Star fund manager Prashant Jain stacks up on Adani Ports

HDFC Mutual Fund's star fund manager Prashant Jain has made a surprise move by buying shares of Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone. Known for his banking picks, Jain aggressively added Adani Ports in some of his schemes last month. The fund house invested Rs 242 crore in the stock when Adani shares were quoting between Rs 200 and Rs 232. So far the call has paid off, as the shares of the Gautam Adani-promoted firm have rallied 20 per cent this month to Rs 273, buoyed by good performance in the June quarter.

Primary markets: Lull in equity, boom in debt

Initial public offerings (IPOs) are expected to enter a slow phase and the action is set to shift to debt public issues, say investment bankers. Several non-banking financial companies, including Dewan Housing Finance (DHFL) and Indiabulls Housing Finance, are planning to hit the market with non-convertible debt (NCD) offerings, whereas there are no immediate primary equity issuances lined up after the ongoing RBL Bank's Rs 1,200-crore issue. Prospects for NCDs have improved after DHFL's recent issue, which offered yields between 8.33 per cent and 9.3 per cent and generated huge demand of around Rs 19,000 crore.

Gold collected under monetisation scheme lies idle

Of the government's twin gold schemes, the Sovereign Gold Bond Scheme has done quite well but the Gold Monetisation Scheme (GMS) is yet to take off. While about four tonnes of gold is estimated to have been collected under GMS, about two-thirds is due to renewal of old deposits.

What is worrying is that even the little fresh inflow, estimated at 1,600 kg, are lying idle. The yellow metal garnered from this scheme is supposed to be lent to jewellers. But, the amount under the medium- and long-term scheme has to be auctioned by MMTC, where jewellers, bullion dealers, traders, exporters and banks can bid. Due to several procedural issues, it has not been lent or auctioned.