Navneet Munot is the Chief Investment Officer of SBI MF from 2008. He is fund manager with similar experience like Prashant Jain who is the Chief Investment Officer of HDFC MF. Navneet will now replace Milind Barve who is the current MD & CEO of HDFC MF. So, Navneet will now move to the business side from fund management. India’s top two MFs CIOs will be in one company - similar to having Dhoni & Rohit Sharma in Chennai Super kings(IPL) team(Just an analogy and not apple to apple comparison).There can be friction due to distinctive investment styles but only time will tell. Here are the things that come to my mind.
- Navneet as I read in the news is known for his understanding of macros. Most probably, in his capacity as CIO, the SBI MF market outlook comes from his team. You can see the sample one in the below link.
What Mr. Navneet can bring to HDFC MF
- Thematic funds
- Bring in his macros expertise
- Lure some of his team members who are delivering well at SBI MF to HDFC MF. HDFC AMC is giving ESOPs more these days and SBI MF is not yet listed. This ESOP amount can be handy.
- Use of some strategies which are working well at SBI MF. For example, SBI Small Cap is hedging their portfolio using NIFTY options. I did not see this in HDFC MF schemes if I remember correctly.
- SBI MF was 6th when he became CIO of SBI MF and now it is first. He will be asked to replicate the success mantra in HDFC MF like in SBI MF.
Disclosure - HDFC AMC is the top holding in my portfolio and I have a SIP running for SBI Small Cap scheme.