Fund houses no longer depend on one fund manager to manage large schemes.
In just three months, at least five fund houses have appointed co-fund managers on their large and flagship schemes. Some of these schemes are star performers in their respective category.
On 12 March, DSP BlackRock Mutual Fund appointed Resham Jain as co-fund manager of DSP BlackRock Small and Midcap Fund and DSP BlackRock Micro Cap Fund. Vinit Sambre was solely managing DSP BlackRock Small and Midcap Fund since July 2012 while Vinit Sambre and Jay Kothari managed DSP BlackRock Micro Cap Fund. The AUM of the two funds were at Rs.5,390 crore and Rs.6,206 crore, respectively, as on February 2018.
The third largest fund house by assets, Reliance Mutual Fund, has appointed Dhrumil Shah as Assistant Fund Manager in Reliance Small Cap Fund. Samir Rachh currently manages the fund that was earlier managed by Sunil Singhania.
Similarly, UTI Mutual Fund, DHFL Pramerica Mutual Fund and Principal Mutual Fund have also appointed additional fund managers.
UTI Mutual Fund has appointed an additional fund manager in two of its schemes. From February 1, Vetri Subramaniam and Amit Premchandani have been co-managing UTI Opportunities Fund while Lalit Nambiar and Vishal Chopda have been co-managing UTI India Lifestyle Fund.
DHFL Pramerica Mutual Fund has appointed Kunal Jain as a fund manager of DHFL Pramerica Insta Cash Plus Fund and DHFL Pramerica Ultra Short Term Fund. He manages the funds with Kumaresh Ramakrishnan. Kunal Jain was earlier associated with Indiabulls Mutual Fund.
Similarly, Bekxy Kuriakose and Pankaj Jain are co-managing Principal Smart Equity Fund and Principal Equity Savings Fund respectively with PVK Mohan.
Experts say that appointment of an additional fund manager brings fresh perspective to the table. “Appointment of an additional fund manager brings in fresh perspective. It also ensures continuity of the fund if the lead fund manager leaves the fund house. Globally, many large fund houses use this strategy to ensure smooth transition of fund management,” said Vidya Bala, Head of Mutual Fund Research, FundsIndia.
Kaustubh Belapurkar, Director of Fund Research, Morningstar India, says that such an appointment reduces the workload of the lead fund manager. He further said, “Such an appointment also helps analysts to gain hands on experience in fund management for career growth. Also, with an increase in fund size, the new fund manager may help lead fund managers explore new opportunities. It is difficult for fund managers to track multiple sectors and stocks as they have a certain bandwidth,” Kaustubh said.
