Lakshmi Iyer, President and CIO (Debt) & Head Products - Kotak Mahindra Asset Management

Breaking Investment Stereotypes with Rajkumar Singhal

My guest for today is Lakshmi Iyer. Lakshmi is currently President and Chief Investment Officer (Debt) & Head Products for Kotak Mahindra Asset Management Company (KMAMC). She has been with the organisation since the last 20 years.

Joining KMAMC in 1999 as a fund manager, Lakshmi was responsible for credit research, deal execution, managing fund performance across all debt funds and assisting sales in client interaction. In addition to that, she has been a portfolio specialist, and managed product related initiatives such as product pricing and coordination with the funds management and sales team in that role.

Prior to joining Kotak, Lakshmi worked with Credence Analytics Pvt Ltd, as a research analyst where she was tracking corporate bond markets in India and generating research reports. She was also instrumental in conceiving various financial software tools in collaboration with software and technical teams.

Lakshmi holds an MBA degree in finance from Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies.

She loves exploring new places for travelling, is a big food lover, and is an ardent movie buff. She has a popular twitter handle @lakshmi1876

Show notes:

0:50 – Introduction about Lakshmi

1:53 – Many firsts and unique aspects about this podcast

2:52 – Lakshmi’s personal and professional journey

5:05 – State of Fixed Income securities in India

7:46 – Comparison of Indian versus US Fixed Income market

8:41 – How to look at Debt Mutual Funds from portfolio asset allocation perspective

11:30 – Financial advisor zaroori hota hai

13:49 – Lakshmi’s views on current global factors - inflation, rates and RBI actions

19:32 – How to position portfolio given global cues

21:05 – Types of risks in Bond markets and how to think about Duration and Credit

24:30 – How Kotak AMC navigated the Franklin Templeton situation

28:12 – Lakshmi’s thoughts on “risk hai to ishq hai”

31:07 – Thoughts on Credit Risk Funds in India

33:22 – Investing in Global debt funds

36:48 – Active versus Passive managed funds

39:44 – How Lakshmi manages her personal finances

42:39 – How Lakshmi chooses her ‘Pic(k) of the day’ on Twitter (Twitter: @Lakshmi1876)

44:10 – Lakshmi’s reading habits and recommendations

47:07 – Raj and Lakshmi’s Bollywood aspirations :D

50:09 – Lakshmi’s life and investing idols

52:00 – Advice to 20 year old self

Book Recommendations

1. Life over Two Beers and other stories by Sanjeev Sanyal

2. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens