October 2015

In 2014 we launched our first offshore fund – “ASSETICA INDIA EQUITY FUND”. After demonstrating consistent benchmark beating performance for five years in our domestic PMS, we extended our offering to foreign nationals/ institutions and NRI’s investing in dollars. It was a continuation of the fund management philosophy which we followed for last five years in our domestic PMS. With ASSETICA INDIA EQUITY FUND we earned the distinction of being the only advisors to have launched their own offshore fund. We now have clients spread across geographies from UK, Germany, UAE, Singapore and Thailand.

It now gives us great pleasure to celebrate the first anniversary of ASSETICA INDIA EQUITY FUND. It was a rewarding year for us where we delivered more than 25% alpha over benchmark and 22% absolute US dollar returns in the first year. We achieved this in a year where the benchmark index delivered negative returns due to a flat market, slow corporate growth, falling business confidence & global volatility. In this time we also witnessed depreciation of rupee against dollar.

As is evident from the table above we have been able to protect the downside and consistently outperform the benchmark over a 1 year period.

Product	1 Year Return
Assetica	22.9%
CNX 500 (USD)	-3.2%
SENSEX (USD)	-6.5%

We are well on track to achieve what we set out to do. Establish good investment experience for our clients while striving to do so for many years.

The important thing is also to know how we were able to achieve this meaningful feat. We got our basics right, avoided mistakes, followed our core principles and stuck to quality. Additionally the key points listed below were followed diligently by the fund management team:

a. Construction of 20 stock portfolio which were from our list of well researched and high conviction stocks
b. Continuous monitoring of each and every data points and news from the companies held
c. Avoided almost all losing trades like Oil & Gas, Banking, Telecom and IT
d. Identified a few big winners like Force Motors, Bluedart, Wabco India, 3M India and Gillette.

I would like thank you all for the support and encouragement and will seek the same going forward. We endeavour to continue our good work and hope to manage all your expectations.

Going Forward
As an asset manager we always look at big ideas and trends. We also like to find consensus trends and try to move away from the same to avoid setbacks. Currently the biggest consensus trade is that dollar is the most stable currency and will continue to appreciate after FED hikes interest rates. Today US bonds, US dollar and US stocks are the most favored trade with very large bets being placed on them. Most of us feel they’re a safe haven which to us is a clear sign of herding.

Our big idea for next year is US dollar weakening which will surprise everyone. Most of the positions in the world are favoring dollar and any movement on the contrary will take most by surprise. We are positioning ourselves to benefit from this idea.

Regards,

Vinod Jain