Showing posts with label Fiscal deficit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fiscal deficit. Show all posts

Thursday, July 31, 2014

Do not ignore debt mutual fund..!!!

Are you ignoring debt mutual fund at this moment…??


In these days most of the market expert and economist are very bullish on equity for investment. We are reading the news paper and watching business channel and the majority of people (including expert and common person) express the hope of rosy days. Everyone hope for better days (Achhe Din). I am also not against it. After all UPA govt mess, we the citizen of India have chosen the full majority government and hope for some good action in each front including economy, internal security, defense, foreign policy, social sector etc.

If we analyze, we will find that UPA-2 was worst than UPA-1. Increasing inflation, increasing fiscal deficit, higher interest rate has translated into the poor manufacturing growth, unemployment, and bad shape of economy. The slow decision making on many key issue has added the problem more and our GDP has reduced to almost 4.5% at the end of UPA-2 government.

After September, 2013 the announcement of PM candidate Mr. Narendra Modi from BJP, equity market has shown spectacular performance and it has been continued throughout election campaign till the budget which has presented by the newly elected government. Now the big question is whether this rally would be continued till the next couple of the year in the same manner or not. Mutual fund house, stock broker and equity market participants are still very bullish and positive about the share market performance in the next one or two year.

After analyzing  all the above past events, I have come with some key points for the investors which every investor should keep in mind before investment at the present scenario.

Do not expect or hope and magic from the new government in near term. This government has good intention and capacity to bring the economy on the right track but for this you will have to wait. Keep in your mind, there are no magic stick for economic reform. The government will take time like 2-3 years to repair the economy after that there may be come positive results.

I always say and write in my previous articles that equity investment is the best option for long term investment but for short term it will always volatile. So please do not enter in this market for some short term gain. There is always risk in the market in short term performance.

Do not try to time the equity market, you will lose the money in majority of the time. According to AMFI data, last year in June 2013 there was huge inflow in debt market and the inflow was very poor in equity market. Everyone can see the performances from last June to this June, equity asset class has outperformed to every available asset class. It means majority of speculator and market timer was wrong at the time of last June 2013.

We are seeing the same trend at this moment after the big market rally, now the inflow of fund has increased many folds in equity segment in compare with the inflow of last year at the same period and inflow has reduced surprisingly in the debt mutual funds. Here, you can see the very clear trend that majority of investor only try to time the market and want to make money in the short term.

In my suggestion, stick with your financial plan and keep investing in both assets equity and debt accordingly. Equity will always outperform to all the asset class in the long term. Do not ignore debt asset class at the present scenario. Do your proper asset allocation and avoid overweight towards any asset class particularly equity.

It seems, I should stop at this moment as the article has become lengthy already. We will discuss more in next articles.

If you want more information regarding investment or you have any other query about investment feel free to ask us.
Warm regards,

Arvind Trivedi
Certified Financial Planner


Friday, July 11, 2014

Union Budget: 2014-15

Union Budget: 2014-15
Overall budget is in positive direction and will support revival of economy. Our finance minister has kept positive direction for fiscal prudence by maintaining 4.1% fiscal deficit target and further reducing it for coming years. Budget is positive for sectors like Banking, Infra, Real Estate. FM has also given some respite to taxpayers by giving few reliefs like increase in lower exemption tax bracket, increasing the limit for investments under 80C, increasing the Deduction limit on account of interest on loan. All the above measures will leave more money in the hand of individuals. We are mentioning here the key points from the budget.

The fiscal deficit target for FY15 has been maintained at 4.1% and an ambitious target has been set for FY16 at 3.6% and FY17 at 3%.


  • Retrospective tax rules have not been changed. All the cases will be scrutinized by high level committee.

  • Personal Income-tax exemption limit raised by Rs. 50,000/- that is, from Rs. 2 lakh to Rs.2.5 lakh in the case of individual taxpayers, below the age of 60 years. Exemption limit raised from Rs.2.5 lakh to Rs.3 lakh in the case of senior citizens. 
  • Investment limit under section 80C of the Income-tax Act has been raised from Rs.1 lakh to Rs.1.5 lakh.
  • Deduction limit on account of interest on loan in respect of self occupied house property has been raised from Rs.1.5 lakh to Rs.2 lakh.
  • To remove tax arbitrage, rate of tax on long term capital gains increased from 10% to 20 % on transfer of units of Mutual Funds, other than equity oriented funds.
  • Incentives for Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITS) with complete pass through for the purpose of taxation and will support financing of real estate and real estate sector. A modified REITS type structure for infrastructure projects as the Infrastructure Investment Trusts (INVITS) attract long term finance from foreign and domestic sources including the NRIs.
  • Requirement of the built up area and capital conditions for FDI to be reduced from 50,000 sq me to 20,000 sq m and from USD 10 mn to USD 5 mn respectively for development of smart cities.
  • 10 year tax holiday extended to the undertakings which begin generation, distribution and transmission of power by 31.03.2017.
  • Investment allowance at the rate of 15% to a manufacturing company that invests more than Rs.25 cr in any year in new plant and machinery. The benefit to be available for three years i.e. for investments upto 31.03.2017.
  • FDI in insurance and defence sector has been increased upto 49% from current 26%.
  • Target of NH construction of 8500 km will be achieved in current financial year.
  • Excise duty increased from 12% to 16% on pan masala, from 50% to 55% on unmanufactured tobacco and from 60% to 70% on gutkha and chewing tobacco.
  • Excise duty on cigarettes has been increased in the range of 11% to 72% across segments with higher burden on cigarettes with lower then 65 mm.
  • Full exemption from excise duty is provided to various equipment and material used in solar plant.
  • Central Excise duty on branded petrol is being reduced from 7.5 per litre to Rs 2.35 per litre.
  • Excise duty reduced from 12% to 6% for footwear in price range from Rs 500 to Rs 1000. Footwear below Rs 500 is exempt from excise. And Footwear over Rs 1000 will continue to attract 12% Excise duty.
  • Colour picture tubes have been exempted from basic customs duty to make cathode ray TVs cheaper and more affordable to weaker sections. To encourage production of LCD and LED TVs below 19 inches in India, basic customs duty on LCD and LED TV panels of below 19 inches has been reduced from 10 % to Nil.


FM has also mentioned lot of wish list in the budget relating to new urea policy, GST, capital for banks, 4% agriculture growth, coal supply, and power etc.

We will discuss further about impact of budget on the sectors. If you want more information regarding investment or you have any other query about investment feel free to ask us.
Warm regards,

Arvind Trivedi
Certified Financial Planner

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

RBI Monetary Policy Review


Appropriate Decision on rate cut by RBI

Yesterday all market analysts, government, and economist was eagerly waiting for  monetary policy review by Reserve Bank of India (RBI).  In my personal opinion RBI governor has done fantastic job. I congratulate him for doing balancing act although it is very tough task in present context. The finance minister is not happy yesterday’s RBI monetary policy review and has decided to go alone on reform agenda.  At the second quarter review of the FY2013 monetary policy the RBI reduced the cash reserve ratio (CRR) by 25 basis points to 4.25% but kept the policy rates unchanged. Due to the uneasy inflation and uncertainty in the commodity prices driven by global liquidity the central bank continues to hold the policy rates. 

According to the RBI, the inflation rate could moderate towards the beginning of 2013 quarter and after that the policy rate may easy. RBI has also revised the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) and inflation target 5.8% and 7.5% respectively. The RBI had two choices here whether he choose growth or choose inflation. No doubt growth has also declined when we compare it with other countries. It is clear that RBI much concern about control the inflation and in other words say, RBI governor is fighting against inflation. I also believe that bringing down inflation is necessary for sustaining our medium-term growth.  Why is inflation remain uncomfortable during entire UPA government tenure.  After analysing this there are two main reasons come out. One if inflation is due to supply side problem and higher interest rate are not going to help it easy. The other reason is increasing spending power of the people. The people are more spending on food and change in consumption patterns. It is also the main reason for inflation. Whether supply is less or demand is high it is the crucial assessment.

Obviously it is the complex challenge of supporting growth and control inflation for RBI. The CRR cut is to make sure that there is comfortable liquidity to allow the credit to go into productive sectors and that liquidity is in deficit, but that deficit is small enough for transmission to take place. Managing inflation is as important as the growth. If we success to achieve low and stable inflation then consumers and investors can make informed decisions.  Fpr investor stable inflation will ensure their  medium term growth. It may be possibly because our currency exchange rate is depreciating and possibly because we have a higher fiscal deficit. So there are number of reasons our country is having high inflation in our growth model.

From government’s newly provided roadmap of reforms till 2017 the RBI has got some comfort on the fiscal figure. We expect the RBI will reduce the CRR rate by another 50 basis points and also cut the key policy rates by the same measure in the remaining part of the fiscal year. 

If you have any query regarding investment please feel free to ask.

Regards,
Arvind Trivedi
Certified Financial Planner