The tradition portrays women as better money managers domestically. Wealth derives from rather Goddesses than Gods as per the belief of many ancient cultures and religions.

There are two Women Portfolio Managers within the PMS bazaar universe of 70+ Portfolio Managers (125+ Strategies). On this special occasion of International Women’s day 2020, PMS bazaar is privileged to publish this special edition “Women Portfolio Managers in PMS”.

“Each for Equal” is the Slogan of International Women’s Day - 2020. While progress is being made by women in many of the fields it is only a budding time for the Portfolio Management. Though there are popular women names in the international Fund Management the overall percentage to the total appears to be low.

The tradition portrays women as better money managers domestically. Women have been responsible for the higher house hold savings in many countries including India. Wealth derives from rather Goddesses than Gods as per the belief of many ancient cultures and religions. Lakshmi is the Goddess of wealth & prosperity in Hindu culture. Ancient Roman religion’s Goddess of money, prosperity and wealth is "Abundantia". (This is the probable source of the word abundance). Another Goddess of Wealth is Moneta the Greek Goddess. Moneta is the source for English words mint and money. Egyptian Goddess of prosperity, harvest and nourishment is Reneutet.

PMS Bazaar is privileged to present this special edition covering the two Professional, efficient and effective Portfolio Managers in PMS

Ms. Aparna Shanker   Portfolio Manager - SBI FUNDS Management Pvt. Ltd.

Ms. Aparna Shanker joined SBIFM in 2007 as a research analyst and was subsequently promoted as a Portfolio Manager. Prior to SBI Funds Management, she was a research analyst with Sahara Asset Management and Birla Global Finance for four years. Ms. Aparna Shanker started her career with Unit Trust of India (UTI) Asset Management in 1989. She has been associated with the investment & fund management team of Unit Trust of India (UTI) for more than 11 years. Ms. Aparna Shanker is a Science graduate and she is also a graduate in general law from Mumbai University. Along with this she also holds a Master’s degree in Finance and a post-graduate diploma in Treasury & Forex Management from ICFAI University.

Ms. Aprna shanker has been managing “SBI Growth with Values Portfolio”, since inception (July 2016). The Strategy is concentrated with 15 to 20 high conviction stocks picked through bottom-up selection process. Due to the nature of bottom-up stock selection the Strategy is Market Cap as well as Sector agnostic. S&P BSE 500 is the Benchmark.

The Philosophy of the Growth with Values Portfolio revolves around Social Responsibility with integral part of Fiduciary responsibility and to invest in companies with Positive ESG Standards.

As on 31st January 2020, SBI Growth with Values Portfolio has returned 28.90% in the last one year. Compared to the BSE-500, Benchmark return of 9.60%, this is quite good return indeed.

Exclusive interview with Ms. Aparna Shanker,Portfolio Manager - SBI Funds.

State Bank of India’s Growth with Values PMS Strategy has outperformed its benchmark BSE-500 by a wide margin in the past one year (as on 31-Jan-2020). How could you achieve this appreciable performance?

The fund philosophy is to invest in high conviction ideas, businesses which follow positive standards of Environment, Social and Governance (ESG). We follow stringent ESG framework through which we filter stocks not only on the traditional factors like ROE, ROCE, leverage, sales growth, earnings growth etc. but qualitative factors like corporate governance, socially responsible managements and businesses which are not harmful to environment.  When we look back, we clearly see that we could avoid lot of accidents by not investing in such companies which bore brunt of not following good standards of these factors.

The out-performance was also outcome of our bottom up stock selection.  As the business environment was slurred, our intensity of interactions with various business participants like management, competitors, channel partners increased substantially.  These interactions made us believe that economic recovery will be slow and struggling.  In such scenario, our bias was more towards investing in leaders of the businesses rather than challengers. This strategy helped even for listing of new businesses like life insurance, asset management, etc.  Staying away from mainstream NBFCs also contributed towards out-performance.

SBI’s investment philosophy focuses on Positive ESG Standards. Can you please share the nuances of ESG and its implications on your Portfolio?

SBI Growth with Values is 3 ½ years old now and has been following ESG thesis from its launch.  It is the first ESG based product under PMS in India.  We have been upgrading our evaluation processes and making them more accident-proof continuously. Initially we used to evaluate companies based on ESG factors internally. Currently we take support of one of the global and one Indian ESG risk evaluating agencies to score companies on ESG factors. It is based on all publicly available information.

The fund has adopted negative screening methodology and do not invest in environment destructing, socially irresponsible and businesses with low degree of corporate governance.  For example, we do not invest in liquor, tobacco, pesticide companies.  We also do not invest in companies which have ESG score below minimum threshold of 40.

We engage deeply with our investee companies and help them to improve their positive commitment towards E, S and G factors. We also advocate ESG to other companies, investors like family offices which approach us. The objective is not to restrict investment universe but to expand it by helping companies to improve their ESG score.

You are one of the very few in the Portfolio Management Services who are qualified diversely in number of domains like Science, Law, Finance and Treasury & Forex Management added with more than two decades of investment, fund management and research analysis.  More importantly, Work/Life time management is quite challenging for many. What is your experience? What is your advice to effectively balance work/Life time? Some advice to the young women aspirants to become Portfolio Managers?

It is really, immensely challenging job, no two thoughts about it.  My only suggestion would be to follow your heart, do things which you are passionate about.  I think passion is what keeps you motivated. Stay self-motivated.  Nuture the ecosystem, build support system with the help of your family members.  Do not take slice out of family members’ time but reduce your sleep-time.  That’s what I frankly did, used to get up at 4 am when I was studying MBA (my younger son was 1 year old).  Its ‘marathon’ not a ‘sprint’, endure and win.

What are the books you have been reading? Is there a treatise on Women Portfolio Management?  Can you please suggest any good motivational book for young women aspiring to become Portfolio Managers?

I have been hungry reader and my choice keeps shifting from fiction to finance. ‘Treatise on Women’ I am not sure, at least I haven’t come across.  On a lighter note, why do you need it, write your own story.

I have found Sudha Murthy very helpful to bring the confidence in yourself, ‘Lean In’ by Sheryl Sandberg is good read.  For those starting their career, ‘Catalysts’ by V Chandramouli, ex-Mondelez is crisp and directional. I like to read Peter Lynch, Howard Mark. I feel HM is more contemporary and my most favourite.

Lastly, I dedicate my career to one and only “Jonathan Livingston Seagull” by Richard Bach.

Ms. Natasha Lulla Portfolio Manager - Aditya Birla Capital PMS

Ms. Natasha Lulla, has over 11 years of experience in equity research and fund management. Prior to joining Aditya Birla – Portfolio Managers, she was working with Goldman Sachs as an equity analyst covering India Materials sector. In her earlier stint at Goldman, she was doing Portfolio Strategy for ASEAN regions and also covered Singapore Real Estate.

Ms. Natasha Lulla, holds a Master’s in Business Administration (Finance Major) from Management Development Institute, Gurgaon and was the Gold Medallist for each of the two years. She was also awarded a Gold Medal for achieving 1st rank in the Finance stream. She has done her graduation in Economics from Lady Shri Ram College, New Delhi and graduated amongst the top 1% in Delhi University.

Ms. Natasha Lulla has been managing two of the Strategies, India Special Opportunities and Innovation Portfolios exclusively and the remaining three Portfolios are managed by her jointly with Mr. Vishal Gajwani. Aditya Birla’s methodology of picking winers through “Piotroski-Score” has been effectively used by Ms. Natasha Lulla.

India Special Opportunities Strategy is a multicap strategy incepted on 15th June 2018 and being managed by Ms. Natasha Lulla. The strategy focuses on 15 to 20 companies to benefit from the catalysts like micro turn-around, change in Business cycle, deleveraging, demerger, Mid to Large potential etc.

As on 31st January 2020, India Special Opportunities Strategy has returned 20.14% in the last one year. Compared to the Nifty-500, Benchmark return of 9.52%, this is quite good return indeed. The performance of the Portfolio since inception is 9.58% as aginst 3.36% of the Benchmark.

Innovation Portfolio is also a multicap strategy incepted on 24th April 2018 and being managed by Ms. Natasha Lulla. 50 to 75% of the portfolio will be invested in companies under innovation framework and the balance on secular growth oriented companies.

As on 31st January 2020, Innovation Strategy has retrned 23.85% in the last one year. Compared to the Nifty-500, Benchmark return of 9.52%, this is quite good return indeed. The performance of the Portfolio since inception is 12.33% as against 2.80% of the Benchmark.

Exclusive interview with Ms. Natasha Lulla, Portfolio Manager – Aditya Birla.

Two of the new strategies launched in the last couple of years have done extremely well. Both the strategies have returned more than 20% in the past one year as on 31-Jan-2020 and beaten the respective benchmarks sizeably. How could you achieve this appreciable performance?

Yes, most of our schemes under Birla PMS have done well in the last 1 year, including two new funds launched over the last two years. Over the last few years, our investment philosophy has been to focus on high quality businesses, with consistent growth and returns profile.

Majority of our portfolios consist of businesses with established and time-tested business models, companies which have demonstrated high pricing power, companies with low market penetration presenting a longer runway for growth, and Banks & NBFCs having access to low cost debt & strong balance sheets. Few stocks that have contributed to the outperformance are ICICI Bank, Trent, Vinati Organics, Avenue Supermarts, Bharti and Nestle.

Can you please explain the effectiveness of Piotroski –Score and its implications on the Portfolios?

P-score is a financial score, devised by Joseph Piotroski, who is a professor at Stanford Business School. It has been a very effective screener for us, as it measures the overall strength of the firm’s financial position, and also the improvement in parameters like profitability, financial leverage and operating efficiency. In order to ensure that we focus on the right set of companies, we have devised comprehensive screeners like P-score. The screening process is backed by extensive fundamental research to identify portfolio companies.

You are one of the very few in the Portfolio Management Services who are managing five  portfolios simultaneously, covering small Cap, Mid Cap and Large Cap severally with four different benchmarks. The time management especially with focus to each strategy may have been quite challenging. What is your advice on time management to the young women aspiring to become Portfolio Managers?

I strongly believe that the underlying philosophy across our funds is the same, which helps us focus on select companies and sectors. Our entire team is aligned to the broader objective of wealth creation for the clients, and all the funds that we manage are in some sense offshoots of our broader philosophy highlighted earlier.

I genuinely believe that life is a marathon and not a sprint! As women, we don’t have to be too hard on ourselves at all times. Considering that we play so many different roles in our lives, it is crucial that we stay in the moment, and focus on what is at hand. Whatever little time I get (apart from the usual tasks), I focus on reading. Be it blogs, books or annual reports. I think as a investor, one needs to have a large appetite for knowledge as learning never stops in this field. Apart from this, discipline and hard work is always the key to doing well irrespective of the field.

What are your choices of motivating books? Can you please suggest an interesting reading for the young women aspirants?

A couple of books that I read early in my career and helped me get a good perspective on investing include Poor Charlie’s Almanack and One Up on the Wall Street by Peter Lynch. Poor Charlie’s Almanack is a collection of speeches and interviews of Charlie Munger, and is a good summary of his key learning. In One up on the Wall Street, Peter Lynch talks about his investing process, and how to choose companies that have the potential to become great. Also, if one pays attention to the world around, there are lot of data points that can help us identify great companies.