The mutual fund option below (PPFAS) offers a fantastic opportunity to participate in the phenomenal, and inevitable India growth story. I have recommended these funds to my near & dear ones. The key is to commit to set aside a fixed amount every month from one’s salary and make sure that a mechanism is in place so you are continuously buying, whether the market is going up or down. You can find innumerable studies on the web supporting why this is such a reasonable and successful way of investing.

PPFAS

  1. Parag Parikh Financial Advisory Services – is a highly regarded fund following a conservative value investing approach. This is a highly transparent, honest & ethical group that was being headed by a famous and well respected gentleman Parag Parikh, who unfortunately passed away in 2015. It is now being managed principally by his son & by Rajeev Thakkar.
  2. PPFAS has been in the investment business for three decades, and ran a PMS (closed to new clients) until they decided to simplify and make a single offering to prospective clients – one long-term value investing fund. PPFAS does not, like other AMCs, run a dozen+ funds with portfolio managers having to oversee multiple funds.
  3. Maximum alignment of interests – the Fund Manager Rajeev Thakkar and the AMC board have invested (as of Aug’23) approx ~334C of their personal networth in their flagship fund (the Flexicap fund). Get the latest number here. The fund’s management is aligned with its investors. Few other mutual funds in India come even close to this level of commitment.
  4. Reasonable & investor-friendly expense ratio – its TER is ~1.3%.
  5. Holding structure : the fund holds about 30 names, and about 75% of the fund is in the top 15 investments – a productive level of diversification that actually enables them to create alpha. This is in sharp contrast to most other MFs which own 3 or 4 times the number of stocks & end up being the market.

Numbers as of Aug 2023. Get the latest info from the KIM here

The absolute number here is a 18.5% CAGR over a 10 year period – itself commendable*. Another helpful way to look at this is that the PPFAS fund has provided a ~5% excess return over the benchmark index (NIFTY) since inception. This is a very healthy after-fees return. The fund also has one of the lowest turnover rates in the industry.

More important than these absolute returns is the quality of the management. If you’re even peripherally involved in the outstanding investor community in India, you’ll know the kind of reputation that PPFAS has accrued over time. I’ve read a lot of what they’ve written (they have an excellent site with a ton of educational info for new investors). If you’re considering the fund, also know that the fund manager Rajeev Thakkar has given several excellent talks and held length Q&As on Youtube – you can use these to build conviction.

Two words that come to mind in regards to PPFAS : prudence and integrity. To me, this is an excellent fund to be continuously (regularly) investing one’s excess savings into.

Other Funds

Could there be another fund like PPFAS? Sure – or perhaps it is emerging, and its track record and reputation will become increasingly apparent over time. I just don’t know about one.

I don’t have a strong opinion on most other mutual funds. I see many, if not most – as being plagued by the issues I’ve written about earlier and while there may be exceptions out there, getting to the bottom of aligned incentives and manager history take very strong research skills. Most people don’t have the time or patience to go down such a rabbit hole. Hence the reputed PPFAS.