January 11, 2013 Performance Update 26 February 2016 Franklin India Fund Strategy Update: 2015 Performance Drivers and 2016 Outlook PERSPECTIVE FROM FRANKLIN LOCAL ASSET MANAGEMENT Sukumar Rajah Managing Director, Chief Investment Officer Asian Equity Franklin Local Asset Management Despite short-term volatility, we maintain our positive view on India’s macroeconomic and corporate prospects in the long run, and remain confident in our portfolio’s positioning to benefit from economic recovery and generate sustainable returns in the long term. Market Review Summary After a strong first quarter, Indian equities started correcting in March 2015 due to domestic and external economic headwinds. Domestically, muted corporate earnings, a disappointing monsoon season for India’s large agricultural industry and gaining momentum for opposition parties in state elections in the fourth quarter were obstacles to equity performance, despite the positive effect of several rate cuts by the central bank, the decline in commodity prices and an improvement in macroeconomic data. Externally, concerns about global commodity prices, global economic growth (particularly as it relates to China) and the timing of the US Federal Reserve’s (Fed’s) interest-rate hike also weighed on Indian markets. Despite strong volatility witnessed in 2015 and underperformance compared with developed markets, Indian equities proved more resilient than other emerging markets, which suffered double-digit losses and higher volatility levels. Economy As India is a net commodity importer, the low global commodity prices that grabbed headlines in 2015 helped reduce the country’s fiscal deficit and lower wholesale inflation, which gave a boost to the Indian economy. Gross domestic product (GDP) growth expanded by more than 7%, turning India into the fastest-growing emerging market in 2015. However, growth has been uneven, and largely driven by public investment and a pickup in urban consumption, while private sector capital expenditure has remained sluggish. Fitch forecasts India’s GDP growth will potentially accelerate to 7.5% in the current fiscal year (which runs from 1 April 2015 to 31 March 2016) and 8% in fiscal year 2016–2017, supported by increased government capital spending and gradual implementation of a broad-based reform agenda. In its latest outlook, the World Bank called India one of the “notable exceptions in an otherwise gloomy outlook for developing countries.” The organization also predicted that the country will be the fastest-growing economy in the world over the next three years, outpacing China. Policy and Government The policy of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) turned more accommodative and supportive of growth in 2015, with four rate cuts allowed by the sharp decline in CPI inflation to 5.6% (in December 2015) from the ~11% levels seen in November 2013. The RBI has also displayed willingness to accelerate the transmission of rate cuts to banks and provide greater policy certainty to help revive private investment. Meanwhile, despite delays in a few high-profile reforms (such as the Goods and Services Tax and land reforms), India’s government has focused on improving the business environment, as reflected by measures it has undertaken, including boosting foreign direct investment, ending diesel subsidies and promoting financial inclusion. The government is also continuing to push its agenda of infrastructure spending, having spent 64.3% of the total budgeted expenditure for fiscal year 2016 in the first eight months of the fiscal year. The For Professional Investor Use Only. Not For Distribution To Retail Investors. downstream effect of government spending on infrastructure may kick in and translate into demand for labor, construction equipment and cement. Ease of doing business and competitiveness have already improved, as reflected by the World Bank’s Doing Business 2016 ranking, with India moving up by 12 places, and by the World Economic Forum’s recently published global competitiveness analysis, in which India jumped 16 ranks, to 55th out of 140 countries in 2015. Fund Performance While Indian equities had disappointing performance in absolute terms in 2015, after a strong 2014, Franklin India Fund1 fared better than the MSCI India Index, which represented one of the better-performing emerging markets in 2015. However, the market correction was a challenge for Franklin India Fund’s performance in the second half of the year, along with certain stock-specific events and an uneven economic recovery that undermined the portfolio’s positioning toward a domestic cyclical recovery that did not materialize as initially expected. Performance was also hurt by one-off adverse developments affecting a few stocks in the automobiles and health care industries. However, we see such events as temporary setbacks, and remain confident in the long-term fundamentals of these stocks. The deterioration of performance relative to some peers was also partially driven by divergences in market capitalization allocation, with strong outperformance by funds with a large exposure to smaller companies; small- and mid-cap stocks outperformed large caps by over 10% in local currency terms in 2015 (as represented by Nifty Midcap vs. Nifty, respectively). Competitor funds with 2015 returns in the top quartile had an average allocation to small- and mid-cap securities approaching 40%. In comparison, Franklin India Fund had about 14% of its portfolio invested in this segment. However, we believe the higher valuations of mid-cap stocks were driven by large domestic flows into mid-cap funds and expectations of higher earnings growth. While the illiquid nature of small- and mid-cap stocks helps to mark up prices during a bullish market, it could lead to substantial mark-downs during more challenging markets. We expect there will be price readjustments for certain overvalued stocks in the small- and mid-cap segment. The Fund was helped by stock selection, which was the main contributor to the Fund’s 2015 relative performance overall. Most sectors added to relative performance. However, our positioning in financials, our largest sector overweighting, was the main detractor from relative performance, and weighed on the Fund’s overall results. 2015 also marked the Fund’s 10-year anniversary. Over this decade, our process has demonstrated its ability to generate consistent outperformance relative to its benchmark and peers over longer time horizons. Chart 1: A Decade of Consistent Outperformance Strong Performance against Benchmark and Peer Group 3-Year Monthly Rolling Average Annual Total Returns 31 October 2005–31 December 2015 Monthly Rolling 3-Year Returns of Franklin India Fund 35% Franklin India Fund Outperformed: 30% 25% 20% MSCI India Index 15% 98% 10% of the time 5% 0% Peer Group -5% 97% -10% -15% -15% of the time -10% -5% 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% Monthly Rolling 3-Year Returns of Benchmark and Peer Group Benchmark Morningstar Peer Group Franklin India Fund A(acc) USD – Net of Fees, Benchmark is MSCI India Index and Peer Group is Morningstar EAA OE India Equity. Source: © 2016 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. The information contained herein: (1) is proprietary to Morningstar and/or its content providers; (2) may not be copied or distributed; and (3) is not warranted to be accurate, complete or timely. Neither Morningstar nor its content providers are responsible for any damages or losses arising from any use of this information. Past performance is not an indicator or a guaranteed of future performance. For Professional Investor Use Only. Not For Distribution To Retail Investors. franklintempleton.lu Franklin India Fund Strategy Update 2 Chart 2: Alpha Driven by Stock Selection A Diverse Portfolio Built through Active Stock Selection Franklin India Fund 10-Year Total Effect (%) 31 December 2009–31 December 2015 12% 76% 10% 8% of Total Alpha Generated over 10 Years Came from Selection Effect 6% 4% 2% 0% -2% -4% 12/09 6/10 12/10 6/11 12/11 6/12 12/12 Selection Effect 6/13 12/13 6/14 12/14 6/15 12/15 Allocation Effect Source: FactSet. Data is calculated as a percentage of total including cash and cash equivalents, but excluding fixed income. Past performance is not an indicator or a guarantee of future performance. Top Contributors The industrials sector in the MSCI India Index ended 2015 in negative territory; however, the sector contributed to the Fund’s performance in both absolute and relative terms. Stock selection proved positive for relative results, in particular within the electrical equipment and construction and engineering industries. While materials was the worst-performing sector within the benchmark, our stock selection within the sector contributed to relative Fund performance. Most notably, an underweight allocation to the metals and mining industry helped, as the industry suffered from falling commodity prices and a slowdown in global demand. Stock selection within the construction materials industry also proved favorable. In the consumer discretionary sector, passenger vehicle sales growth in 2015 boosted several of the Fund’s holdings in the automobiles and auto components industries. In particular, an overweight position in Eicher Motors helped results, although we exited the position in the third quarter, as we felt valuations had become stretched relative to anticipated long-term growth rates. Elsewhere, while the financials sector was an overall detractor from relative performance, stock selection among banks contributed to relative returns. In fact, HDFC Bank and IndusInd Bank were the top two individual Fund contributors in 2015. We continue to favor private sector banks, as we believe they tend to be better capitalized and managed than stateowned banks, and are well-positioned to benefit from the likely reacceleration of growth in the Indian economy. Top Detractors Stock selection within the financials sector was the largest detractor from the Fund’s 2015 relative performance; however, this was largely driven by an underweight position in mortgage finance company Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC), which has the largest weighting in the benchmark within financials and outperformed the rest of the sector in 2015. However, according to our estimates, about half of HDFC’s interest income comes from non-retail loan books, a segment where competitive intensity is increasing, in our view. Accordingly, we continue to favor private sector banks, which we believe will grow faster and gain market share from HDFC, given their lower funding costs. An underweight allocation to the consumer staples sector, and to consumer goods company Hindustan Unilever in particular, detracted from relative performance. However, we have gradually increased our exposure to the company, as we expect Hindustan Unilever to benefit from growing demand for personal care products, a category in which competition is limited, and also to benefit from falling commodity prices and the positive effect they may have on discretionary spending. However, we maintain an underweighted allocation to the sector, due to valuations and the availability of what we believe to be more attractive opportunities in other segments of the market. To a lesser extent, our underweight allocation to the information technology sector also detracted from relative fund returns. The underperformance in the sector was largely driven by an underweighted position in Infosys, which reported solid results and outperformed the market. In general, information For Professional Investor Use Only. Not For Distribution To Retail Investors. franklintempleton.lu Franklin India Fund Strategy Update 3 technology was among the best-performing sectors in the market, as rupee weakness was a key tailwind for earnings in the sector. However, we remain underweighted in the sector for the reasons described in the positioning section below. Apart from these sector detractors, the portfolio’s absolute returns were limited by several individual pharmaceutical industry holdings, in particular Sun Pharma, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories and Cadila Healthcare, which received warning letters from the US Food and Drug Administration regarding some of their manufacturing facilities in India. As a result, they are unable to obtain any new approvals for drugs manufactured in such facilities until the issues are resolved. This, in turn, had an impact on earnings in the short term; however, pharma stocks have corrected significantly, and the impact on earnings of such non-recurring events is more than factored in, in our view. We remain positive on these names and maintain our positioning, as such companies have a strong portfolio, with a mix of branded and generic drugs with strong growth prospects in the medium to long term. 2016 Strategy and Positioning The Fund’s positioning, which remained broadly unchanged in 2015, reflects our preference for companies with strong longterm fundamentals that are potentially poised to benefit from a domestic cyclical recovery and a pickup in domestic demand, rather than global cyclicals that derive a major part of their revenues or profitability from overseas and are more exposed to external headwinds. Chart 3: Consensus Earnings Growth Expectations for Franklin India Fund’s Holdings Exceed Those of Benchmark As at 31 December 2015 25% 20% We also remain underweight in housing finance companies, and Housing Development Finance Corporation in particular (by far the largest weighting in financials in the benchmark), as we expect banks to outperform instead, due to an anticipated improvement in asset quality in the banking sector. In addition, we are concerned about the slowdown in real estate due to high prices and increased tax compliance. Private sector banks had a rough start of the year 2016, in particular those with large corporate exposure, as they reported worsening trends in asset quality, due to the Reserve Bank of India’s push for faster uniform recognition of non-performing assets (NPAs), particularly in stressed sectors such as oil and gas or metals and mining. Overall, we believe banking stock fundamentals remain strong and that the stocks are currently trading at a significant discount to fair value. Information Technology Our next-largest sector exposure is to information technology, although we maintain an underweight allocation relative to the benchmark, due to the intensifying competitive landscape and slowing growth that is pressuring revenues and margins across the industry, as well as headwinds from a slowdown in global demand. We are, however, overweight HCL Technologies, as we believe the company’s healthy deal pipeline, along with its focus on investments, is likely to bode well for the stock in the longer term. 15% 10% 5% 0% -5% Financials Our largest sector exposure remains to financials (in absolute terms and relative to the index). We are particularly positive on private sector retail-oriented banks, as they still have only 20%– 25% market share in India, and we expect market share gains to accelerate due to the scarcity of capital in state-owned banks. We consider private sector banks to have stronger liability franchises, a higher retail loan mix and, more importantly, competent and stable management teams. Additionally, banking products penetration is still quite low in India, and we believe that retail-oriented private banks have excellent opportunities over the next decade. Furthermore, private sector banks, in general, have enjoyed higher levels of profitability and have tended to maintain better-quality balance sheets. Among private sector banks, we highlight HDFC Bank, which we regard as the gold standard of consistency and profitability, with dominance in retail assets and fees, as well as the requisite infrastructure to remain competitive in the digital era. Conversely, we have limited exposure to state-owned banks, primarily due to asset quality concerns. FY15 (Actual) FY16 (Consensus Projections) Franklin India Fund Q1FY16 (Actual) MSCI India Index Q2FY16 (Actual) FY17 (Consensus Projections) S&P BSE Sensex Index Source: Morgan Stanley Research, RIMES, MSCI, IBES Estimates, company data from each underlying company included in the universe. There is no assurance that any estimate or projection will be realized. Consumer Discretionary and Health Care At the end of 2015, the Fund was about evenly weighted in both consumer discretionary and health care and overweight relative to the benchmark’s exposure to these sectors. We believe the consumer discretionary sector is likely to benefit from a cyclical recovery, led by urban as well as rural demand. Within the sector, we like select auto manufacturers and auto components businesses, as well as consumer durables companies. For Professional Investor Use Only. Not For Distribution To Retail Investors. franklintempleton.lu Franklin India Fund Strategy Update 4 In the health care sector, we maintain an overweight position in pharmaceutical companies, favoring those with strong pipelines of branded and generic drugs, as well as companies that demonstrate medium- to long-term growth prospects. In particular, we are positive on Sun Pharmaceuticals, which is a long-term play on a shift to specialty pharmaceuticals in the United States, with a focus on new generic opportunities in the Unites States and increasing penetration in emerging markets. In addition, the company currently has a rapidly growing domestic business and should benefit from the acquisition of Ranbaxy in March 2015, which has a strong penetration in emerging markets. Industrials We believe a number of select stocks in the industrials sector may be well positioned for any recovery or improvement in the economic growth rate, and we see some interesting potential opportunities in this sector. We are, therefore, positioned broadly across engineering, electrical equipment, industrial machinery and industrial conglomerates. Positioning in Other Sectors The Fund maintains smaller exposures to the materials, energy, consumer staples and telecommunication services sectors. While rising capital expenditure is likely to drive demand for cement, paints, construction materials and other raw materials, we reduced our exposure to the materials sector, as we felt some valuations had become stretched, although we remain overweight relative to the index. Within the sector, we also maintain an underweighting in metals names, which are likely to continue to suffer from low commodity prices and weak global demand, in our view. We remain largely underweight in the energy sector. We currently are not finding many opportunities in the energy upstream segment (exploration and production). We favor downstream companies, such as Bharat Petroleum, which we believe are likely to benefit from recent fuel price deregulation. We also increased our investment in Coal India in anticipation of a hike in coal prices for the power sector. We maintain an underweight positioning toward the broad consumer staples sector due to high valuations, especially relative to other pockets of the market where we are finding more attractive opportunities. That said, we have increased our position in Hindustan Unilever, as we believe the company is well positioned to benefit from a growth in demand for personal care products. We also maintain underweight exposure to the telecommunication services sector. Within the sector, the Fund has an overweight position in Bharti Airtel, as we believe the stock could perform well over the medium and long term on expectations of higher revenue and market share driven by the faster rollout of a 3G/LTE network, deleveraging of its Africa operations and increasing data usage with more localized online content. 2016 Macroeconomic, Corporate and Policy Outlook Despite the uneven economic recovery in India, due to both internal and external headwinds, we believe that with accelerating consumption and public investment, combined with benign inflation, a reform-oriented government and robust external balances, India could be among the fastest-growing economies in the world in 2016. In 2016, we anticipate urban consumption to accelerate due to wage revisions for government employees, lower inflation due to weak commodity prices and 4%–5% real wage growth in the private sector. Rural consumption, which was subdued in 2015 due to a second successive disappointing monsoon season and weak agricultural commodity prices, is expected to stabilize and improve marginally. We also expect government-driven capex to gain further momentum, with more projects moving to the implementation stage. The current outlook for lower oil prices and a more targeted subsidy mechanism could provide the government with extra funds that might accelerate investments further. However, we think that new private capex may continue to be a drag on the economy, as capacity utilization remains low and infrastructure projects require new sponsors. On the corporate front, while there have been interest-rate cuts by the Reserve Bank of India (cumulatively 125 basis points in 2015), the effect of these rate cuts has yet to be seen. With the evolution of lending rate calculation, the economy and, subsequently, corporations are likely to benefit from lower interest rates. Corporate earnings downgrades could continue for a few more quarters; however, given the base effect and indications of economic recovery, the pace of these downgrades could be relatively lower. We believe the base effect could lead to better year-on-year corporate performance in the second half of 2016 and, therefore, a pickup in earnings growth may be visible starting in fiscal year 2016–2017. The corporate profit cycle is close to all-time lows, and valuations appear reasonable at the current stage. We expect Indian companies’ earnings growth rate to accelerate into the midteens for fiscal full-year 2017 (which starts in April 2016), compared with mid-single-digits in full-year 2016. We believe this will be due, in part, to wholesale price index (WPI) inflation that should be less of a drag on corporate revenues, and a pickup in consumption (primarily urban, but to a lesser extent rural) that is likely to lead to accelerated earnings growth for consumer discretionary and consumer staples companies, as well as to sustain momentum for retail-oriented private sector banks, although fundamentals for companies in these segments are not as strong as for other companies in the broader market from a medium- to long-term perspective. Also, we do not expect the small- and mid-cap segment to sustain its outperformance, given current valuations. Even though market valuations are near historical long-term averages, mid-cap stocks are trading at a premium to large For Professional Investor Use Only. Not For Distribution To Retail Investors. franklintempleton.lu Franklin India Fund Strategy Update 5 Chart 4: Indian Valuations Now Around Long-Term Average and Well Below Peak of Previous Rally caps, leading to an overvaluation of some mid-cap stocks, in our view. We believe disproportionate flows into mid-cap funds and expectations of higher earnings growth are the primary reasons for the higher mid-cap valuations. We expect price readjustments for certain overvalued stocks, and therefore we reiterate the importance of stock selection based on growth, profitability and sustainability. Price-to-Earnings Ratio (P/E x) 31 December 2005–31 December 2015 25 Peak from Previous Rally 23.0x 20 On the policy front, the state election calendar this year is benign and should not be a significant distraction for the government. We believe this could allow the government to place more focus on legislative and administrative action on key policies, such as the further expansion of the direct benefit transfer (DBT) plan, which is an anti-poverty subsidy program, and progress on power distribution and public sector bank reforms. 15 10 5 12/05 Conclusion 5/07 10/08 3/10 9/11 2/13 S&P BSE Sensex Index P/E Ratio (x) 7/14 12/15 10-Year Average (x) x = multiple Source: FactSet. Past performance is not an indicator or a guarantee of future performance. Chart 5: India Mid-Cap Valuations Relative to Large-Caps Are at Levels Unseen in Almost a Decade, Reducing the Potential for Further Outperformance Mid-Caps P/E Premium/Discount to Large-Caps P/E 31 December 2005–31 December 2015 Active management at Franklin Templeton will continue to play an important role in ensuring investors receive potentially attractive returns from Indian equities, not only through exploiting opportunities in companies with strong fundamentals and reasonable valuations but also by avoiding stocks of companies that may drag on performance. While further volatility cannot be ruled out, we believe that India’s structural growth story will continue to play out, as its long-term drivers remain intact. Accordingly, we feel Indian equities continue to offer attractive long-term investment opportunities. In the near term, market risks lie mainly in China’s weakness and its impact on the global macro environment, a delay in corporate profitability recovery that may weigh on earnings expectations, a delay in the pace of reforms and government inaction and a delay in progress with the recognition and resolution of non-performing assets for state-owned banks. 30% 20% 10% 0% -10% -20% -30% -40% 12/05 12/06 12/07 12/08 12/09 12/10 12/11 12/12 12/13 12/14 12/15 Overall, while we may not be able to avoid market volatility in the near term, we are maintaining our positioning toward a cyclical recovery in the medium term, and remain confident that Franklin India Fund remains well-positioned to capture the longterm growth potential in India. Given the pickup in volatility and relatively higher valuations compared with last year, we would reiterate that stock picking using in-depth company analysis remains critical as we navigate the current environment. Nifty MidCap Index P/E Premium/Discount to Nifty Index P/E Source: Bloomberg, based on consensus estimates. Past performance is not an indicator or a guarantee of future performance. For Professional Investor Use Only. Not For Distribution To Retail Investors. franklintempleton.lu Franklin India Fund Strategy Update 6 IMPORTANT LEGAL INFORMATION Franklin India Fund is a sub-fund of the Luxembourg-domiciled SICAV Franklin Templeton Investment Funds. This document is intended to be of general interest only and does not constitute legal or tax advice nor is it an offer for shares or invitation to apply for shares of the Luxembourg-domiciled SICAV Franklin Templeton Investment Funds (“FTIF”). Nothing in this document should be construed as investment advice. Opinions expressed are the author’s at publication date and they are subject to change without prior notice. Subscriptions to shares of the FTIF can only be made on the basis of the current prospectus of the FTIF and, where available, the relevant Key Investor Information Document, accompanied by the latest available audited annual report and the latest semi-annual report if published thereafter. The value of shares in the FTIF and income received from it can go down as well as up, and investors may not get back the full amount invested. Past performance is not an indicator or a guarantee of future performance. Currency fluctuations may affect the value of overseas investments. When investing in a fund denominated in a foreign currency, your performance may also be affected by currency fluctuations. An investment in the FTIF entails risks which are described in the FTIF’s prospectus and, where available, the relevant Key Investor Information Document. In emerging markets, the risks can be greater than in developed markets. Investments in derivative instruments entail specific risks that may increase the risk profile of the FTIF and are more fully described in the FTIF’s prospectus and, where available, the relevant Key Investor Information Document. No shares of the FTIF may be directly or indirectly offered or sold to residents of the United States of America. Shares of the FTIF are not available for distribution in all jurisdictions and prospective investors should confirm availability with their local Franklin Templeton Investments representative before making any plans to invest. Any research and analysis contained in this document has been procured by Franklin Templeton Investments for its own purposes and is provided to you only incidentally. References to particular industries, sectors or companies are for general information and are not necessarily indicative of a FTIF’s holding at any one time. Given the rapidly changing market environment, we disclaim responsibility for updating this document. References to indices are made for comparative purposes only and are provided to represent the investment environment existing during the time periods shown. Indexes are unmanaged and one cannot invest directly in an index. They do not reflect any fees, expenses or sales charges. Please consult your financial advisor before deciding to invest. A copy of the latest prospectus, and if available for this product the Key Investor Information Document, the annual report and semi-annual report, if published thereafter can be found, on our website www.ftidocuments.com or can be obtained, free of charge, from Franklin Templeton International Services S.à r.l. – Supervised by the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier – 8A, rue Albert Borschette, L-1246 Luxembourg – Tel: +352-46 66 67-1 – Fax: +352-46 66 76. 1. Franklin India Fund is a sub-fund of the Luxembourg-domiciled SICAV Franklin Templeton Investment Funds. See www.franklintempletondatasources.com for additional data provider information. Franklin Templeton International Services S.à r.l. 8A, rue Albert Borschette L-1246 Luxembourg franklintempleton.lu franklintempletoninstitutonal.com For Professional Investor Use Only. Not For Distribution To Retail Investors. Copyright © 2016 Franklin Templeton Investments. All rights reserved. 2/16
© Copyright 2025 Paperzz