"Smart beta is essentially selection of the Securities based on certain factors it could be price factors technical factors or quantitative fundamental factors now in India generally the popular ones are rather volatility low vol is the one which is for meant for conservative investors on the other hand momentum is meant for aggressive investors." Chintan Haria, Principal Investment Strategy at ICICI Prudential AMC, explained about the Smart Beta ETFs. He further explained the classification of these securities as low vol and momentum. He said, "We've basically felt that almost 99 per cent of Indians are in the moderate risk category, because India has done so well in the last 10 years."
He further shared some insights on India's performance in the market, "We are no longer in the conservative category. New investors may be considered in the conservative category but there are so many existing investors who now considered basically as moderate risk-taking investors and still there is some time before we reach the situation where most investors become very aggressive. So for moderate investors, alpha low vol is a suitable product. Alpha Low Vol as the name suggests is a product which basically is a combination of low volatility and momentum or alpha."
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