Expect RBI to cut rates in first half of next calendar year: Shibani Sircar Kurian

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Shibani Sircar Kurian, Senior EVP, Fund Manager & Head -Equity Research, Kotak Mahindra AMC, says “despite market volatility, clearly the good part has been that the SIP flows have been consistent and have in fact even gone up and therefore there is a considerable amount of maturity that has come in where retail equity investors are concerned either directly or through the mutual fund route and so from that perspective this bodes well for the entire spectrum of asset managers, brokers, wealth managers and the like.”SIP data has surged back to all-time high and for the first time ever has crossed Rs 15,000 crore a month mark. It surely is a vibrant market seemingly but it appears that real flows are coming back especially to midcaps and smallcaps. How do you see this entire collection of stocks? Do you find value in them or do some of them appear stretched now?Overall, what has been happening not just now but over the last maybe three, three-and-a-half years has been the sharp change in terms of how retail behaviour has been in the equity market space and despite market volatility, clearly the good part has been that the SIP flows have been consistent and have in fact even gone up and therefore there is a considerable amount of maturity that has come in where retail equity investors are concerned either directly or through the mutual fund route and so from that perspective this bodes well for the entire spectrum of asset managers, brokers, wealth managers and the like.

However, when you look at that space, there are a few key things to evaluate. For instance, in the asset management space, there are possibilities of regulatory changes and therefore one has to wait and see what can be the impact of those changes in terms