Are curated portfolios better for global investing?
Indian investors looking at international diversification and better returns but are less familiar with investing in US securities are increasingly looking at curated portfolios of stocks and ETFs that aim to simplify investment decisions
PremiumIndian investors looking at international diversification and better returns but are less familiar with investing in US securities are increasingly looking at curated portfolios of stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that aim to simplify investment decisions.
Over the past year, there is more attention on international investing as people have seen the US markets withstand covid with more stability.
As an evolved step to do-it-yourself global investing, these ready-made portfolios enable investors to build a diversified exposure in securities across sectors, geographies and asset classes.
Global investing platform Stockal, which had launched its curated portfolio service called Stacks five months ago, is seeing inflows of around ₹10 crore every month.
“There is a natural tendency to want advice. People are also looking for advice on where to put their money after they have invested in known names such as Tesla and others. It has been five months since we launched Stacks, and the demand is pretty strong. Overall, we have around ₹35 crore invested via Stacks," said Sitashwa Srivastava, CEO, Stockal, a fintech that enables global investing for Indians.
The investing platform has partnered with wealth management firms to create, maintain and manage portfolios.
Moreover, Globalise, which is India’s first platform for guided global investing, recently launched its curated portfolio service called Globes.
“Curated portfolios provide an attractive investment route as they are designed to simplify investment decisions and avoid the research required when self-directing their investments," said Viraj Nanda, CEO, Globalise.
Apart from theme-based portfolios such as next-gen tech, small- and mid-caps, Globes offers goal-based inve-sting such as overseas education, vacation and retirement.
According to Srivastava, theme-based portfolios that are more in demand among Indian investors are electric vehicles, US tech bluechip and ETF disruptor.
A key benefit of investing via curated portfolios offered by global investing platforms is that they offer access to a bigger number of stocks and exchange-traded funds.
“By investing directly on a global investment platform, an investor’s assets are held in dollars. This means that even when they sell their investment, the cash remains in dollars. This allows investors to build a dollar corpus when saving for overseas expenses such as education," said Nanda.
However, investing in curated portfolios comes at a cost. At Globes, there is a purchase fee of $2.99, and a monthly platform charge of 0.1% of the assets under management (AUM), while for Stacks, 1-2% of the A
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