An `eternal optimist'

Rasheeda Bhagat

A CHARTERED accountant by profession, Kotak's Mahindra Capital's Shanti Ekambaram is a die-hard optimist, ``a highly risk-prone person'' and a firm believer in equity. She has gone against the trend in her family -- her father and sister will not venture beyond fixed deposits.

``Most of my life, I have put all my money into the equity market and very little into fixed income schemes. I think in the beginning stage of your career, in the first 6-8 years, you can afford to lose money. But in the last one year, I hold about 70 per cent of my money in liquid fund; not even in a debt or bond fund, but in a liquid fund. The reason is...the atmosphere is such that one has to be cautious.

``At the same time, in the last 10 days (the interview was held in the second week of October), I have been seeing good opportunities to get into equity, and being the eternal optimist that I am, I propose to enter the equity market at these levels... and put about 15-20 per cent of my money in equity,'' she says breezily.

The sectors of her choice are ``clearly pharma, cement and oil and gas. I am bullish about this.'' She would also go in for one or two tech stocks where the valuations are attractive. ``Beyond this, I would not stretch unless I start seeing interesting opportunities.''

All this is from her incremental income. For the first 10-12 years of her career, she ``had no fixed income instruments at all; 100 per cent of my money was in equity. Maybe this is a sign that I am growing old. In the last one year, all incremental money has gone into fixed income products.'' But once again she is eyeing equity!

No prizes for guessing that the first stock Ms Ekambaram bought was HLL. She had started putting a little money into equity even while studying. Her other favourites those days were Tisco and ACC.

She continued buying more into equity over the years, but is still holding onto some of those shares. ``I follow a very different philosophy; I believe in building in a line of stock. If you think the story is good and if you have extra money, invest more till it reaches a certain size.''

She feels HLL has given her ``handsome returns'' and is delighted with its latest decision to give a Rs 6 debenture per share. ``You get 9 per cent interest on it and there is capital appreciation too. So it is a good deal for its investors.'' She also held both ITC and Colgate at one time but not any more.

It is not surprising to find that a risk-prone investor like her should buy into technology. Though she did not subscribe to the Infosys IPO, she bought it at various levels and continues to hold it in her portfolio. ``I have dabbled and traded in tech too. If today anybody in the market says they have not bought tech, they are probably not being honest with themselves,'' she says.

Fortunately, she did not get caught in the KP stocks ``because I strictly follow what I said: I do not buy something I do not understand because I do not have the time to track the companies. The worst thing about me is I only buy; I rarely sell.'' So, she was that extra careful to go for quality.

Though the business she is into, as well as her inherent nature (``I am an eternal optimist'') make her take risks, she enjoys the equity game thoroughly. ``It is great both to make money and lose money.''

In conclusion, this great fan of equity says that even though she has faith in the equity story and believes that those with reasonable expectations and timeframe will ``definitely make money'', for the small investor she has this advice. ``Be safe, not sorry. Determine your risk appetite and do not invest in what you do not understand. You may miss out on large returns, but at least you will protect your capital.''