Mutual Funds
Quant, PPFAS: How much the CEOs of India's fastest-growing mutual funds earn
Summary
- Mutual funds are required to publish the annual remuneration of their fund managers and executives on their websites for investors to access easily.
- Investors should note that salaries of fund managers shouldn’t be a major factor influencing their MF investment decisions.
The highest-paid executive in Quant Mutual Fund, the country’s fastest-growing mutual fund, was paid about 10% of what his counterpart in the closest rival received as remuneration in FY24, according to data provided by the companies.
Quant Mutual Fund and Parag Parikh Financial Advisory Services Ltd (PPFAS) are the flavour of the season with stock market investors—these are the top two fastest-growing mutual funds.
Quant MF’s average assets under management grew 214% in FY23 and 188% in FY24. Its AUM increased to ₹58,934 crore in March 2024 from about ₹18,760 crore in March 2023.
PPFAS, with a 72.19% growth in its AUM in FY24, was the second fastest-growing asset management company (AMC). Its assets climbed to ₹50,819 crore during the fiscal year from ₹29,512 crore earlier.
Mint obtained the remuneration data of the three highest-paid executives of Quant MF and PPFAS for FY24 from their websites or through email from the AMC.
The remuneration breakdown
At PPFAS, Rajeev Thakkar, chief investment officer, was the top-paid executive with ₹7.74 crore, followed by Raju Shelat, chief operating officer-FA operations, at ₹6.72 crore, and Neil Parikh, chairman and CEO, at ₹4.38 crore.
The AMC did not specify if the remuneration included perquisites such as stock options and ex-gratia one-time payments or whether it was only fixed and variable pay.
Sandeep Tandon, CEO and CIO of Quant MF, did not draw a salary because he’s a promoter in the company.
This is unlike most other AMC executives.
Also read | How much does your fund manager earn in a year?
Sankaren Naren, ED and CIO of ICICI Prudential, the second-largest mutual fund, earned about ₹27 crore in FY24, including fixed pay and stock options.
Sundeep Sikka, ED and CEO of Nippon India, earned ₹54.9 crore (including ₹8.21 crore in cost to company and ₹46.69 crore as a one-time payment) in the same period.
Nilesh Shah, group president of Kotak MF, earned ₹15.78 crore, including perquisites.
At Quant MF, Anupam Saxena, CBO-Retail, was the highest-paid executive with a cost-to-company of ₹84 lakh, followed by Surendra Yadav, CBO-Wealth and Management Investors, at ₹81 lakh.
The remunerations of Quant MF executives are among the lowest in the sector even though the AMC reported a notable performance and growth.
Quant MF’s largest fund, Quant Small Fund, delivered a 34.85% return in the past three years, outperforming the benchmark by almost 12.5 percentage points.
AMCs are mandated by the Securities and Exchange Board of India to publish the annual remuneration of their fund managers and other executives on their websites for investors to access easily.
Also read | How to get a plum job at a mutual fund
However, Quant MF doesn’t disclose the data on its website and instead asks investors to reach out to the AMC over email, following which it sends the data to them within 3-5 days. All other AMCs, big and small, have put out the remuneration information on their websites.
Investors should note that salaries of fund managers shouldn’t be a major factor influencing their MF investment decisions. They should focus on fundamental aspects such as a fund’s investment style and its track record of managing risk across different market cycles.
