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FM Churn and why this leads to us prefering Owner-Managed Boutique Investment Firms

Since 2015, the investments industry in India has seen a very sharp rise in some of the most senior fund managers (FMs) in the industry, leaving to set up their own investment funds. The strong bounce back in markets post 2014, the continued evolution of the wealth management industry in India, investors seeking newer & more differentiated investment options and other such factors, have made it substantially easier for a senior fund managers to exit employment and set up their own fund (since they are more confident of being able to scale their funds in a more evolved Indian wealth management system). 

We provide below a snapshot of some of the major CIO’s / Fund Managers, who have left their past employers over the past 7-8 years, often to set up their own funds

CIO’s who left Large AMC’s to set up their own Funds

  • Prashant Khema (ex-Goldman Saachs EM CIO): left Goldman to set up WhiteOak in 2017
  • Sunil Singhania (ex-CIO Nippon MF): left Nippon to set up Abakkus in 2018
  • Madhusudhan Kela (ex-Chief Investment Strategist Nippon MF): left nippon to set up MK Ventures in 2017
  • Prashant Jain (ex-CIO HDFC MF): left HDFC MF to set up 3P Investment Managers in 2022
  • Pankaj Murarka (ex-CIO Axis MF): left Axis MF to set up Renaissance in 2017
  • Jinesh Gopani (ex-CIO Axis MF): left Axis MF to set up Taksh AMC in 2023
  • Kenneth Andrade (ex-CIO IDFC MF): left IDFC MF to set up Oldbridge Capital in 2015
  • Saurabh Mukherjea (ex-CEO Ambit PMS): left Ambit to set up Marcellus in 2018

 

Senior Fund Managers who left to set up their own Funds

  • Pankaj Tibrewal (ex-FM Kotak MF): left to set up Ikigai in 2023
  • Viral Berawala (ex-FM Nippon & Essel MF), Sachin Khivasara (ex-FM Enam & Nippon MF): left to set up Buoyant Capital in 2016
  • Abhishek Bharadwaj (ex FM State Union Life Insurance) & Anurag Jain (ex CIO Canara Life Insurance): left to set up Green Lantern with other partners in 2016 & 2020 respectively
  • Miten Lathia (ex-FM HDFC MF): left to set up Fractal Capital in 2020

 

Senior CIO’s/FM’s who left to join other firms

  • Taher Badshah (ex Head-Equities Motilal MF): left to join Invesco in 2016
  • Anup Maheshwari (ex-CIO DSP MF): left to join 360One in 2018
  • Vetri Subramiam (ex-CIO Invesco MF): left to join UTI MF in 2017
  • Navin Munot (ex-CIO SBI MF): left to join HDFC MF in 2021
  • Senior investment team at Canara Robeco MF: a large part of Canara Robeco’s senior investment team, including Nimesh Chandan (CIO), Ravi Gopalakrishna (Head-equities), Hemang Kapsi (FM) and Yogest Patil (Senior FM) left for different opportunities around 2018

 

Important churn in Non-Owner Manager PMS Investment Teams

  • Motilal CIO & FM (Manish Sonthalia, Shrey Loonker, Susmit Patodia, Shanakaranarayana): virtually the entire Motilal PMS team left over 2022-23
  • Kotak PMS CIO (Anshul Saighal): left in 2023 after over a decade at Kotak 
  • Axis PMS CIO (Trideep Bhattacharya): left in Sep-21 to join Edelweiss MF
  • Equirus FM & CIO (Viraj Mehta): left Equirus in 2024, after a period of sustained outperformance
  • Centrum PMS CIO & FM (Anil Sarin/Abhishek Anand): Both CIO & FM of Centrum left in 2024, leading to a large vaccum in the investment team
  • Nippon PMS-AIF Head-Equity (Varun Goel): left in Mar-24 to join Mirae