S Naren: Fund Design, Hybrids & BAFs, AI & CIO | Ep. 6 | MF Chronicles with Vikaas M Sachdeva

Описание: “Investing isn’t arithmetic. It’s judgment.”
That line stayed with me.

In this chronicle, I sit down with Sankaran Naren - currently the CIO at ICICI Prudential AMC, but once a fund manager navigating the excesses of the 90s, the lessons of 2008, and the eventual rise of hybrid investing.

He has seen the industry evolve - from unchecked optimism to tighter regulation, from pure equity enthusiasm to disciplined asset allocation.

This conversation isn’t about predicting markets. It’s about designing for them.
We talk about the mistakes of 2007–08, why investors got scarred, and how Balanced Advantage was built to manage risk first - buying when markets fall, trimming when they rise.

We discuss:
• What the industry learnt the hard way after 2008
• Why “not scarring investors” became a philosophy
• Asset allocation as discipline - not a marketing pitch
• Value vs quality cycles and surviving long underperformance
• IPO froth and why sellers often know more
• Why risk management becomes harder at scale
• The real challenge of being a CIO
• And whether AI will assist - not replace - decision-making

What I appreciated most was his clarity:
Markets will always be volatile. The job is to build systems that survive them.

If you care about how the hybrid category truly evolved and what responsible fund management looks like - this episode is for you.
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Connect with me across social media.
Stream the MF Chronicles podcast on your favourite app. - https://linktr.ee/vikaasmsachdeva

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📌 Disclaimer: All visuals and graphics used in this video belong to their respective owners. Credits are mentioned on-screen wherever applicable.
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Chapters:
00:00 Presented By
00:05 Episode Trailer
01:45 Legal Disclaimer
01:50 Episode Introduction
03:15 Fund Origins
06:33 Design Flaws
09:02 Telecom Analogy
10:07 Market Triggers
11:41 Market Myths
14:21 BAF Story
19:27 SIP Perception
20:37 Dividend Design
22:43 Process Debate
24:06 MF vs FD
26:03 Post Commissions
29:28 Value Reality
33:21 IPO Mania
36:47 Asset Allocation
38:46 MAF vs BAF
39:46 ETF vs AIF
40:41 Category Future
43:19 Manager Advice
45:29 AI vs CIO
46:17 Old vs New
47:16 CIMR QnA
47:31 Conviction Building
48:31 SME View
48:54 Stock Prediction
50:18 Investing Tips
51:28 Core Skill
52:46 Episode Outro
53:29 End Credits


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