Akash Jain
Director, Global Research & Design, S&P BSE Indices
Is Alpha Generation a Zero-Sum Game in Indian Large-Cap Equities?
Globally, as markets have matured, we have seen the institutional share of public equity increasing.[1] Professional managers are continuing to enter the investment management industry, resulting in market research becoming more institutionalized. Hence, more and more industry research analysts are competing against each other and chasing the same set of stocks to generate alpha (or…
Do Management Fees Outweigh the Alpha Generated in Indian Equity Large-Cap Funds?
Without Fees, Do Active Managers Outperform their Benchmarks? The SPIVA® India Year-End 2019 Scorecard shows that, over longer horizons, a large proportion of active funds underperform their respective category benchmarks (see Exhibit 1a). The SPIVA India Year-End 2019 Scorecard evaluates the performance based on net-of-fees returns (i.e., gross returns less the management fees). But do…
Playing Defense with Profitability Screening in Australian Small Caps
In our research paper titled, Profitability Screening in Australian Small Caps, we examined the effectiveness of a profitability screen on improving return as well as reducing volatility and drawdown for Australian small-cap stocks. Adhering to these principles, the S&P/ASX Small Ordinaries Select Index was launched on Dec. 21, 2018, to track profitable small-cap companies in…
The Effects of Dispersion in Carbon Intensity Scores on Carbon-Efficient Portfolio Construction
In this blog, we investigate the dispersion of carbon intensity scores in detail and its effect on carbon-efficient portfolio construction via equal- and market-cap-weighted approaches. A company’s carbon efficiency is measured by its carbon intensity score (C.I. score), provided by Trucost, which is defined as the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from a company’s direct operations…
Integrating Low-Carbon with Single Factors in Asia
Factor investing in Asia has grown at a rapid pace, with smart beta passive AUM growing at a 42% compound annual growth rate over the past five years, albeit from a relatively lower base.[1] With increasing awareness of climate change and related risks, investors may look to integrate carbon screening into their factor portfolios. In…
- Categories Equities, Factors
- Tags Asia, asian equities, carbon-efficient portfolio, equities, factors
The Performance of Carbon-Efficient Portfolios in Asian Markets
In recent years, governments have become increasingly aware of the perils of greenhouse gases and have aimed to penalize the source of pollution while looking to incentivize low-carbon technologies. In addition, investors are now considering an organization’s future financial position to discount potential write-downs of assets and the effect on revenues, costs, cash flows, and…
Do Active Funds in India Benefit from Higher Active Risk Exposure?
Fund managers typically follow a factor or a style of investing and aim to construct portfolios by balancing active sector exposures and stock-selection risks within a sector. Tracking error is one way to measure a fund’s deviation from its respective benchmark to determine how “active” it is. As measured in the SPIVA® India Year-End 2018…
The Opportunity Cost of Active Management
Investors typically flock to active funds to pass on the stock-picking decision making to a seasoned fund manager, with the hope that the fund manager’s experience and stock-picking capabilities will enable the investor’s portfolio to grow at a faster pace than that set by the benchmark. By using this approach, investors are able to circumvent…
Do Indian Equity Mutual Funds Generate Alpha When Adjusted for Risk?
Risk-adjusted returns showcase the return accrued for every unit of risk held in a portfolio. If two portfolios have the same returns over a given time period, the one that has the lowest risk will have the better risk-adjusted return. Modern portfolio theory (MPT) assumes that an investment with higher risk should compensate the investor,…
Passive Investing Opportunities in India
Fifty years ago, there were no index funds—all assets were managed actively. The subsequent shift of assets from active to passive management in the U.S. and European markets could be considered one of the most important developments in modern financial history, and this shift was the consequence of active performance shortfalls.[1] In India, we have…
- Categories Equities, India
- Tags Active vs. Passive, India, Passive