Cafemutual did their event in Mumbai…at Taj Lands End Mumbai…and here is a summary of what happened…

Three CEOs of the mutual fund industry – Sunil Subramaniam, MD, Sundaram MF, Kailash Kulkarni, CEO, L&T MF and Ashutosh Bishnoi, MD & CEO, Mahindra MF – emphasized at CIFA 2020 the the importance of finding niche to turbo charge their business. Well they said it a little differently, but all said the same thing in the end.

Here are some key highlights of the event:

Prashant Jain, ED & CIO, HDFC MF

Topic – Is value investing gone for good?

Superior results do not come from buying high quality assets, but from buying assets for less than they are worth.

As usual PJ made a presentation which was data driven. Of course he said PSU looks undervalued and only time will tell whether it is a Value Buy or Value Trap. Far more importantly I gave him my book – and he said he will read it. I hope he gives it to his kids! you could buy your copy here https://www.amazon.in/Retire-Rich-Invest-Rs-40-Day/dp/9387860310/ref=asc_df_9387860310/?tag=googleshopdes-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=396985775022&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=18427290026828417393&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9040246&hvtargid=pla-730309167531&psc=1&ext_vrnc=hi

Sunil Subramaniam, MD, Sundaram MF

Topic – Niche vs Mass: Narrow your focus to grow your business

Focussing on a niche client segment will help MFDs grow at a healthy pace
MFDs need to present themselves as a brand

Sanjay Sapre, President, Franklin Templeton Investments – as usual a brilliant presentation..

Topic – Managing your reputation

Identity is what people say about you when you are in the room.

And reputation is what people say about you when you leave the room
For identity and reputation to be the same, building your brand is the key

Vivek Kaul, Economist & Author of ‘The Easy Money’ trilogy

Topic – Overcoming behavioural barriers to generate optimal returns

MFDs need to find creative ways to deal with behaviour barriers of clients

Kailash Kulkarni, CEO, L&T MF

Topic- Simple yet effective marketing lessons from top producers

Cut out noise
Pitch products, which you have belief in
Focus on niche segment

A. Balasubramanian, MD & CEO, Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC Limited

Topic – My learnings from the market over 25 years

In Indian markets neither good nor bad phase lasts for too long
So, the key to accumulate wealth is spend time in the market

Anjali Bhagwat, Indian rifle shooter

Topic – Develop self-belief and conquer the world

Anjali’s success mantra: Set realistic goals, work hard and remain disciplined
Mental training helped me become the world number one

Venugopal Mangat, Head – Equities, L&T MF

Topic – Equity outlook

Four drivers of recovery would be rural economy, exports, real estate and asset quality cycle
Chasing short-term performance is risky. For instance, BSE Small Cap Index returned +58% in 2017 vs -24% in 2018
So, focus on chalking out a long-term plan.

Rajan Pathak, Co-Founder, Fintso

Topic- Innovative strategies to scale your practice

Diversify across products such as insurance, PMS, AIF and so on
Widen your reach across geographies, leverage technology and focus on core strength

Anoop Bhaskar, Head – Equities, IDFC MF

Topic – Investment Style, an added dimension to your investment allocation strategy

Top 10 performers in the multi cap category has an average of around 40% exposure to top 10 stocks in Nifty
Diversification based on investment style (growth, value) and market cap is imperative. Moreover, Sunil Subramaniam, MD, Sundaram MF interacted with four inspiring MFDs. One of them was Rushabh Desai, a GNE Myopathy patient, who has overcome all odds in life to become a successful MFD.

Second one was Swami Gowda, a perfect example of rags to riches story.

Third on the list was Azeem Jagani, who spoke about how to manage celebrities’ money. Last in the line-up was Shanmugam, who is a successful MFD himself and trains other MFDs about client behaviour.

Besides, there were two rounds of ‘Express Talks’ where the likes of Gajendra Kothari, Pratibha Girish, Vinayak Sapre and Viresh Patel shared their ideas on a range of topics.