Citibank Hosts “Alliance of Experts” on Indian Equity Market & Investment Avenues

Leading Fund Managers Speak on “Investing in Volatile Times”

Mumbai – In an exclusive panel discussion hosted by Citibank under the aegis of its investor education series “Alliance of Experts,” four of India’s leading fund managers – Nilesh Shah, CIO ICICI Pru Mutual Fund; Sukumar Rajah, CIO, Franklin Templeton Mutual Fund; Prashant Jain, CIO, HDFC Mutual Fund; and Sunil Singhania, Fund Manager, Reliance Mutual Fund – shared their views and outlook on “Investing in Volatile Times.”

Held on Friday, June 1, at Mumbai’s Nehru Auditorium in Worli at 7:30 p.m., the platform was designed to provide a 800-plus strong audience comprising Citibank’s Wealth Management clients an opportunity to interact with these experts and address their questions and concerns on investment approaches and strategies to them.

Launched in Bangalore in July 2006, the Alliance of Experts Forum is an initiative launched by Citibank to drive investor education. Over the last year, the series has traveled many cities across Citibank’s branch network and addressed a multitude of investor groups. The Forum brings together investment experts from in-house and from partner fund houses who share with investors their ideas and insights on financial planning.

Present on the occasion, Rahul Soota, Head-Retail Bank, Citibank N.A., said, “The financial markets are maturing rapidly and there is the choice of a rich portfolio of products. These factors combined with an ever-changing economic environment make prudent decision-making increasing challenging for individual investors. By bringing together investment experts to share their insights, the Alliance of Experts Forum offers a platform for investors to educate themselves further and to dialogue with their Citibank relationship managers on building a personal investment portfolio.”

Commenting on the current investing environment, Vidur Varma, Country Investments Director, Citibank N.A., said, “Success in investing depends a lot on the asset allocation that investors maintain and time period assigned to the portfolio. Portfolios need to be adequately diversified across equity, debt and cash. Though equity is comparatively volatile, as an asset class, it has the potential to provide higher returns in the long-term. It therefore becomes even more critical for investors to keep themselves fully abreast of the trends on this important asset class.”