Indexing ka Baap - Sanjiv Shah

Investing with Indexheads

This is a really special episode for us because we have the person who inspired Indexheads, Sanjiv Shah on this episode. Sanjiv, for those of you who don't know, was the founder of Benchmark Asset Management which launched the first Index fund in India - the Niftybees ETF. Benchmark was the only AMC in India that had an indexing only philosophy and they were nothing short of revolutionaries. Benchmark was acquired by Goldman and is now a part of the Nippon Mutual Fund.

In this sweeping conversation with Anish, Sanjiv talks about:

1. The aha moment which led him to start Benchmark AMC
2. Early evidence about indexing
3. His thoughts on ETF vs the mutual fund wrapper
4. Challenges with the ETF structure
5. His thoughts on the evolution of the Indian MF industry since his exit
6. Have index fund fees fallen too low?
7. Will a standalone index player be able to sustain?
8. The base case for indexing
9. Thoughts on smart beta, factor investing
10. Will passive fixed income funds work in India?
11. Thoughts on AMCs with both active and passive funds
12. The right asset allocation
13. The case for investing gold
14. Are markets efficient or inefficient?
15. On alternate fee models with performance hurdles
16. Are Indian indices flawed?

And a whole lot more. This was a breathtakingly fascinating conversation given the sheer breadth of the topics Sanjiv spoke about.

I am on @anishteli on Twitter and do check out the Indexheads newsletter where we write about all things low-cost indexing. If you enjoyed the conversation as much as I did talking to Sanjiv, do spread the word.