Atul Bhole, Senior Fund Manager, Kotak Mahindra AMC

Economic Times

01-06-2025

Let's start with your personal story
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How did you land up in this job?
Which funds are you currently managing?
What is your investment philosophy and how will you describe your investment strategy?
What motivates you while managing other people's money?
I hail from a small town of Bhusawal, which is one of the biggest & busiest railway junctions and also has the second biggest railway yard in Asia. My father also used to work for railways and mother is a housewife. Being the youngest of four siblings, I grew up in a sort of relaxed & supported environment.Though I did well in studies with scholarships, rank in Board etc. there were never any specific expectations or pressure on me like today's time. After 10th std, in 1995, I shifted to Mumbai to pursue commerce education with a goal to become Chartered Accountant. It was quite a different decision in those days, particularly in a typical Maharashtrian family.Almost all students used to opt for science with engineering or medical degrees in mind. Honestly the decision was not by choice, I obviously didn't know much about career options at that age & place. It was due to elimination of the other option: science to avoid biology. Arts was not in consideration set those days & viewed only for those who can't study science or even commerce. My parents didn't object & fully supported my decision. My uncle who was a principal at a commerce college in Mumbai then guided & mentored me over the years.Over the next 10 years, I did B.Com, CA & MBA from JBIMS in Mumbai. During those years, I stayed at various places as a paying guest, shared bachelor apartments, University hostel etc. Morning college & CA articleship during the day were the most hectic period but taught me a lot about practicalities in life. Moving around Mumbai to income tax/ sales tax offices & for audits by local trains, BEST buses & autos etc prepared the mind to be observant of things around & is benefitting a lot in the investing career. The attempt to opt for MBA was also by elimination once again.I realised I'm not the one who is right to be a practicing CA and corporate finance or banking jobs with a CA profile seemed repetitive. In search of alternatives, I landed in JBIMS to pursue an MBA & finally found my passion in equity research . One of our visiting faculty, who himself is a renowned but reclusive investor influenced to a great extent in finding this passion.I started as an equity analyst at SBI Treasury in the corporate office during 2005. The profile was not sharply defined & I worked on any idea / IPO during those days on my own. The Indian market was experiencing the 'mother of all bull markets' during 2004-2008 and the freedom to look across markets for new ideas widened my horizon.Later I worked for a KPO tracking foreign securities but left within 2 months as I was not enjoying the work. With a pay cut of 40%, I joined Tata MF to come back to Indian markets. Fortunately I was mentored by two excellent gentlemen & investors in Tata MF over the next 10 years to be a fund manager. Amongst various funds, Tata Balanced Fund did particularly well & caught investors' attention. I continued managing funds from the aggressive hybrid category in my next job at DSP MF and doing it in Kotak MF as well.I was doing reasonably well in my previous job at DSP MF & was fairly content. However when Mr. Harsha Upadhyaya, CIO at Kotak MF approached me with the opportunity to manage Kotak Emerging Equity Fund, a midcap fund with AUM of around Rs. 40,000 cr then, it came across as a big challenge & opportunity to prove myself one more time.My predecessor Mr. Pankaj Tibrewal had done a fantastic job in delivering consistent performance over years & scaling the AUM to be the second largest in the category. The team & processes at Kotak MF are great to work with. Getting picked by Mr Nilesh Shah & Harsha for the role seemed a good recognition in considering the change.As mentioned above, currently I'm managing Kotak Emerging Equity Fund – a midcap fund with around Rs. 50,000 cr AUM & Kotak Aggressive Hybrid Fund with AUM close to Rs. 7,000 cr.In general, for a large part of my portfolio, my stock selection tilts towards growing companies managed by competent management. Due to external conditions, sometimes companies may not be able to deliver required growth, however, if the opportunity size is large & the management keeps working on strengthening the business, I prefer to stay invested rather than jumping the ships. Quality factor also assumes a lot of importance to avoid accidents or bad experiences. In a measured way, I do take some tactical calls based on macro trends, turnarounds, management changes, sharply beaten down valuations etc. I do have to admit here that, post Covid, we have to be a bit more agile in capturing opportunities & booking profits as well. With an increased number of participants, stock price moves have become fierce factoring any change swiftly. Also, at the fundamental level, business cycles are getting shorter & competitive forces have gone up significantly in almost all sectors. Mutual funds are proving to be a worthy vehicle for achieving long-term financial goals & creating wealth in every market cycle. In India, we particularly miss or overlook the concept of 'risk adjusted returns' while trying to maximise returns. Mutual Funds arguably do a good job versus individual or other vehicles of investing.They are suitable for a person starting investments with as low as Rs. 500 to an UHNI or a family office. While investors & advisors invest their hard-earned money to get returns, somewhere the factor of trust comes in the mind. Ours' is a fiduciary duty & over the years the regulator & industry has done a good work in improving the trust factor. When lacs of investors across India invest crores of rupees trusting & believing in us, it provides more than enough motivation to do the work diligently & with all good intentions.(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)