Ask Mint | On Investments

- J.S. Arora

You need to open a demat account first and then tender your physical shares for dematerialization. However, non-traded and unlisted shares may not be dematerialized.

I am a businessman and wish to enter the markets, and am interested in investing Rs1 crore in the next one month. I am interested only in mutual funds and other instruments where I don’t have to keep track of them and indulge in active investing. I considered a few funds such as Reliance Power Diversified Fund-Growth. Is it a good option still? Which funds do you think have good prospects?

- Anant Saxena

Your choice of investment is good and despite recent losses in net asset value, the fund is still an attractive one. However, for investing big sums of money, it is advisable to opt for the specialized services of mutual funds. If you wish to do it yourself, then you may consider schemes such as SBI Magnum Contra Fund, DSP Merrill Lynch TIGER Regular, Reliance Growth–Growth, Sundaram BNP Paribas Select Midcap Fund, Tata Infrastructure Fund, Kotak Opportunities Fund, HDFC Top 200 Fund, HDFC Prudence Fund, etc. Also, you should not invest the entire corpus at one time. Rather, you should invest it in a phased manner. Since stock markets are subject to a lot of risk, investing at different levels covers a wide range of market movement.

I hold shares in physical form in Modern Dairies Ltd (800 shares), Suvarna Aqua Ltd (300 shares), Eastern Mining Ltd (200 shares), Trend Designs Ltd (200 shares) and Indo American Optics Ltd (200 shares). All the shares of the above-mentioned companies have been allotted to me through their initial public offerings between 1992 and 1994. For the last 10-12 years, I am not getting any information from these companies. Do these companies exist? If not, is there any chance or procedure for small investors such as me to recover their money?

- S.K. Mathur

Out of the companies mentioned by you, Modern Dairies Ltd is currently trading and on 27 March, its stock price was Rs38.20. Its 52-week high is Rs114.85, touched on 1 November 2007, while its 52-week low is Rs9.70, touched on 2 April. Suvarna Aqua and Industries Ltd and Eastern Mining Ltd are currently suspended by the Bombay Stock Exchange. Indo American Optics Ltd was delisted on 2 July 2004, while for Trend Designs Ltd, a winding up order was issued on 5 November 2001. Except for Modern Dairies, your options in all the cases are very limited. However, you can lodge your complaint with the Securities and Exchange Board of India.

I hold a good quantity of GMR Infrastructure Ltd shares at an average price of Rs168. I can hold them for one year. Please suggest the way forward and price target that I should keep in mind. There is news that the government may ban allocation of more airport project to any of the bidders who already have won two orders. This may impact the future prospects of GMR. I am ready to hold it longer than one year as well.

- Rahul

GMR Infrastructure Ltd is a very good long-term stock and at its last traded price of Rs156.10, it’s not far from your average price. If you are ready to hold the stock for one year or more, I am hopeful that you may get a very decent return as my target for GMR Infrastructure for a year’s time frame is Rs240. I would suggest you to keep holding the stock.

I have 100 shares of XL Telecom and Energy Ltd bought at Rs544 each. What is your advice?

- Sushil Sharma

The stock is down significantly from its 52-week high of Rs595, touched on 31 December. However, at current levels it does not have much of downward potential left. The stock has a meaningful resistance level at around Rs340, which will decide the future courses for this stock. Since at the current market price the fundamentals are also supporting the valuation, suggesting that the stock is undervalued, I would suggest that you hold the stock for now, and re-evaluate it after 6-12 months.

I am planning to invest Rs25,000 with a one-two year horizon in the equity market. I zeroed on sectors such as power/energy, infrastructure, banking/ non-banking financial companies/ broking and steel/metals. Could you suggest me the best stocks available in these sectors, or do you have any other sectors which can deliver good returns in this time frame?

- Krishna Mohan S.

In the power sector, NTPC Ltd and Power Grid Corp. of India Ltd look promising. In infrastructure, Punj Lloyd Ltd looks good, while in financial services sector, I think public sector banks such as Union Bank, Bank of India and Bank of Baroda have a lot of potential. In the steel/metal segment, my choices are Tata Steel Ltd, Steel Authority of India Ltd and Sterlite Industries Ltd.

I am a non-Indian investor. I have invested around $200,000 in Indian mutual funds, which are Birla IAF/ICICI funds. But from what I can see, these funds have not performed positively since the end of January. Would you please advise me where to invest in India, what is the expectation in 2008 regarding the Indian market and what if I want to invest into JM property in India? My knowledge about the Indian market is little, I just get information from my fund manager. What is the expectation regarding real estate?

- Adel A.

The investment scenario in India continues to remain good despite the recent turmoil in equity markets triggered by global factors. The non-performance of your funds is primarily due to this reason. However, you may chose to invest in infrastructure, financial services, heavy engineering and energy-related funds and companies with a longer-term perspective. Also, investment in real estate-related instruments is a viable option. However, I must say that since things are changing very fast in India, you should do a periodic review of opportunities in the Indian economy for maximum returns.

I hold shares of United Diagnostic, Kalyan Solvent, Paintex Chemicals, India Automotives Ltd and Ideal Hotels Ltd. I have not received any communication from these companies. Do these companies still function? If you have their contact information, please provide them to me. Also, please provide information about Eastern Circuits Ltd.

- Dayananda Kamath K.

United Diagnostic International Ltd was delisted on 2 April 1996 due to non-payment of annual listing fees as per information available with the Bombay Stock Exchange. Kalyan Solvent Extractions Ltd was also delisted, on 5 June 1995, for the same reason. Paintex Chemicals Bombay Ltd is currently under suspension from the Bombay Stock Exchange on account of non-compliance with the listing agreement clauses. Ideal Hotels is also currently suspended by the exchange, while there is no information available with us on India Automotives. Eastern Circuits Ltd was delisted on 5 June 1995 for non-payment of annual listing fees.

Answers are based on a technical analysis of the markets and individual stocks. The views expressed on this page are not the newspaper’s opinion and are provided for information purposes by Vipul Verma. Readers are requested to do their own research before participating in the stock markets. Neither the paper nor the information provider will be responsible for any outcome based on information provided here.

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