“Investing isn’t arithmetic. It’s judgment.
”That line stayed with me.

In this chronicle, I sit down with Sankaran Naren - currently the CIO at ICICI Prudential AMC, but once a fund manager navigating the excesses of the 90s, the lessons of 2008, and the eventual rise of hybrid investing.

He has seen the industry evolve - from unchecked optimism to tighter regulation, from pure equity enthusiasm to disciplined asset allocation.

This conversation isn’t about predicting markets. It’s about designing for them.

We talk about the mistakes of 2007–08, why investors got scarred, and how Balanced Advantage was built to manage risk first - buying when markets fall, trimming when they rise.

We discuss:• What the industry learnt the hard way after 2008
• Why “not scarring investors” became a philosophy
• Asset allocation as discipline - not a marketing pitch
• Value vs quality cycles and surviving long underperformance
• IPO froth and why sellers often know more
• Why risk management becomes harder at scale
• The real challenge of being a CIO
• And whether AI will assist - not replace - decision-making

What I appreciated most was his clarity:
Markets will always be volatile. The job is to build systems that survive them.

If you care about how the hybrid category truly evolved and what responsible fund management looks like - this episode is for you.
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Connect with me across social media.
Stream the MF Chronicles podcast on your favourite app. - https://linktr.ee/vikaasmsachdeva
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📌 Disclaimer: All visuals and graphics used in this video belong to their respective owners.
Credits are mentioned on-screen wherever applicable.
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Chapters:
00:00 Presented By
00:05 Episode Trailer
01:45 Legal Disclaimer
01:50 Episode Introduction
03:15 Fund Origins
06:33 Design Flaws
09:02 Telecom Analogy
10:07 Market Triggers
11:41 Market Myths
14:21 BAF Story
19:27 SIP Perception
20:37 Dividend Design
22:43 Process Debate
24:06 MF vs FD
26:03 Post Commissions
29:28 Value Reality
33:21 IPO Mania
36:47 Asset Allocation
38:46 MAF vs BAF
39:46 ETF vs AIF
40:41 Category Future
43:19 Manager Advice
45:29 AI vs CIO
46:17 Old vs New
47:16 CIMR QnA
47:31 Conviction Building
48:31 SME View
48:54 Stock Prediction
50:18 Investing Tips
51:28 Core Skill
52:46 Episode Outro
53:29 End Credits

The hardest part of investing isn’t earning returns. It’s staying in the game.

This episode of #MFChronicles features two leaders who have quietly built one of India’s most respected long-term investing journeys - Neil Parikh and Rajeev Thakkar of Parag Parikh Mutual Fund.

In this episode, we discuss:
• Why “not losing money” matters more than chasing returns
• How they invested when markets fell nearly 40% during Covid
• Building a long-term institution without corporate backing
• The Swiss Army knife approach to portfolio construction
• Managing investor behaviour through communication and exit loads
• Active vs passive investing in a growing market
• Why underperformance is sometimes the price of discipline
• How fintech and SIPs are reshaping investor behaviour
• The role of global diversification in reducing risk
• Why thinking in decades changes everything

Neil and Rajeev also share rare insights on building trust without noise, growing without marketing hype, and choosing process over popularity.

For me, this was a reminder that real success doesn’t announce itself. It compounds quietly through patience, clarity, and conviction.

If you believe in playing the long game, staying at the crease, and letting time do the heavy lifting, this episode is for you.Watch the full episode to understand how great investing begins with survival - and grows through discipline.
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Connect with me across social media. Stream the MF Chronicles podcast on your favourite app. - https://linktr.ee/vikaasmsachdeva
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📌 Disclaimer: All visuals and graphics used in this video belong to their respective owners. Credits are mentioned on-screen wherever applicable.
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Chapters:
00:00 Presented By
00:03 Episode Trailer
01:51 Disclaimer Note
01:54 Show Introduction
03:24 Early Powerplay
07:01 Swiss Army Knife Concept
08:40 Early days of MF
09:09 PPFAS Memories
09:23 Core Ideology
11:22 Investing Style
15:01 Demonetisation Impact
19:24 Entrepreneurial Mindset
20:26 Survival Phase
25:16 Mutual Fund Sahi Hai Campaign
28:22 Investor Behaviour
34:30 Digital Distribution
37:22 Key Data
39:25 Passive Investing
45:00 Covid Impact
48:45 Communication Shift
53:49 Distributor Strategy
57:54 Global Allocation
1:03:56 Student QnA
1:04:07 Legacy & Gold
1:08:10 Gold Bubble
1:10:43 Portfolio Flexibility
1:14:21 GDP vs Markets
1:16:58 Closing Thoughts
1:18:01 End Credits

The foundation decade is over. Now begins the decade that made mutual funds stronger.
This episode of #MFChronicles features a leader who has closely seen the growth of India’s mutual fund industry, especially the debt and bond markets, since the early 2000s.

He is A Balasubramanian from Aditya Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund.

From the early days of limited bond market depth to today’s evolved debt investing landscape, Balasubramanian shares how debt funds, interest rates, and investor behaviour have changed over time.
We talk about:

• The evolution of India’s debt and bond markets
• How interest rates and liquidity impact debt funds
• Managing risk during market cycles and crises
• The growing role of debt funds in investor portfolios
• Building long-term trust in mutual fund investing

This episode offers clear insights into the quieter but critical side of markets that shape long-term investing.

Watch the full episode to understand India’s bond market journey and the thinking behind debt investing.

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Connect with me across social media. Stream the MF Chronicles podcast on your favourite app. - https://linktr.ee/vikaasmsachdeva
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📌 Disclaimer: All visuals and graphics used in this video belong to their respective owners. Credits are mentioned on-screen wherever applicable.
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Chapters
00:00 Presented By
00:06 Episode Trailer
02:02 Disclaimer
02:06 Episode Introduction
02:53 The Rajnikanth Analogy
03:34 From Dealer to CEO & MD
04:19 How the Debt Market Scaled Up
08:27 Understanding the Debt & Bond Market
09:47 The Early Days of Overnight Lending
11:48 How the Bond Market Developed
12:50 Mutual Funds as a Market Catalyst
16:15 Early Memories of Goal Seeker
17:44 The Initial Fund Launch Phase
19:42 Money Market Funds & Schemes
20:55 Birla Cash Plus: The Liquid Fund
21:28 Mutual Fund Returns vs Bank Deposits
23:29 The Promise of Guarantees in Debt Funds
24:11 Inside the Bond Market Matrix
25:31 Categorising Debt Funds
31:25 Managing Risk in Debt Markets
34:50 Financial Narrative Processing (FNPs)
40:03 Adapting to New Regulations & Policies
45:59 Ground Reality of Mutual Fund Growth
47:44 Audience Q&A
47:47 Q1: Major Market Trends
49:16 Q2: ETFs vs Mutual Funds
51:50 Q3: Skills for the Future
54:08 Episode Wrap-Up
54:39 End Credits

Before mutual funds became part of everyday conversations, the industry was being built from the ground up.

In this episode of MF Chronicles, I sit down with Ajay Srinivasan to revisit the 1990s - when Prudential ICICI entered the mutual fund space and India was learning how to invest amid rapid change. From cricketing highs to economic uncertainty, these years quietly shaped the foundations of the industry.

Ajay takes me back to 1998, when he joined Prudential ICICI Mutual Fund - a period marked by the Pokhran nuclear tests, the dotcom boom and bust, and global disruptions like SARS. These events weren’t just background noise; they influenced how funds were managed, teams were built, and investor trust was earned.

In this conversation, we discuss:

• What it took to build a mutual fund business when the category itself was still new
• How Prudential ICICI thought about scale and market size in its early years
• The evolution of policy and regulation alongside industry growth
• Building a team of passionate sellers who took mutual funds to Indian households
• Navigating global crises, FII outflows, and periods of extreme market uncertainty
• The mindset shift needed to grow from a startup-like setup into a large institution
• And how Ajay saw Indian markets change after returning from Hong Kong

This episode is about conviction, patience, and building something meaningful before the rules were fully written.

Watch the full conversation and step into the formative years of India’s mutual fund industry.
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Do check out for more listening options - https://linktr.ee/vikaasmsachdeva
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📌 Disclaimer: All visuals and graphics used in this video belong to their respective owners. Credits are mentioned on-screen wherever applicable.
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Chapters
00:00 Presented by
00:05 Episode Trailer
01:49 Disclaimer
01:55 Introduction
02:55 Cricket & Market Parallels
03:49 Early Days at Prudential ICICI
06:24 The Launch Moment
07:11 Building the Core Team
09:00 Defining the Market Opportunity
11:11 Evolution of Policy & Regulation
13:27 The FD Disruption
14:27 The ITC Threadneedle Phase
18:05 Navigating FII Outflows
19:37 Lessons from the Trinidad Test
21:18 Scaling to India’s Largest AMC
27:38 Street-Smart Decisions
29:39 Inside Partnerships
32:36 India vs Hong Kong — A Contrast
34:23 Expanding the Category
38:12 Dotcom Boom & Bust Learnings
39:04 The M&A Phase
41:11 Why M&A Made Sense
42:43 Infrastructure That Enabled Scale
47:14 Strategy Shifts After Hong Kong
49:19 Early Mistakes, Lasting Lessons
53:35 Then vs Now — A Playbook
57:28 Audience Q&A
58:50 Closing Thoughts
1:00:21 End Credits

In the second episode of MF Chronicles, we bring you a voice that has seen the Indian mutual fund industry from the inside - through its most uncertain and defining years.

Bharat Shah, Executive Director at ASK Asset & Wealth Management Group, reflects on his journey across market cycles from the early 1990s onwards, when the industry was still finding its footing.

I sat down with Bharat to talk about the period after the 1991 economic crisis, the formation of SEBI, and the many moments that tested investor confidence.

In this episode, we discuss:

• How Bharat navigated the markets through the 1991 riots, the 1992 scam, the Asian crisis, and the dotcom crash
• His experience working at GrowMore, Harshad Mehta’s firm, and his interactions with Dhirubhai Ambani
• How markets lost credibility - and what it took to earn trust back
• The role IT companies played in reshaping the markets
• Mistakes he made along the way, and the lessons they offer
• How these moments shaped the future of Indian investing

Watch the full conversation and step into the formative years of India’s mutual fund industry.
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Do check out for more listening options - https://linktr.ee/vikaasmsachdeva
----------------------------------------------------------------------
📌 Disclaimer: All visuals and graphics used in this video belong to their respective owners. Credits are mentioned on-screen wherever applicable.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Chapters:
00:00 Presented By
00:05 Trailer
01:47 Disclaimer
01:53 Introduction
02:39 Early 90s Markets
03:42 1992 Scam Aftermath
05:21 Honest Confession
07:50 Before 1990
08:54 Early Market Memories
11:39 Dhirubhai Ambani
14:08 SEBI’s Entry (1992)
15:11 Death of Capital
24:07 CRB Collapse
24:45 UTI & Mastergain
25:13 Birla MF Days (1994)
30:20 Changing Markets
32:53 Mastergain Story
33:32 Indexation Money
34:49 Asian Crisis (1997)
42:59 Managing the Crisis
49:34 A Key Moment
51:13 IT Boom
54:52 Key Learnings
56:51 Investor Appeal
57:41 Opportunity Size
1:02:07 Mistakes to Learn From
1:10:12 UTI Collapse
1:19:18 REMIT Rules
1:22:36 Regulation’s Role
1:25:19 Wild West 2000s
1:26:46 What Needs Fixing
1:33:16 Q&A (Part 1)
1:35:31 Q&A (Part 2)
1:37:03 Closing Thoughts
1:38:30 End Credits

Welcome to the very first episode of MF Chronicles with Vikaas M Sachdeva. 

In this debut episode, I sit down with Samir Arora, Founder of Helios Capital, to explore a decade that changed everything: 1995 to 2005.What stands out in this conversation isn’t just Samir’s track record, but his honesty. He speaks openly about arriving in India in ’93 with curiosity, stumbling into fund management almost by accident, and learning to navigate a market where price discovery was guesswork, data was scarce, and relationships mattered more than terminals.

Together, we deep dive into:

• Why Alliance Capital chose India and how its surprising joint venture with UTI led to UTAM
• How Samir built an investing approach that beat the market by 32% for eight straight years
• His clever brokerage-saving “hack” in the 90s that gave him an unexpected edge
• What the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997–98 looked like from inside the fund house
• The origins of iconic products like the Alliance 95 Fund and the India Liberalisation Fund
• How inflation, NAV spells, market sentiment, and even office competitiveness shaped the era
• The difference between investing in the 90s and today — from transparency to SEBI norms to the rise of thematic funds

Watch the full conversation and step into the formative years of India’s mutual fund industry.
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To know more, click here - https://linktr.ee/vikaasmsachdeva
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📌 Disclaimer: All visuals and graphics used in this video belong to their respective owners. Credits are mentioned on-screen wherever applicable.
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Chapters:
00:00 Presented By
00:05 Trailer
01:55 Disclaimer
01:58 Introduction
03:20 Arriving in India: Samir’s 1993 Beginning
04:30 Why Alliance Entered India
05:15 UTI × Alliance: The Birth of UTAM
07:33 What Investing Looked Like in the 90s
11:23 How Samir Outperformed the Market for 8 Straight Years
13:02 The Asian Crisis of ’97–98 & Other Shocks
17:01 Inside the India Liberalisation Fund
17:20 Inflation Challenges: Samir’s Take
18:51 How the Alliance 95 Fund Was Born
21:47 NAV Spells & Market Turbulence
22:24 Views on India’s Liberalisation
23:18 Price Discovery: 90s vs Today
25:05 The Rise of Thematic Funds
28:36 More on NAV Spells
29:16 Strategy Behind the Frontline Fund
31:18 Mutual Respect Among Competitors
32:51 Lessons from the Dot-Com Bubble
39:12 Samir’s Competitive Edge
39:42 The 200% NAV Year: 1998–99
40:33 Meeting Mohandas Pai
41:04 IFAs, Banks & The Distribution Landscape
43:02 SEBI’s Push for Transparency
46:08 Setting Industry Standards
46:49 Q&A – Part 1
48:55 Q&A – Part 2
51:22 Wrap-Up
52:09 End Credits

How did an unknown industry grow into an ₹80 lakh crore giant?

The answer lies in the people who built it. MF Chronicles brings you their stories - the challenges, the breakthroughs, and the moments that changed India’s investing culture forever.

3 decades, 9 episodes, 1 incredible journey.

Follow Vikaas M Sachdeva for more market wisdom:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vikaas.m.sachdeva/ 
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@VikaasMSachdeva
• LInkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vikaasmsachdeva/
• X (Twitter): https://x.com/vikaasmsachdeva

For more stories from the Chronicles, follow:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chronicles_of_mutualfund/  
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CHRONICLESbyVikaas