Sailesh Raj Bhan, who took over as the chief investment officer (CIO) – Equity, at Nippon Life India Asset Management, is no stranger to the fund house. He has spent over 16 years at the fund house, India’s fourth largest, with assets worth Rs 2.97 trillion under management. Bhan, who has over 27 years’ experience in the Indian equity market, started out at Nippon MF as an equity fund manager in 2006.
So far, Bhan has been managing multiple flagship funds, namely, Nippon India Large Cap Fund, Nippon India Multi Cap Fund and Nippon India Pharma Fund, for over 15 years.
As far as investments are concerned, Bhan’s mantra is simple: Keep it simple.
It’s the beginning of a new year and that’s always a good time to start investing. But equity markets are on a high. The S&P BSE Sensex has been at around 60,000 since November 2022. Is this a good time for a novice investor to enter the equity markets?
It is not easy to time the equity market. An investor generally targets equities
for medium- to long-term goals. So, it is advisable to enter the markets in a staggered manner; via step-by-step investments or through a systematic investment plan (SIP). That’s the right approach to gradually increase allocation.
I have Rs 10 lakh to invest today. What do you recommend? I know asset allocation is specific to individuals, but give us your broad guidance.
Just stick to two asset classes; debt and equity. You can diversify a bit in gold. But that’s about it. In normal market conditions, I would suggest a 50-50 allocation to equity and debt. But given the high valuations right now, I would recommend 40 percent in equity, 50 percent in debt and 10 percent in gold, as a broad allocation percentage.
