The Hindu Business Line : Money knows no gender

She has spent a lifetime immersed in the world of literature. But in 2003, noted Tamil writer Sivasankari realised that it was important to learn how to manage her funds better. She hasn't looked back.

She is the kind of investor who, on a day when Infosys price dips by Rs 150 or so, can call up her broker and say casually: "Pick up 100 Infosys for me." During the interview, while advising women to put some of their money into equity, not directly, but through the IPOs of mutual funds, she says: "Only yesterday, I put Rs 2 lakh in the IPOs of four different funds."

But Tamil writer Sivasankari, who can today take such decisions with the confidence of a seasoned equity investor, didn't know anything about the stock market, or investment per se, even two years ago.

"My husband, an engineer working for BHEL as zonal manager, was very interested in stocks; but I was totally disinterested in finance," she says. Though she did work for three years as a PRO at a bank in Chennai, "it had nothing to do with banking or finance; I was in the personal loans section. Around that time I started writing and my mind was in music, dance, creative writing, etc, I thought finance and stocks were very boring."

She had neither the time nor interest in the factories owned by her husband's family. But a year after her husband's death in 1984, "my father-in-law insisted that I sit with the auditor and learn to manage my funds, which I did reluctantly."

From 1985 to 2003, her income came "from writing, whatever my family had given me and RBI bonds. The TV serials started from 1986; the money was ample and I didn't even think there could be another way of earning."

But all along, in the odd investment decisions she made, like buying a property in Kodaikkanal, "I found that my gut feeling about an investment decision was good; perhaps it was in my genes... from my father, a well known chartered accountant (Suri of Suri & Co)."

In 2003 she decided she wouldn't take on any more TV serials, which brought in good money, "because I had to finish my venture `Knit India Through Literature', a 4-volume literary project that I had started in 1993, and which required enormous work."

It pays to pay interest

The liquidity problem in mid-2003 made her sit up and think. "Not that I had a major financial problem... but with interest rates and bond yields down, and a ceiling of Rs 2 lakh on RBI bonds, I told myself I had to manage my funds better."

It was then that she took a serious look at her husband's portfolio of shares, some of which she had tried to sell a decade ago. "He had some good stocks like ITC, and later my cousin too had bought HLL for me. I had also been allotted Apollo Hospital's promoter shares after my husband's demise."

Sivasankari recalls that this was also the era when mutual funds had embarked on an aggressive marketing spree. "I used to get regular bulletins which I would chuck into the wastepaper basket unopened! But in mid-2003 I started reading them and said that if the NAVs (net asset value) of UTI Petrol, Pharma and other good schemes had come down to Rs 6 or Rs 7, why not invest in them."

She knew something about NAVs because in 2001, Sundaram MF representatives had met her and "without knowing anything about equity, I had put a lot of money (about Rs 21 lakh!) in Sundaram Focus and Midcap funds. I invested because they were giving good dividend. But in 2002, when my Rs 21 lakh became Rs 10 lakh, there was little I could do except wait for it to go up again." Today she is happy because the schemes have done well and she has got handsome dividend payout too; "it has been a huge pendulum swing."

In mid-2003, when the NAVs of some UTI equity funds were low, she put Rs 1 lakh in each fund, including Rs 1 lakh in an infotech fund. "This was not a big amount; by October-November the NAVs started going up and by end-2003 I really got interested and started tracking the daily movements of the Sensex and Nifty. In 2004 I went into equity in a very big way; I'm very happy with my returns and continue investing in equity funds and buying some select individual this year too."

Though busy with her 4-volume project, she sets aside an hour or two to watch her portfolio, 80 per cent of which is through the MF route and 20 per cent through direct investment.

"Cholamandalam Securities are my fund managers; and I talk to many other fund managers too," says the writer, who by 2004 had become comfortable enough with the world of equity to buy on her own Infosys, Satyam, and TCS and NTPC in the IPO. But the MFs have the bigger chunk of her money: Franklin India Templeton (Prima and Blue Chip), Sundaram, HDFC and other equity funds. "Even though they say it is a risk to buy equity after 60, I chose to do so because I watch the market daily, and even if it crashes, as it did on May 16, 2004 (when she bought some scrips) I know it will go up again because I'm a long-term investor."

But in two years, this savvy investor has also learnt that when the NAVs go up dramatically, "and the market is overheated, it is also time to redeem some money and put it elsewhere, like new IPOs, because you get the units at Rs 10 plus a small entry load. Some of the funds I bought at NAVs of Rs 10 or so, I exited at Rs 18 and above. If a fund is not performing, I give it a few months or a year. If it fails to deliver, or gives a return of only 10 to 15 per cent, I switch to another fund that gives 20 to 25 per cent return."

Money matters

So does she get such returns?

"I did in 2004, and 2005 has been very good so far. And I keep watching the market."

On the time horizon, Sivasankari says the scrips she buys on her own are for short term, "except IT. Others, like Nagarjuna Fertilizers — I bought 1,000 recently — or Reliance Industries, I'll keep for a short term. If I get 20 to 25 per cent return, I will sell them. I try and avoid the short-term capital gains tax of 10 per cent by selling within a year. But if the price goes up substantially, or I feel it will not go up much, I sell and pay the tax to book profits or protect my capital as the case may be."

So what does she do if she buys something and the price crashes?

"Till now, I haven't had such an experience," is this lucky investor's response!

She had 6,000 of Apollo Hospitals shares, of which she sold some at Rs 200, some around Rs 400, but held on when the price fell below 100. "Now the price is around Rs 325 but I don't want to sell for sentimental reasons; I'm very fond of Apollo (which had treated her husband). HLL gives me hardly 5 per cent annual return but having held it so long, I continue to hold it."

Wasn't she worried about her Reliance holding when the Ambani brothers started fighting?

"No, it's too big an empire to be affected by the brothers' fight or the fine on Reliance Info... these are small problems."

Sivasankari, who dislikes the term "playing the market", has also invested in safe instruments like the PPF, Post Office, RBI bonds, etc. "Now I've opened an account with Cholamandalam Securities so I can directly buy and sell shares. Once I finish the final volume of Knit India in 12 to 18 months, I'll be able to give more time to my equity investment."

About women being reluctant to invest in equity, she says, "No woman should say investing in equity is a man's job. Today even a housewife handles money and should be aware how to invest extra money. I feel MFs are quite safe; you get good dividend that is tax-free. A woman has to know about money and the returns it can give. People need extra money for children's education, or wedding, or medical treatment and some like me, for society's welfare and charity. So start reading business papers, watch TV channels and don't throw bulletins away unread as I used to. Watch the market for a month or so... If I could pick up in three months, so can anybody."

Sivasankari channels part of her income/profits into charity. "I tell my fund mangers, the more I earn, the more money will go into charity." She recently donated Rs 1 lakh to the CM's tsunami relief fund; she funds the education of about 120 children a year.

She has started endowments in various educational and medical institutions. "I want to do that even for temples. Three years ago I wrote my will, naming about 50 institutions as beneficiaries. But then I said: Why wait till I die to give out my money? My husband and I always said that God made us childless because we could adopt many children. When my mother says my friends have so many grandchildren, I tell her: "Amma, you have hundreds of them."

Response can be sent to rasheeda@thehindu.co.in

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