity D – Debt
Bogle’s thumb rule for asset allocation is that the debt portion of an investor’s portfolio
should be equal to her age. So a 30-year investor can make a 70/30 asset allocation and at
age 50 she could balance it out.
Fixed asset allocation means liquidating a part of position in the asset class with higher
return and reinvesting in the other asset with lower return. This is a disciplined approach and
lets an investor book profits in rising market and increasing holding in falling markets
Flexible asset allocation means no rebalancing and letting the profits run.
If stocks continue to return more than bonds, then a fixed ratio is better than flexible ratio,
e.g, in bull markets
If bond returns are close to equity market returns, the flexible ratio may work better
Tactical asset allocation refers to making changes in asset allocation within the overall
percentage holding with the objective of yielding extra return e.g. investing in small company
more than large-company shares or prefer value stocks over growth stocks
A fund that earns a higher return than another can still give lower net returns, if its expense
ratio or loads are higher – investors must watch out for such ‘cost penalty’ while selecting
funds
3. Which of the following strategies is an example of the combined approach of RCA and Value
Averaging?
a. When the investor sets a target value for his investments in an Equity fund
b. When the investor invests a fixed sum each month in a Liquid Fund
c. When the investor invests regularly in a Liquid Fund
d. When the investor invests regularly in a Liquid Fund , sets a target for an Equity Fund,
then invests more in Equity Fund if its value declines and books profits when its value
exceeds the target value
4. Which of the following is the best investment option for the purpose of getting the maximum
benefits of compounding?
a. 12% interest paid yearly
b. 6% interest paid every 6 months
c. 3% interest paid every quarter
d. 1% interest paid monthly
5. As a financial planner, which of the following would you suggest for a person who can take a
moderate risk?
a. Aggressive growth fund
b. Aggressive equity fund
c. Diversified equity fund
d. Sectoral fund
7. What is Bogle’s suggestion regarding the ‘rule of thumb’ for asset allocation?
a. 50% equity and 50% debt
b. 60% equity and 40% debt
c. An investor’s allocation to debt should be equal to his age.
d. Investor should not do any re-balancing of his/her portfolio
8. What should be the recommended portfolio for an investor who is risk averse in his transition
phase?
a. Higher allocation to equity funds
10. Which of the following lets an investor book profits in rising market and increase holdings in a
falling market?
a. Fixed Rates of Asset Allocation
b. Flexible Ratio of Asset Allocation
c. Investment without any asset allocation plan
d. Buy and hold Strategy
12. Deciding on strategies such as long-term compounding, cost averaging, value averaging,
active switching, all depend on the
a. Stock market situation on date
b. Amount of money to be invested
c. Investor's risk tolerance
d. Phase through which the economy is passing
1. c
2. a
3. d
4. d
5. c
6. d
7. c
8. b
9. a
10. a
11. b
12. c
Products available
Gold and real estate are physical assets available for investing.
Investment in Gold is not subject to erosion on account of rupee depreciation.
Historically, Gold is seen as a hedge against inflation or a means of security in bad
times. Gold ETFs are now available which make investing in gold easier and make it a
financial instrument.
Financial assets with guaranteed or fixed returns have been popular e.g. bank deposits,
company deposits, government saving instruments such as PPF, Indira Vikas Patra and NSC.
Financial assets also include capital market securities such as equity/preference shares,
bonds/debentures issued by companies or Financial Institutions, money market instruments
such as commercial paper or certificate of deposits.
Individual investors can buy capital market instruments but have no direct access to money
market instruments.
Mutual funds represent indirect investment through an intermediary – the fund.
Investments in mutual funds, unlike bank deposits or governments saving instruments, are
not guaranteed for return or capital.
Bank deposits are favoured investment option due to safety and liquidity.
Yield on bank deposits is negligible after accounting for inflation and tax.
Corporate securities include equity instruments, debt instruments and quasi debt-quasi equity
instruments.
Equity instruments are in the form of shares issued either privately and unlisted, or issued
publicly and listed on a stock exchange.
Shares can be bought either at the time of Initial Public Offer (IPO) or subsequently or
through the Stock Exchange where it is listed.
Benefit of equity investing is the high growth potential and high degree of liquidity
due to the listing on an exchange.
Historically, equity investing has yielded the highest return.
Challenge in equity investing is to identify the shares that are likely to appreciate.
Corporate also issue debentures paying fixed rates of interest.
In India, Debentures are generally secured by the assets of the borrower.
Companies also issue unsecured bonds, like FIs.
Company Fixed Deposit is another avenue available in the market.
Company FDs are unsecured and generally carry a higher rate of interest compared to bank
deposits and are taxable.
Credit rating of the borrower is given by a rating agency.
Borrowers with lower rating need to pay higher interest.
Credit Rating is only an opinion expressed by an independent agency based on review of
the issuer’s business.
1. Direct investment in stock markets can be a better option over investing through mutual funds
if:
a. the investor wants better returns than those offered by mutual funds
b. the investor has large capital, knowledge and resources for research
c. the investor has identified a bullish phase in the stock market
d. the investor wants to invest for the long term
7. The most important factor to look for when investing in a corporate fixed deposit is the
a. Yield
b. Rate of interest
c. Credit rating of the deposit
d. None of the above
10. An investor can assess the performance of his mutual fund by comparing it with the
performance of
a. Other mutual fund of the same type
b. The stock market
c. Other financial products
d. All of the above
12. What makes mutual fund the single most important financial instrument as a financial
planner?
a. Mutual Funds help in portfolio diversification and risk reduction
b. Mutual Funds help in doubling investment
c. Both the above
d. None of the above
13. An investor claims that the PPF is a superior instrument to Mutual Funds. An argument to
defend investment in a Mutual Fund over PPF is:
a. Mutual Fund will surely yield a better return than PPF
b. A mutual fund offers the potential for higher income and capital appreciation
c. The capital investment is safer in a Mutual Fund
d. A Mutual Fund investment is less volatile
1. b
2. b
3. b
4. d
5. d
6. d
7. c
8. c
9. b
10. d
11. d
12. a
13. b
14. c
15. b
16. d
Defining Risk
‘Risk’ is equated with volatility of earnings. Risk can also be termed as deviation (both
positive & negative) from expected earnings.
The risk of MF investing can be built into the investment planning in two ways:
o By defining the risk appetite of the investor and aligning the investment objectives to the
investor’s risk tolerance.
o by evaluating and measuring the risks of MF portfolio created for the investor so that
risks assumed are kept in line with the investor’s risk appetite.
The right level of risk tolerance of any investor depends upon his age, the amount of
investable funds available, and his financial circumstances including income level, job
security, family size etc.
Company Specific
Sector Specific
Market Risk
Company and Sector risk can be reduced with diversification but market risk cannot be
diversified
Beta Co-efficient (Measure of Sensitivity) – Relates a fund’s returns with the market index
and measures the sensitivity of the fund’s returns to market index. Beta is a measure of
Market Risk. A beta of 1 means that the fund moves with the market. A beta of 2 would
mean that the fund’s volatility is double than that of the market. Higher beta funds do well in
a rising market, lower beta funds do better in a falling market.
Sharpe Ratio
S.D.
Treynor Ratio
Beta
R = Fund return
Rf = Risk-free return
2. An investor asks you in what order he should list the following schemes, going from the
scheme with the least risk to the one with the highest risk – 1. Balanced Fund 2. A Stock
Index Fund 3. A Liquid Fund 4. An IT Sector Fund. Suggest the right order.
a. 1,2,3,4
b. 1,3,4,2
c. 3,1,2,4
d. 2,3,1,4
6. A fund with a high beta coefficient gives greater returns in a rising market, and is more risky in
a falling market
a. True
b. False
1. b
2. c
3. a
4. c
5. a
6. a
7. b
Wealth Creating Individuals: These are aggressive and tend to invest more in equity,
maybe even 70% to 80%
Wealth Preserving Individuals: Conservative and thus tend to invest majority into
income, gilt and liquid funds
Equity
Classify the funds – between Diversified, Sectoral, Index etc
Chose a strategy – between Growth and Value
Evaluate Past Returns – Compare with benchmark and with funds in same category over
same timeframes
Review Fund Size, Age, Costs, Manager’s experience – Bigger Size, Longer Age, Lower
Costs and Higher Fund Manager’s experience are better
Characteristics – Lower Cash Position, Low Concentration, Lower portfolio turnover are
generally better. Higher Cap assumes less risk
Risk Statistics – Low Beta, High Ex-Marks with the index, High Div yield are generally
better
Debt
Type – Differentiate between Income/Gilt/Liquid etc
Fund Age & Size – Bigger the Size and longer the age, better it is.
Costs – Lower the better
Loads – Should be low to none
Average Maturity – Higher average maturity means higher interest rate risk.
Credit Quality – More AAA rated securities, more secure the fund.
MMMF
Costs – Lower the better
Quality – Extremely important for Liquid Funds that this is very high
Yields – Higher the better
Balanced
Portfolio Balance – Should match investor’s objective
Debt Portfolio Quality – Should be high
Costs – Lower the better
Portfolio Statistics – Just like equity funds
1. A young couple has 2 incomes and 2 children. Jacob’s recommendation to them would be:
a. 100% equity funds
b. 10% money market, 50-60% aggressive equity and 30-40% conservative bond funds
c. 25% debt 75% equity growth funds
d. 80% debt and 20% equity funds
3. For which of the following would you consider “average maturity” as an important factor in
selecting the right one for the investor?
a. A debt fund
b. A balanced fund
c. A money market or liquid fund
d. Both a and b above
4. A very high proportion of investment in all types of equity funds is advisable for investors
a. In distribution phase
b. In accumulation phase
c. In transition phase
d. Who are wealth preserving affluent individuals
1. b
2. c
3. d
4. b
5. b
Regulator’s Responsibilities
Both the Govt. and SEBI are concerned with the protection of investor interest.
SEBI has incorporated the rules of good conduct in MF regulations.
SEBI has also issued guidelines to AMFI and MFs to develop code of conduct for fund
distributors, fund managers and all employees and associates of AMC and Trustee Company.
Regulatory objectives
SEBI mandates the funds would have always conduct all their activities in the best interest of
the investors. Three areas are particularly monitored by SEBI
o Fund structure and Governance
o Exercise of voting rights by funds
o Fund operations
Fund Governance
Regulators prime concern is investor protection.
The entire legal structure prescribed for MF in India has been conceived to protect the
investor through a system of independent controls or check and balances overall participants
in the business
Fund operations
Insider trading
Insider trading refers to buying and selling securities on the basis of privileged information
available to the funds by person who are seen as insider to the company.
Fund managers are not insiders but they can collude with other insiders to gain access to
private information, and use that information to trade on their personal account.
This would run against the interests of the investors.
Compliance officer
SEBI has made it mandatory for every AMC to have a compliance officer who would be
responsible for implementation of all laws, guidelines and voluntary codes of conduct.
Compliance officer not only reviews but can also give approval to personal trading and
investment transactions.
5. The AMFI code of ethics does not cover the following prescriptions
a. Adequate disclosures should be made to the investors
b. Funds should be managed in accordance with stated investment objectives
c. Conflict of interest should be avoided in dealings with directors or employees
d. Investors should approve each investment decision
1. d
2. b
3. b
4. b
5. d
6. d
7. c
8. c
9. b
10. d