These are times which everyone will remember for long and will be referred to for a long time as well. Several lessons will be learnt and several regulations will undergo a change worldwide with the risk that some countries and certain financial services sectors will become over regulated.

To a large extent we had always seen either the Equity markets doing well or the Fixed Income Markets doing well. This was one of those times when the Equity markets went down dramatically and the Liquidity Squeeze or the Liquidity Disappearance created a double whammy of sorts.

Banks, Corporates and Mutual Funds, all came under pressure due to the severe liquidity squeeze. The panic which set in reminded one of the Mumbai floods and the stampedes which are noticed at overcrowded places. The Mumbai floods, most of the Mumbaikars caught in those floods would recall, had seen all Cars coming onto the roads given the hurry on the part of the citizens to reach the safety of their homes as soon as possible and the Cars occupied a lot of space on the roads which the water otherwise could have occupied, thereby raising the level of water much more than the cloud burst itself intended to raise.

Though, the RBI acted swiftly and SEBI was very very active during the entire course, yet, Liquidity assumed different definitions for various financial services players and showed itself in different colours for Banks, Corporates and Mutual Funds.

Amidst all this mayhem, Taurus Mutual Fund was well placed given the conservative approach we had taken to increasing our business and we could tide over one of the severest crisis witnessed by the Indian Economy in recent memory.

To a large extent, a conscious decision of not going aggressive on mobilizations in Debt funds in August, September and October helped us and anticipating the situation to a certain extent we delayed the launch of our already SEBI approved (AAA rated by CRISIL), Taurus Liquid Plus Fund.

We continue to hire and increase our strengths with almost 18 colleagues joining us between the previous blog and today at our Head Office in Mumbai and in various branches in investments as well as in other departments.

The second office in Mumbai that we had been getting furnished is ready for us to move in. While this new office in Mumbai will be the Head Office of Taurus Mutual Fund, our existing office at Nariman Point in Mumbai will be our Sales Office.

In between given our Long Term commitment to the business we continue to hire and open branches and are looking at augmenting our strength on the investment side, both Equity and Fixed Income, analysts as well as Fund Managers.

Coming back to where I started, while appreciation is due to SEBI and RBI, all of us know that the Liquidity position in the country is still unsatisfactory and all of us would be glad to see RBI taking steps to ensure enough liquidity in the market place. Tightness of Liquidity is known to slow down Economic Growth and we can do without it.

Last but not the least, we reiterate that the Long Term investor or the SIP investor should continue investing in Equity Mutual Funds and not try to time the market. The Market and Economics are bigger than all of us and appreciate people/investors who stick with it. Of course the investment has to be out of sustainable money and not from the short term money available with the investor so that the investor can reap the full benefit of his/her investments.

The Long Term growth story of India is still intact and will continue to remain intact. This is one of the factors contributing to the positive side of the Economics and Markets.

With Warm Regards,

Yours Truly,

Waqar Naqvi
Chief Executive