Is Rahul Gandhi a wise investor?

Rahul Gandhi

A majority of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s (also a Member of the Lok Sabha) assets lies in real estate. As per the affidavit he has filed while filing for his candidature in the constituency of Wayanad, in the state of Kerala, Gandhi has 55 percent of his assets in real estate. But curiously, he also has a sizeable portion of his portfolio invested in equities (32 percent). All candidates, as per Indian Laws, are supposed to declare their assets.

Rahul Gandhi's Asset allocation
Gandhi’s portfolio is well – diversified having a tidy representation of various assets. Of the Rs 6.35 crore that lies in equities, he has diversified into mutual funds and stocks. A look at his stock portfolio shows names of well-established companies like ICICI Bank, Hindustan Unilever, ITC Ltd, Pidilite Industries (also his largest stock holding), Bajaj Finance and so on.

Rahul Gandhi's asset allocation

Gandhi has diversified decently in mutual funds (MF) as well, though he holds just 7 schemes, as opposed to 24 stocks. But as far as his proportion of his assets are concerned, he is almost evenly distributed between stocks and mutual funds. Of the Rs 8.16 crore of his wealth invested between stocks and mutual funds, 47 percent lies in MFs; remaining in shares of companies.

Rahul Gandh: Stocks or Mutual funds

Gandhi's exposure to debt is largely through Public Provident Fund (PPF) as well as debt-oriented hybrid schemes. He has also invested in gold through Sovereign Gold  Bonds and gold jewellery .

HDFC and ICICI Prudential mutual funds
Gandhi appears to be biased towards two fund houses, ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund and HDFC Mutual Fund.

Also read: Why asset allocation is important and you just can't afford to ignore

Sixty-three percent of his total MF holdings (Rs 3.81 crore) is invested with HDFC Mutual Fund, India’s 3rd largest fund house. Thirty-two percent lie in ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund. Just one other fund house has managed to squeeze in; Parag Parikh Flexi-Cap Fund (PFCF). Five percent of Gandhi’s MF holdings are invested in PFCF.

Physical or Financial assets: who wins the race?
Anecdotal evidence suggests that most of the Indian politicians have investments in land. Gandhi has investments in land too, and a bit of physical gold jewelry. But to his- or his financial advisor’s credit- his diversification between the two assets is decent. A total of 45 percent lie in financial assets and the remaining in real estate.

Rahul Gandhi's diversification: Physical or financial assets

As per Gandhi’s affidavit, he has two pieces of agriculture land, a 50 percent share in a farm house building jointly-held by his sister Priyanka Gandhi and two office properties in a commercial building in Gurugram.