INVESTING in equities is riskier than and definitely demands more time than other investments. However, it can probably be more rewarding than you can imagine and certainly very exciting! World over, and even in India, stocks have outperformed every other asset class over the long run. Stocks are probably your best bet against inflation too.

If equities tempt you but you are scared to take the plunge during these volatile times, here's a complete step-by-step guide on investing in equities.

Yes, a POA can be either revocable or irrevocable, depending on what sort of a POA one has made.

No, IPO grading is not optional. A company which has filed the draft offer document for its IPO with SEBI, on or after 1st May, 2007, is required to obtain a grade for the IPO from at least one CRA.

Yes. It is the policy holder’s prerogative to opt for a policy in electronic form. If a policy holder wants his/her policy (either new purchase or existing) in electronic form, then the Insurer is bound to fulfill his / her requirement.

The choice of a Repository for opening an e IA is the prerogative of the policy holder and hence all Insurance Companies will need to work with all the Insurance Repositories.

Initially, repository service will be available for life insurance only; over time, health and general insurance (personal lines only) will also be brought within the ambit of repository services.

Yes. Filling up the form is necessary if you want to view more details about the IPOs as well as our investment perceptions and analysis.

As per the requirement, all the public issues of size in excess of Rs.10 crore, are to made compulsorily in the demat more. Thus, if an investor chooses to apply for an issue that is being made in a compulsory demat mode, he has to have a demat account and has the responsibility to put the correct DP ID and Client ID details in the bid/application forms.

No, it is not (yet) compulsory to issue insurance policies only in electronic form.

Policy holders can choose the form in which they want their policies issued – paper or electronic.

When a fund goes ex-dividend, the unit holders ( as of the ex-dividend date ) are paid out a dividend and the NAV of the fund declines by the amount of dividend per unit paid out. For an investor ( who has bought the fund prior to the ex-dividend date ), this results in an income that is tax-free in the hands of the investor and a capital loss ( as the ex-dividend NAV will be lower than the cum-dividend NAV at which the investor made his investment ) . For e.g., if a funds NAV is Rs11 and it pays out Rs1 as dividend, its ex-dividend NAV will be Rs10. In this case, the investor has a dividend ( tax-free ) income of Re1 and a capital loss of Re1 ( Rs11-Rs10 ) . If the investor has made a corresponding capital gain, then it is tax-beneficial to purchase the units of mutual fund just before it goes ex-dividend, take the dividend and then sell the units ( at the ex-dividend rate ) and book the capital loss. If there were no tax benefits, from a pure returns perspective, there would not be any difference in buying a fund cum- or ex-dividend.

No. The system automatically rejects the bids if price is less than floor price.

If the trade is squared off sales tax is not applicable. The sales tax is applicable only if a trade results into delivery for the seller. Normally it’s the seller’s responsibility to collect and pay the sales tax. The sales tax is applicable at the place of delivery.

Those who want to give (seller) physical delivery need to have sales tax registration number.

Commodity futures market was very much there in earlier times in India. In fact it was one the most vibrant markets till the early 70s. But due to numerous restrictions the market could not develop further. Now that most of these restrictions have been removed, there is enormous scope for the development and growth of the commodity futures market in the country.

Yes.

It may not be so. Margin percentage may differ from commodity to commodity based on the risk involved in it, which depends upon its liquidity and volatility besides the general market conditions. But all contracts within the same underlying would attract same margin %.

The charges are notified by the DPs to all the clients holding beneficiary account with them. The DPs normally charge Annual Maintenance Charges (AMC) and transaction charges on all debit instructions. It is similar to the practice followed in equity market

Yes. Members of the Exchange can open a CM pool account with any of the DPs empanelled with NSEL. The Exchange issues a member ID intimation letter to the member, which has to be submitted along with the request for opening a CM Pool Account. Clients are required to submit their KYC documents for opening a beneficiary account.

The allotment to the Qualified Institutional Buyers (QIBs) is on a discretionary basis. The discretion is left to the Merchant Bankers who first disclose the parameters of judgment in the Red Herring Prospectus. There are no objective conditions stipulated as per the DIP Guidelines. The Merchant Bankers are free to set their criteria and mention the same in the Red Herring Prospectus.

The investors/clients can get direct delivery of shares in their beneficial owner accounts. To avail this facility, you have to give details of your beneficial owner account and the DP-ID of your DP to your broker along with the Standing Instructions for ‘Delivery-In’ to your Depository Participant for accepting shares in your beneficial owner account. Given these details, the Clearing Corporation/Clearing House shall send pay out instructions to the depositories so that you receive pay out of securities directly into your beneficial owner account.

Several options are available for saving capital gains. For example, in the first place invest in a residential house property or a flat to make investment so as to see that capital gains are exempted. Likewise, if a person were to make the investment in REC or NHAI bonds then also he enjoys complete exemption from the long-term capital gain payable by him in respect of capital gains due.

When you go through the executive summary of an IPO, our research team provides its opinion on the issue based on an analysis of the company’s financials, promoters’ background and other qualitative issues. This can help in guiding your investment decision.

Don’t be under the wrong impression that arbitrage funds are equity funds, which will give you high returns and also protect your downside.

Arbitrage funds are a unique fund in the sense that:
As far as the risk profile and returns are concerned, they are like a debt fund i.e. low risk and low returns
However, as far as the tax laws are concerned they are treated on par with equity funds and as such the long term capital gains tax is nil (however note that a few arbitrage funds have a debt structure and will be taxed as debt funds).

Therefore, with arbitrage funds you can expect 6-9% p.a. returns like any debt fund. But the advantage is that here the tax could be less, thus improving your post-tax returns.

However, a small drawback with these funds is the redemption — it is not possible redeem them as and when you want, but only on the last Thursday of the month.

Having understood the markets, it is important to know how to go about selecting a company, a stock and the right price. A little bit of research, some smart diversification and proper monitoring will ensure that things seldom go wrong.
It's not that difficult: Just follow these 4 golden rules. And while you are at it< why don't you also check out How to buy low, sell high.

Monitoring your equity investments regularly is recommended. Keep in touch with the quarterly-results announcements and update the prices on your portfolio worksheet atleast once a week. You can use Moneycontrol's Portfolio to update the prices of your equity holdings.

Also, review the reasons you earlier identified for buying a stock and check whether they are still valid or there have been significant changes in your earlier assumptions and expectations. And use an annual review process to review your exposure to equity shares within your overall asset allocation and rebalance, if necessary. Ideally, revisit the RiskAnalyser at every such review because your risk capacity and risk profile could have undergone a change over a 12-month period.

Finally, ensure that you avoid these seven most common investing mistakes and sail smoothly into your financial bright future

Diversification of a portfolio is amongst the primary tenets of portfolio structuring (see The Need to Diversify). And a necessary one to reduce the level of risk assumed by the portfolio holder. Most of us are not necessarily well qualified to apply the theories of portfolio structuring to our holdings and hence would be better off leaving that to a professional. Mutual funds represent one such option.

In indemnity policies, the upper limit of a claim is the sum assured and this usually applies for the period of the policy. Certain policies, however, allow for reinstatement of the Sum Insured by payment of proportionate premium for the remaining period of the policy. The actual claim will be the actual extent of financial loss as validated by documents like bills. If the property is underinsured, the insured shall bear a rateable proportion of the loss. There can be more than one claim in the policy period but the sum assured is usually the limit for the policy period unless reinstated.
Nowadays health insurance policies – which cover hospitalisation costs – have also a cashless settlement of claims. That is, you don’t have to pay for the treatment at the hospital and then make a claim for reimbursement of the expenses. The insurance company has a service provider called the third party administrator (TPA) health services, who liaises with the hospitals and directly makes the payment for your treatment as per the terms of your policy and coverage.