Exploring Untapped Potential of Mutual Funds

The Mutual Fund industry has seen unprecedented growth in the past 3 years. In November 2016, total assets managed by mutual funds touched a record high of ?16.5 lakh crores rupees, a year on year growth of 27%.

Total number of folios in India also reached a record number of 4.7 crore. However, mutual funds still suffer extremely low penetration in India. A 7% share of Assets under Management (AUM) of Mutual Funds to GDP is significantly lower than some other emerging economies like Brazil (42%) and South Africa (33%).

Introducing Direct plans of mutual funds

MoneyFront aims to highlight the true potential of mutual funds to investors by firstly adopting the no-conflict option of direct plan of mutual funds. Direct plans are an alternative to the regular plans of mutual funds where you can skip the distributors and agents and invest directly with the Fund House.

Exploring Untapped Potential of Mutual Funds A direct consequence of this is an increase in returns by up to 1.5% annually, as the commissions paid to the distributors/agent are not charged to the scheme. MoneyFront, in its endeavour to provide maximum benefits to clients offers only ‘Direct Plans’.

For investors who are not well-versed about mutual funds or who need help with their asset allocation, MoneyFront also offers investment advisory that provides model portfolios and scheme recommendations tailor-made to the investor’s financial goals and risk tolerance levels. Over and above that, the investors have access to a vast library of news, views, developments, and statistics related to mutual fund schemes and everything else that impacts them.(read more…)

Your Loan Eligibility Holds the Key to Your Dream Home

LATEST NEWS – Have you ever been hounded by telemarketers urging you to apply for a loan? Calls, text messages, WhatsApp or even meeting you in person, representatives of financial companies leave no stone unturned when it comes to convincing you to take a loan.

But how is the LOAN ELIGIBILITY application processed? Do lenders really bend over backwards to hand you the loan cheque? It does not quite work that way.

Yes, sales personnel employed by financial institutions are aggressive in their attempts to lure you. They have to be; their commissions depend on it. And if one takes the bait and applies for a loan, the situation is likely to change by the time the application is processed.

It is the borrower who is expected to satisfy the credit parameters and fulfil all the eligibility criteria for the Home Loan.

Let’s get down to the basics. What do you think is the main eligibility criteria for taking a Home Loan?

The simple answer is the borrower’s ability to repay the loan.

This means the income of the loan applicant must be enough to pay the instalments on time. The lender provides a schedule for paying the equated monthly instalments (EMIs).

With interest rates favourable, now is as good a time to take a Home Loan as any. And non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) such as BAJAJ FINSERV offer instant approvals and Home Loans at attractive interest rates when you apply online.

Find out how:(READ MORE…)

Why are More People Applying for Personal Loans?

WHY DO PEOPLE PREFER PERSONAL LOANS

There are many factors that make Personal Loans more attractive.

• Easy to get: Personal Loans are easier to obtain than many other types of loans.
• Flexible usage: You can use the funds in a variety of ways. You can use it to pay for a vacation or a medical emergency. You can use it to fund a wedding, renovate a house, and more.
• Quick process: It can take as little as three days to get approval for a Personal Loan. Just make sure you have all the necessary documentation.
• No collateral: Personal Loans are unsecured loans. In other words, they are not backed by any collateral. This helps reduce the documents required for your loan application or even the duration of the vetting process.

You can even apply for a PERSONAL LOAN from the convenience of your home. All you need to do is visit the lender’s website. An application for a Personal Loan from Bajaj Finserv , for instance, usually takes seconds for approval and you can get funds of up to Rs.25 lakh in as little as 72 hours.

The bottom line

Personal Loans are popular today, but it is important that you opt for a professional lender to avail financing. Keep the various factors in mind when you apply for a Personal Loan and take the first step towards fulfilling your financial goals. (read more…)

Congress ruined Manipur, BJP will bring development in 15 months: Modi

Manipur Polls 2017 – amming the Congress party for “ruining” Manipur, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said if the BJP comes to power in the state it will “do in 15 months what the Congress did not in the last 15 years”.

He also assured there will be no economic blockade in the state.

“What Congress did not do in the last 15 years, I assure we will do it in 15 months. Wherever, Congress is in power there is no development, there is only corruption,” said Modi at a public rally here.

“There will never be an economic blockade when BJP comes to power in Manipur, I assure you this,” he added.

The Manipur assembly elections will be held in two phases – March 4 and 8 – to elect 60 members of the state legislative assembly.

“Unity of Manipur, welfare of its people and development of the state is our only goal. You gave them (Congress) 15 years, give us five years. I assure you we’ll complete the pending work in 15 months,” said Modi.

“Manipur has been ruined in 15 years. Who is responsible? Congress did no development, do they deserve to be here now?” Modi asked.

He added: “The corruption that took place in Manipur in last the 15 years will be exposed by our government.”(Read More)

Nokia 3310 makes a comeback with 22 hours of battery life, dual sim

Breaking News – Finnish mobile device player Nokia is in reboot mode as it gets ready to bring to India its 17-year-old iconic Nokia 3310 handset for about Rs 3,500, along with its Android smartphones, next quarter.

“All the products that we have announced Nokia 3310, Nokia 6, Nokia 5 and Nokia 3 will be available in the second quarter of this year in India. Average global selling price for Nokia 3310 is 49 euros,” HMD Global Oy Chief Marketing Officer Pekka Rantala said.

HMD Global has licence to design and sell Nokia branded phones globally as well as use technologies developed by Nokia Corporation.

“Now, we are celebrating the new era of Nokia brand that is the reason we are with HMD Global. Let me also be very clear that we would not license the Nokia brand to just anybody. It means too much to us. We chose carefully. We looked at the market. We looked at Google to be our brand licensing partner which could do this for a long time,” Nokia President and CEO Rajeev Suri said.

HMD Global also unveiled Nokia 5 and Nokia 3 smartphones for 189 euros and 139 euros built on Google’s Android platform. The company has already been selling Nokia 6 in China. One model of Nokia 6 with 3 GB RAM and 32 GB internal storage will be retailed at around 229 euros and the other one with 4 GB RAM and 64 GB internal memory with support for external memory card will be available for around 299 euros.(Read More)

War rooms and UP polls 2017: Akhilesh Yadav takes on Modi at his own game

UP Polls 2017 – Prime Minister Narendra Modi out-campaigned all-comers in the 2014 general election but, as he faces his biggest mid-term test, he is up against a rival determined to beat him at his own game.

In Uttar Pradesh his opponent, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, has been repackaged as a youthful and media-savvy go-getter who seeks to steal a unique selling point of Modi’s – development.

“I am taking it a bit beyond Modi: I work,” Yadav told Reuters in an interview in Lucknow, capital of the state of 220 million that is holding the biggest democratic election anywhere in the world this year.

“My work speaks for itself. Modi’s empty promises do not,” said the 43-year-old leader of the Samajwadi, or Socialist, Party.

Yadav entered the vast election, being held over the course of a month, as a narrow favourite: He had just emerged from a power struggle with his domineering father and struck a pre-poll alliance with the Indian National Congress.(Read More)

BMC polls: BJP puts up best ever show with 81 seats, Sena bags 84

BMC Elections 2017 Results – The BJP is set to make decisive gains in civic polls in Maharashtra even as it is locked in a neck- and-neck fight with its bickering ally Shiv Sena in Mumbai, the latest counting trends suggest.

BJP put up its best ever show in BMC elections by bagging 81 seats, just 3 seats short of Shiv Sena.

The Congress and the NCP were headed for a rout across the state including some of their strongholds like Pune.

While the Shiv Sena slightly improved showing in Mumbai and Thane, the BJP is set to retain Nagpur, Akola and wrest Pune and Ulhasnagar from NCP and Nashik from the MNS.

But, as the counting progressed into final rounds, it appears that the Sena is unlikely to touch the half-way mark of 114 seats in Mumbai, where the BJP is poised for a big leap after fighting the polls on its own.

The BJP is likely to come to power in at least six civic bodies — Pune, Nashik, Ulhasnagar, Akola, Nagpur and Amravati — out of the 10 corporations for which the elections were held on Tuesday.(Read More)

UP elections 2017: Over 40% turnout till 2 PM in phase-IV

UP Polls 2017 – Over 40 per cent of 1.84 crore voters exercised their franchise till midday today in the fourth phase of polling in eastern Uttar Pradesh.
“Polling is underway at a brisk pace in 53 assembly constituencies spread over 12 districts, including the backward Bundelkhand region,” the CEO office said here.

The pace of voting was slow in the first few hours but picked up as the day advanced.

The exercise was by and large peaceful in view of tight security arrangements.

Inter district and inter state borders have been sealed and patrolling by security forces has been intensified in poll-bound areas. Most of the sensitive polling centres are being manned by the personnel of Central Paramilitary Forces.

680 candidates are in the fray in this phase which covers Rae Bareli, Pratapgarh, Kaushambi, Allahabad, Jalaun, Jhansi, Lalitpur, Mahoba, Banda, Hamirpur, Chitrakoot and Fatehpur districts.

The BSP has fielded its nominees in all seats, while BJP’s nominees are in 48 constituencies. The BJP has left 6 seats for its ally Apna Dal. The SP nominees are in contest in 30 segments and its ally, the Congress, is in contest from 25 constituencies.(Read More)

Bharti Airtel to buy Telenor India unit in response to Jio onslaught

Breaking news – Bharti Airtel, India’s largest telecom network operator, is buying Norwegian Telenor’s India unit, in yet another consolidation move in India driven by upstart rival Jio’s disruptive pricing.

Bharti Airtel said on Thursday it will buy Telenor (India) Communications Pvt Ltd, as part of which it will acquire the Norwegian company’s operations in six Indian states. It did not disclose financial terms of the deal.

The entry late last year of Reliance Industries’ wireless carrier Jio into India’s crowded telecom sector with its free voice and deeply discounted data plans has pushed rivals to slash costs, sharply eroding their profits.

Bharti Airtel reported its lowest profit in four years in the October-December quarter while No. 3 player Idea Cellular posted its first-ever quarterly loss for the same period.

Jio’s gameplan is also sparking consolidation moves.

Britain’s Vodafone Group said last month it was in talks to merge its Indian subsidiary with Idea Cellular to create India’s largest mobile operator with about $12 billion in sales.

And earlier, Reliance Communications had entered into an agreement to merge its wireless business with smaller rival Aircel.(Read More)

We messed up: Full text of what Kunal Bahl wrote to Snapdeal employees

Latest Business News – Exploring ways to optimise costs and rewrite its success story, Online marketplace Snapdeal has confirmed that it is undertaking layoffs within the company. Snapdeal co-founders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal in an email to employees on Wednesday said they have had to take tough decisions to retain the company’s profitability, which include – employee layoffs, 100 per cent salary cut for themselves, among others.

Quoting Zig Ziglar, Kunal said, “When obstacles arise, you change your direction to reach your goal, you do not change your decision to get there.”

According to The Economics Times, here are key highlights of Kunal Bahl’s email to Snapdeal employees:

* Snapdeal probably holds the record for the company that got written off the most number of times by Internet pundits.

* Have our company and industry been going through a troubled time? Absolutely. Did we make errors in our execution? No doubt about that(Read More)