Use commodities to diversify portfolios

What is the entry level of funds that you manage?
20,000 is the minimum level of funds that we manage. We are not looking at very high entry barriers into this product.

How many clients in India do you have?
Just a few right now, but we are looking at the market very carefully. Indians, we find, are more speculative by nature. They have their wealth in real estate and bonds and with the extra they like to speculate. They like the product with the higher risk and not the capital guarantee one!

How do you charge for this service?
We take an annual fund management charge of 2 per cent. Plus we take 25 per cent of profits.

25 per cent! That is huge. Don8217;t your clients mind paying this?
No, we are actually cheaper. Internationally the charge is between 20 to 40 per cent of profits, so we come near the lower end of the cost scale.

What do you think of the Indian commodity markets?
They are still very new and speculative. It will take time to develop, but commodity futures are now a part of most institutional asset allocation plans and will have a great future in India too.