Dude, who moved my NAV?

Let’s start with the highlight of this week – the budget.

In chess, they say that the first thing you need to do when it is your move is to avoid a blunder. A bad move can cost you your queen and eventually the game.  Once you are reasonably sure of not making a blunder, then look for a “genius” move – something that solidifies and promotes your position till your next turn.

Budgets should be no different. The first rule is – do no harm. Second is to solidify the countries situation for next year.

The easiest way to do harm in budgets is to give handouts to politically relevant groups by creating subsidies. The second is to make processes less efficient by adding new rules and regulations which further curtail entrepreneurship.  Madam FM avoided both and on that front alone it became a good budget. There were some attempts for  “genius” as well – more infrastructure spending, a faster pace of divesting etc. But these are promised quite often, so the proof here will be in the pudding and not in outlining the recipe. We have known for a long time we need this, but are we finally going to get it this year? I hope so.

Markets and most commentators liked what they heard during the budget session driving Nifty and Bank Nifty to all-time highs. But before you start tweaking your long term plans, do note a budget is a manifesto of objectives and intent. While that matters, the realization of those objectives may not happen in a straight line and may not be the only thing that would affect the sentiment of the market in the interim. So, go back to the same old thought process – stick to your goal-based investments and only rebalance as required within your asset allocation framework.

Before we jump into the other big change starting this week, allow me one more digression – on genius and intent. This anecdote comes from one of chess’s more creative grandmasters Mikhail Tal.

Journalist: It might be inconvenient to interrupt our profound discussion and change the subject slightly, but I would like to know whether extraneous, abstract thoughts ever enter your head while playing a game?

Tal: Yes. For example, I will never forget my game with GM Vasiukov on a USSR Championship. We reached a very complicated position where I was intending to sacrifice a knight. The sacrifice was not obvious; there was a large number of possible variations; but when I began to study hard and work through them, I found to my horror that nothing would come of it. Ideas piled up one after another. I would transport a subtle reply by my opponent, which worked in one case, to another situation where it would naturally prove to be quite useless. As a result my head became filled with a completely chaotic pile of all sorts of moves, and the infamous “tree of variations”, from which the chess trainers recommend that you cut off the small branches, in this case spread with unbelievable rapidity.

And then suddenly, for some reason, I remembered the classic couplet by Korney Ivanović Chukovsky: “Oh, what a difficult job it was. To drag out of the marsh the hippopotamus”.

I do not know from what associations the hippopotamus got into the chess board, but although the spectators were convinced that I was continuing to study the position, I, despite my humanitarian education, was trying at this time to work out: just how WOULD you drag a hippopotamus out of the marsh? I remember how jacks figured in my thoughts, as well as levers, helicopters, and even a rope ladder.

After a lengthy consideration I admitted defeat as an engineer, and thought spitefully to myself: “Well, just let it drown!” And suddenly the hippopotamus disappeared. Went right off the chessboard just as he had come on … of his own accord! And straightaway the position did not appear to be so complicated. Now I somehow realized that it was not possible to calculate all the variations and that the knight sacrifice was, by its very nature, purely intuitive. And since it promised an interesting game, I could not refrain from making it.

And the following day, it was with pleasure that I read in the paper how Mikhail Tal, after carefully thinking over the position for 40 minutes, made an accurately calculated piece sacrifice.

: Mikhail Tal, The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal.

Here is the FAQ:

When should I expect fund realization in case of lumpsum orders?

Direct in Net Banking refers to transfers where you and the beneficiary have accounts within the same bank. At present, BSEStarMF supports direct Net Banking with 7 Banks – HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, SBI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, IDBI Bank, Yes Bank.

All other banks other than those above are referred to as Nodal Banks.

Funds transfer are faster for direct net banking transfers and can take up to 2 business days for Nodal banks depending on the bank you use.

Will this impact my SIP returns?

Short answer “No”.

Long answer, regardless of what some platforms may claim, picking SIP date does not help you get higher SIP returns. So if all your SIPs are pushed out 1-2 days, it still doesn’t make a difference in the long run. Sometime you will get a better NAV and sometime you will get a worse NAV. Over a year or two, the difference would be negligible, either in your favour or against you.

Very long answer, well we have a whole blog on it here.

How do I minimize the difference between the order date and the NAV date for lumpsum orders?

Follow these thumb rules-

• Use Net Banking or UPI  for placing lumpsum orders.
• If you have an account with one of the 7 banks where BSE accepts Direct Net Banking transfers, then use that bank.
• Refrain from waiting till the cut-off time for placing your orders.

How should I interpret orders-details shown on Kuvera while my order is in process?

You can track your orders on Kuvera in the “Pending” order section. You will see details such as order date, bank name and most importantly expected NAV.

The expected NAV date we show is a conservative estimate after taking into consideration multiple factors such as your bank, payment method, order type etc. The actual NAV applicable to your order will be dependent on the time at which the AMC receives the credit confirmation. Once we receive the allotment confirmation from the AMC, the actual NAV date will get updated to your order.

You might still have more questions. Read our detailed note on realization based NAV here.