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Business Standard
a few seconds ago
- Business Standard
Foreign Investors pump $1.4 bn into India-ETFs dominate, Active funds lag
India emerged as one of the top destinations for foreign capital in June 2025, recording net inflows of $1.4 billion into listed funds, marking the second consecutive month of positive fund flows. The surge was led by Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs), even as traditional active funds continued to bleed assets., as per data analysed by Kotak Institutional Equities. According to data from Kotak Institutional Equities (KIE), the ETF segment alone attracted $2.4 billion in June, effectively offsetting the $1 billion in outflows from actively managed non-ETF funds. The growing investor tilt toward passive vehicles is reshaping foreign portfolio trends in India and other emerging markets. India was the second-highest recipient of foreign capital among emerging markets in June, trailing only South Korea ($1.9 billion). Other major inflow recipients included Brazil ($1.2 billion) and Taiwan ($1 billion). China stood out as the only major market to report net outflows, with investors pulling out $36 million, highlighting continued caution around the world's second-largest economy. Key Highlights: Net Inflows into Listed Funds: India-focused listed funds recorded inflows of $1.4 billion in June. This was driven by ETF inflows of $2.4 billion, which outweighed the $1 billion in outflows from non-ETF (actively managed) funds. India-Dedicated Funds: These funds saw total net inflows of $726 million, with $633 million coming from ETFs and $93 million from non-ETFs. GEM Funds: Global Emerging Market (GEM) funds also contributed to the inflow trend, adding $563 million, again led by ETF inflows of $1.3 billion offset by $727 million in non-ETF outflows. Emerging Market Trends: India was among the top beneficiaries in emerging markets, attracting $1.4 billion, second only to South Korea ($1.9 billion). Other key markets like Brazil and Taiwan saw inflows of $1.2 billion and $1 billion, respectively. China remained an outlier with modest outflows of $36 million, continuing its recent trend of investor caution. Country Allocations: India's allocation within Asia ex-Japan funds declined slightly to 16.3% in June from 16.4% in May. Within GEM funds, India's weight slipped to 18.7% from 19%, reflecting cautious rebalancing despite the inflows. ETF allocations remained stable while non-ETF allocations declined marginally, suggesting a stronger bias toward passive investing. As of June 2025, the total foreign portfolio investor (FPI) assets under custody (AUC) in India stood at $865 billion. The United States remains the largest source of FPI flows into India, with significant contributions from sovereign wealth funds, mutual funds, and pension funds. "Listed funds witnessed inflows for the second consecutive month. The inflows were driven by ETFs, which attracted US$2.4 bn, offset by non-ETF outflows of US$1 bn. GEM funds saw US$563 mn of inflows, led by ETF inflows of US$1.3 bn, offset by US$727 mn of non-ETF outflows. India-dedicated funds witnessed inflows of US$726 mn (US$633 mn of ETF inflows and US$93 mn of non-ETF inflows). Listed emerging market fund flows were positive for most countries, except for China. South Korea, India, Brazil and Taiwan saw inflows of US$1.9 bn, US$1.4 bn, US$1.2 bn and US$1 bn,respectively. China witnessed outflows of US$36 mn," said Sanjeev Prasad of Kotak Institutional. These inflows come despite ongoing global macroeconomic uncertainty. Investors appear to be re-allocating capital to markets with stronger growth prospects like India, especially through low-cost ETFs. Meanwhile, active fund managers seem to be taking a more cautious approach, leading to sustained non-ETF outflows. With ETF momentum staying strong and geopolitical concerns elsewhere, India could continue benefiting from global asset reallocation trends in the coming months.
Time of India
17 minutes ago
- Time of India
Retail investors are waking up to bonds—here's why it matters, says Vineet Agarwal
For decades, bonds were largely the domain of institutional investors and high-net-worth individuals, while retail investors stuck to traditional savings options like fixed deposits or insurance-linked plans. But that's changing—and fast. According to Vineet Agarwal , Co-Founder of Jiraaf, a growing number of retail investors are now embracing fixed income as a serious investment avenue. In a conversation on ETMarkets Livestream, Agarwal explains why this shift matters, how young professionals and single-income families can benefit, and why simplifying your portfolio with high-quality bonds could be the smartest move you make. Edited Excerpts – Kshitij Anand: You could say for young professionals, how can corporate bonds help in building an emergency fund more efficiently than a traditional savings account ? Explore courses from Top Institutes in Please select course: Select a Course Category Data Science PGDM Data Analytics Finance MBA others Leadership CXO Product Management Design Thinking Public Policy Project Management Artificial Intelligence Others Management Degree Digital Marketing Data Science Technology Skills you'll gain: Duration: 10 Months IIM Kozhikode CERT-IIMK DABS India Starts on undefined Get Details Skills you'll gain: Duration: 11 Months E&ICT Academy, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati CERT-IITG Postgraduate Cert in AI and ML India Starts on undefined Get Details Skills you'll gain: Duration: 10 Months E&ICT Academy, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati CERT-IITG Prof Cert in DS & BA with GenAI India Starts on undefined Get Details Skills you'll gain: Duration: 30 Weeks IIM Kozhikode SEPO - IIMK-AI for Senior Executives India Starts on undefined Get Details Skills you'll gain: Duration: 11 Months E&ICT Academy, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati CERT-IITG Postgraduate Cert in AI and ML India Starts on undefined Get Details by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Villas For Sale in Dubai Might Surprise You Villas In Dubai | Search Ads Get Quote Vineet Agarwal: So, again, the traditional concept of having an emergency fund is to maintain at least four to six months of your expenses in liquid form. Traditionally, this liquidity was kept in a savings account, either in the form of savings or fixed deposits (FDs). Now, people have started realising that the returns from fixed deposits are subpar—you're not even beating inflation—and the money lying in an FD loses value with every passing year. What smart people have now started doing, which wealthy individuals and large family offices have been doing for years, is shifting to AAA-rated or government bonds. These are now available at around 7% to 8–8.5%, compared to an FD, which gives you maybe 5% to 6%. Bonds Corner Powered By Retail investors are waking up to bonds—here's why it matters, says Vineet Agarwal Bonds are gaining traction among retail investors in India. Vineet Agarwal of Jiraaf highlights the shift towards fixed income. He suggests young professionals use bonds for emergency funds. Single-income families can generate secondary income through bonds. Agarwal advises against mixing insurance with investment. Bond laddering is a simple yet powerful investment strategy. How Bond duration impacts return in a falling rate regime, Gautam Kaul explains Corporate bonds meet arbitrage: a smarter, tax-efficient play for fixed income investors India bonds may continue to see selling pressure at start of week Indian rupee, bond markets cautious in week dominated by Fed, tariffs Browse all Bonds News with So, when you build your emergency corpus with AAA or government bonds and get a 7.5% to 8% return, that extra 2% might not seem like much initially. But if you calculate it—2% on a 5% return is actually a 40% higher return. So, if earlier you were getting 5–5.5% from your FD and now you're getting 7.5%, that extra 2% is a significant boost. Live Events Just imagine earning a 40% higher return on your emergency fund if you hold it for 10, 15, or 20 years—the compounding effect of that extra 1.5–2% delta becomes very significant. And these bonds are liquid too, so you can sell and access your money whenever you need it. So, for young professionals, my recommendation would be: keep some money in FDs, but don't park your entire emergency corpus there. Allocate a portion to these higher-yielding, very safe, AAA-rated bonds. That 2% delta can create meaningful wealth due to the power of compounding . Kshitij Anand: And now that we've talked about young professionals, what is your advice to single-income families looking to generate a predictable secondary income using bonds? Vineet Agarwal: This becomes extremely important, especially in a country like ours. Barring a few metros, the majority of households still have a single income—typically, the male is the primary earning member. And often there are two, sometimes even three kids in the family. Fixed income becomes very powerful in such scenarios. Why? Because you have an opportunity today to park your surplus in fixed income bonds that offer, on average, around 12% returns. This can generate an additional income stream for the family—almost like having a second earning member. A lot of your household expenses can be easily managed through this additional income from fixed-income assets, particularly bonds. For such families, I strongly recommend—and this is something I also personally practice—that you build a good corpus and allocate a portion of your monthly surplus into fixed-income asset classes. Don't allocate everything into equities, especially when it comes to your short-term goals—like your child's school fees (which you may need to pay annually), purchases for the household, or family vacations. These goals can be funded through fixed-income investments that are not linked to market volatility. They are stable—you know exactly when and how much you'll receive. So, fixed-income instruments can form a very healthy part of your portfolio to meet these predictable, short-term financial requirements. Kshitij Anand: What common mistakes do investors make with products like ULIPs (Unit Linked Insurance Plans) or endowment plans? And how does fixed income solve these problems, which were quite common in the past as well? Vineet Agarwal: So, again, as a country, for the last 40–50 years, almost everyone has had some form of insurance policy—either an endowment or a ULIP. Insurance is very, very good as long as it serves the purpose of insuring. What happened over time is that, due to innovation, insurance gradually became an investment product—which, I believe, should not happen. A person should definitely have medical insurance for family needs and a term insurance policy so that, in case of the demise of the earning member, the family is protected. But investment should not be mixed with insurance. All the endowment or ULIP plans in our country give, at best, a 5% to 6% return, which does not serve the purpose. A person should take plain vanilla term insurance and plain vanilla medical insurance. Whatever extra money is being spent on endowment or ULIP plans should instead go into pure investments. The more you simplify things, the better. We should not merge everything and complicate it—because that only gives you subpar returns. You should invest that extra money simply in bonds based on your risk appetite. If you're very risk-averse, buy AA- or AAA-rated bonds. If you're willing to take on a little more risk, you can consider BBB-rated bonds or build a portfolio across categories. Just like with equities, you can build a bond portfolio and earn 10–11% returns. You'll be protected through insurance, and at the same time, you'll also create wealth in the long term. Kshitij Anand: In fact, we've heard the technical term "bond laddering." Could you explain how bond laddering works as a strategy for meeting planned future expenses? Vineet Agarwal: Bond laddering is one of the most commonly used investment strategies in bonds. I'd say it's a fancy term, but the concept is very simple. It's essentially about creating a portfolio—just like you do with equities. In equities, you invest in large-caps, mid-caps, and small-caps. Suppose you invest ₹100 in equities—you may allocate ₹40 to large-caps, ₹30–40 to mid-caps, and ₹20–30 to small-caps. The idea is that large-caps may give 10–12% annualised returns, mid-caps might deliver 13–15%, and small-caps could give 18–20% over a long investment horizon, say 10 years. This diversification gives you a balanced return—maybe 14–15% overall. The same logic applies to bonds. You allocate your ₹100 into AAA, AA, and A to BBB asset classes. AAA bonds are like large-cap stocks—they're generally the largest and safest. You could invest 30% in AAA, 30% in AA to A-rated, and 20–30% in BBB-rated bonds. So again, you're building a diversified portfolio just like in equities, and this approach is called bond laddering. It's a very simple yet very powerful investment strategy. Kshitij Anand: Why do you believe fixed income investments are often overlooked by younger investors? And how can this mindset be changed? Is it because not enough reels are being created about them? Vineet Agarwal: Yes, first of all, I'd say it's due to a lack of awareness—because the product itself is relatively new. In fact, when we started Jiraaf almost four years ago, there weren't many tech-enabled solutions available for buying and selling bonds like there are today. As a country, we're still maturing in terms of developing a vibrant bond market, and that's why many people haven't heard much about it. So, awareness is one issue. There are also a lot of misconceptions about bonds as an asset class. Many people think they're very risky. But if you look at the data, for any bond that is investment grade or above, the default rate over the past 10 years is less than 1%. So, in 99% of cases, you will get your money back on the due date—unless the company goes bankrupt. And if it's a rated bond with a rating of BBB or above, the likelihood of default is under 1%. So, lack of awareness is one issue. The second is this misconception around risk. The third reason, especially for younger investors, is that bonds aren't considered 'fancy.' People love saying, 'I own this stock,' but with bonds—nothing really changes. You invest, and you know exactly what you'll get and when. There's no daily excitement or movement to talk about. But as the saying goes in investing: if it's boring, you'll earn money. Boring businesses and boring investments often deliver better returns. So yes, bonds may not seem exciting, but they are extremely powerful from a portfolio perspective.
Hans India
2 hours ago
- Hans India
Cyberabad police launch official website with host of new features
Hyderabad: To significantly enhance transparency and strengthen citizen-centric service delivery, the Cyberabad Police have today launched their newly designed official website According to police officials, the website has been meticulously designed for accessibility and ease of navigation, catering to citizens of all age groups. Crucially, important alerts and information will be updated promptly, ensuring the public remains consistently informed. Cyberabad Police Commissioner Avinash Mohanty stated that the website serves as a vital information portal, specifically crafted to provide essential services and updates to Cyberabad residents. He highlighted that the platform will offer an enhanced user experience through real-time content updates, a modern User Interface/User Experience (UI/UX), and a mobile-friendly design, optimising it for access on desktops, tablets, and mobile devices. The website facilitates the dissemination of important information such as announcements, alerts, and safety guidelines. Key standout features include a new citizen feedback QR scanner, launched by Telangana Police, enabling citizens to provide feedback on the performance and efficiency of police officials. A jurisdiction finder, connected to Google Maps, assists citizens in identifying the correct police station to approach and provides directions. Furthermore, CPPMS services allow citizens to apply online for various permissions, No-Objection Certificates (NOCs), and licences, covering events like marathons, music shows, and film shootings; NOCs for controlled blasting; establishment licences; and licences to use/supply loudspeakers, thereby streamlining processes and reducing the need for multiple visits to police offices. A defreeze link is also available, enabling cybercrime victims to request the online defreezing of their accounts. The site also provides contact details for key officials, their roles, and comprehensive police station information categorised by sector. Citizens can access traffic-related services, including E-challans and Cyberabad Traffic Pulse – a programme providing real-time alerts on traffic conditions within the Cyberabad region, along with options for responsible citizens to report traffic violations. The platform also enables users to check the status of passport applications and police verification certificates. It features awareness programmes related to public safety, cybercrime prevention, community engagement initiatives, and the latest press notes and news. Cyberabad Police also announced plans to shortly integrate a login for gun licence holders. The force is actively exploring further possibilities to upgrade the website, including more dynamic features and integration with other e-Governance systems like MeeSeva, to further enhance citizen engagement and service delivery.
