Our investment philosophy that follows a disciplined approach to investing with a strong focus towards process orientation is the common thread running through all our schemes.

The key guiding principle to our investment philosophy is - maximise the risk- adjusted returns for our investors in the respective asset classes, and create wealth for them over the long-term. We have successfully demonstrated the ability to achieve this in the past, and are confident that our process-oriented investment approach will help us sustain the same in the years to come.

Equity

While broad economy and sector trends serve as a broad guideline, Franklin Templeton portfolio managers are essentially 'bottom-up' investors, focusing more on individual stocks and their potential to deliver long term capital appreciation. The emphasis is more on in-house research and looking beyond published reports, as often there is more to a company's story than numbers alone reveal. While quantitative analysis using proprietary research model serves as a first stage filter, the research team and portfolio managers speak with key management and observe operations onsite to get a meaningful insight into a company's ability to translate vision into reality.

Debt

The overall objective is to minimise both liquidity and credit risk. Our fixed income team looks to arrive at a general maturity/duration range for the portfolio in relation to the market based on its interest rate outlook, which is arrived after a rigorous and close monitoring of various macro variables. The shifts within this range are then determined by short term cyclical trends in the economy. They look to manage interest rate risk across different asset class and duration buckets, in order to optimise risk-adjusted returns. All the investment options are thoroughly analysed to ensure that credit risk is kept at the minimum level. Any major shifts in portfolio strategy are based on long-term trends, as opposed to short-term aberrations in interest rates.

Fundamental Approach

Our investment decisions are guided more by what we believe in, less by what the market thinks. That is the reason once we buy into a stock, or take a maturity position in a debt portfolio based on our fundamental research and analysis, we stick to our position without paying heed to market rumours and whisper estimates. We believe that while technicals can rule the roost in the short term, it is the fundamentals that prove rewarding over time.

Long Term Orientation

Franklin Templeton's portfolio managers are strong believers in consistently delivering good performance. The key word is consistency. We believe that it is not important to be top performer at any time and we attach more importance to being among the top quartile in the peer group consistently, and this requires taking a long-term view, even at the cost of temporary underperformance.

Team Approach

While individual portfolio managers are the ultimate decision makers for the scheme they manage, the belief is that working together can achieve greater results than acting alone. That is why every stock that is researched by the analysts is discussed intensively at regular investment team meetings, and the analysis is available to all investment team members on a common platform. Moreover, the high degree of interaction between investment team members across the globe helps share and learn from each other's experience and expertise.

The regular awards and top ratings accorded to Franklin Templeton schemes are a recognition of the their consistently superior performance across asset classes, and through market and economic cycles. They also reflect Franklin Templeton's long cherished values of choosing the long-term, disciplined and team approach to managing its funds and business.