CONTRIBUTOR
alka_banerjee
Alka Banerjee
Former Managing Director, Product Management, S&P Dow Jones Indices
Full Bio
India’s Growing Fixed Income Market
The Indian debt market has grown to USD 1.5 trillion over the past decade, largely due to the issuances from the central and state government. The ratio of government securities to corporate issuances is about 75 to 25, reflecting the subdued state of corporate bond markets in India. With a lack of participation, the Indian…
- Categories Fixed Income, India
- Tags Bond ETFs, fixed income, India
- Categories
- Fixed Income, India
- Tags
- Bond ETFs, fixed income, India
ESG Strategies on the Rise
Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) risks have taken a strong hold in the developed investing space. Previously, the concept had resided in the domain of “do gooders” and “tree huggers” seeking to make a better world. So what has changed so much that it is now taking root in mainstream investing? By and large, ESG…
The Use of Index Derivatives in Portfolio Management
Index derivatives exist for all asset classes, and over time their use has grown exponentially for a variety of purposes. Still, many myths abound that their chief function is for speculative activity. The ability to leverage by investing a small amount to gain exposure to a much larger investment is the key benefit of index…
- Categories Equities, India
- Tags Derivatives, index futures, India
Fixed Income Liquidity and ETFs in India
The fixed income market has historically been relatively illiquid in India, as well as globally. The Indian bond market is smaller than other Asian markets like China and Korea, but it is more liquid than they are, yet it is still largely inaccessible to retail investors. The nature of trading that is almost entirely over…
- Categories Fixed Income, India
- Tags bonds, Fixed Income ETFs, India, liquidity
- Categories
- Fixed Income, India
A Closer Look at Indices Country Classifications
As large sums of global money flows now follow global indices, it is important to understand how global index providers decide on country classifications and country weightages. A global equity index typically has two components, a developed market index and an emerging market index. Until the nineties, emerging market investments were not necessarily mandatory for…
The Importance of Understanding your Benchmark
Recent SEBI guidelines have highlighted the issue of flawed benchmark usage in the Indian mutual fund industry. Globally funds are required to be transparent and provide complete information around their investment philosophy and within that requirement of transparency. The fund manager is given the leeway to choose their own appropriate benchmark. First, in this context,…
- Categories Equities, India
- Tags benchmarking, India, S&P BSE SENSEX index
The Evolution of Indian Indices
A recent stipulation by SEBI for the mutual fund industry outlines how to treat size classifications and suggests that funds need to be very explicit in their stock selection and fund categorization when it comes to stock sizes. SEBI laid down rules for categorizing funds based on component stock sizes and fund houses have to…
China’s Currency Devaluation and Its Impact on the Indian Stock Markets
Monday’s stock market crash coming on the heels of the US market fall on Friday, August 22nd is creating jitters for investors around the world. However the signals have been around for some time, with many predicting for some time an end to the bull run that US market has enjoyed for the last 6…
- Categories Equities, India
- Tags China, India, S&P BSE SENSEX
- Tags
- China, India, S&P BSE SENSEX
Will the Rise of Chinese Equity Markets Impact Fund Flows into the Indian Equity Markets?
The rise of passive investing in recent times has had a large influence on global fund flows. Country weights in the global benchmarks are increasingly determining the amount of funds that flow into various stock markets. The US with its 50% share in the global benchmarks has dominated the global investing scene for a very…
A Review of the S&P Global Intrinsic Value Index
The recently published research paper on S&P GIVI®: Factor Investing: A Review of the S&P Global Intrinsic Value Index analyzes in detail the source of GIVI returns globally and regionally. S&P GIVI is a multi-factor global index which provides exposure to low volatility and the value factors by removing 30% of the highest beta stocks…
- Categories Equities, Strategy
- Tags alternative beta, GIVI, low volatility, strategy indices