 "Street signs: Staffing stocks find favour, MRP Agro IPO, and more")
Rich PF investors may opt for debt MFs
Wealthy investors who pump a sizeable amount into Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) may look to move some money to debt mutual funds, reckon experts. According to reports, the average corpus invested by high net-worth individuals in EPF accounts is Rs 5.92 crore each. According to the Budget proposal, interest earned on contribution of Rs 2.5 lakh or more to the EPF account will become taxable. "While investment in debt funds comes with a much higher risk, wealthy investors will have no choice but to explore this option to lower their tax burden and maximise returns," said an MF industry official. Long-term capital gains for debt funds for a holding period of three years and above are taxed at 20 per cent with indexation.
Ashley Coutinho
Staffing stocks find favour
The Street has turned bullish on staffing stocks. Shares of the two listed players — Quess Corp and Teamlease — have gained more than 20 per cent each, so far, this year. In the same period, the benchmark Sensex is up 6 per cent. The bullish stance is underpinned by forecasts of exponential growth in industry size over the next decade. “The impact of new labour reforms and the correlation of the informal workforce with GDP per capita reinforce our view on the structural growth drivers for India’s staffing industry, with a potential addressable market to grow 6 times over the next decade from $10.4 billion currently to $61.5 billion by 2030,” Goldman Sachs stated.
Sundar Sethuraman
Lull in SME listings set to end
The IPO of MRP Agro set to be launched this week will the first by an SME since November. During the same period, the mainboard has seen eight IPOs amid buoyancy in the secondary market. “SMEs have failed to cash in on the boom in the secondary markets and favourable sentiment towards IPO. This is partly because of lack of preparedness, but mainly SMEs have not been able to bounce back as strong as some of the large firms,” said an investment banker.
Samie Modak
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