Patience is key for MF success: Nilesh Shah

Nilesh Shah, the veteran fund manager and managing director of Kotak Mahindra AMC, believes that patience in investing in mutual funds is most important and only through patience can one get better returns. In an exclusive interview with Money9 editor Anshuman Tiwari, Nilesh Shah said that patience in mutual fund investments always bears fruit. He said if investors invest time in mutual fund SIPs, they will get expected returns.

Nilesh Shah told Money9 that under SEBI rules, he is required to invest 20 percent of his salary in all the funds and schemes he manages. He told that he invests 10 percent of his salary in Provident Fund and 10 percent in New Pension Scheme.

Nilesh Shah said that at present the environment for investment in the Indian market seems to be the best in the world. He told that among the emerging economies, India’s rival economies are no longer attractive for investors. Due to the Russia-Ukraine war, investments are going out of Russia. The China-Taiwan tension has seen investments flowing out of both the countries while the change in Brazilian government has not helped the investment environment. In such a situation, India is becoming the preferred option for investors around the world.

Nilesh Shah said that there is a good combination of talent, capital and infrastructure for investment in India. Almost the same amount of infrastructure for the mutual fund industry in India is going to be ready by 2024 as was there in 2013.

Nilesh Shah believes that the number of mutual fund investors in the country may increase in the coming years. He said  about 18 crore investors in India have suffered losses in crypto, about 10 crore investors have suffered losses in online gaming and crores of people lose money on lottery in the greed of getting rich quickly. He said during the last 3 years the number of mutual fund investors in India has doubled to 4 crores. He said that despite the increase in the number of investors, the mutual fund industry is not as successful as expected and distribution needs to be strengthened to encourage people to invest.

Nilesh Shah said that there will always be opportunities and risks regarding investment, the need is to choose the right investment option. He told that investing in the market is like leaving a boat in the sea, there is no need to worry about the boat rocking due to waves rising in the sea, the need is to choose such a boat which does not have holes.