What explains the rush to sell us global and private credit funds?

Most appear to be chasing retail investor money that is flowing into these as part of the latest fad

- DEVINA MEHRA

Remember what fund managers were telling you in the last quarter of 2025—that you must have gold in your portfolio?

It included even those who advised you just a year or two before to sell the ‘unproductive’ gold you had at home and put it all in equities. Indian equity markets did not do well and gold did, so the advice changed. Unfortunately, this change came far too late.

Investments from Indian investors into gold funds and exchange traded funds (ETFs) peaked in January, even exceeding equity flows. Since then, the rupee has fallen, import duty has been imposed and the gold price is still down.

The talking heads on TV have also moved on. What are you listening to these days? Some offer their seemingly wise counsel on why you should invest globally (usually in a Gift City product they have launched) or advise going into fixed income, especially private credit, which is where a number of new fund structures have been launched.

What is all this about? At one level, it is about driving—or rather, investing your money—looking backwards. In whatever has done well of late. But the actual reason for this is that the asset management industry is really an asset gathering industry. The revenues of fund managers depend on the assets they gather and hence the focus is not on what would make the investor money now but on ‘under which theme the investor will give us money today.’

We plotted the clustering of thematic funds since the start of the mutual fund industry in India almost three decades ago. The pattern has not changed.