After two successful editions in Mumbai and Bengaluru, the third edition of the high-impact Moneycontrol Mutual Fund Summit 2026, presented by HDFC Mutual Fund and powered by Axis Mutual Fund, successfully concluded in Ahmedabad on February 17.
Anchored around the theme “Scaling Participation. Sustaining Performance”, Moneycontrol’s flagship mutual fund summit gathered asset managers, regulators, CIOs, and wealth advisers for a day of high-level discussions about India’s savings and capital markets and the way ahead.
Amarjeet Singh, Whole-Time Member, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), said that India’s mutual fund industry has made significant progress in building an equity culture over the past three decades, but warned that rapid growth must be supported by stronger governance, transparency and supervision.
“We’ve come a long way, which we need to celebrate.” However, he cautioned about emerging risks. “We need to consolidate the growth that we have seen. We should make sure that there is no big mishap which drives investors away,” he said.
The summit highlighted the industry’s immediate priorities, with a focus on portfolio construction across asset classes, navigating equity, debt, and gold cycles, evaluating IPO opportunities with discipline, and understanding how global access through GIFT City is reshaping investment choices.
From policy architects to portfolio managers, the summit hosted candid dialogue on regulation, product innovation, tactical allocation, and investor behaviour, making it one of the most comprehensive gatherings of India’s asset management ecosystem.
He stressed that first-time investors are placing significant faith in Indian companies and investment vehicles such as mutual funds and PMS structures, making governance, transparency and supervision critical to sustaining confidence.
The other distinguished speakers included Anand Radhakrishnan, MD & CEO, Sundaram AMC; Jatinder Pal Singh, CEO, ITI AMC; Saurabh Nanavati, MD & CEO, Invesco AMC; and Vaibhavv Chugh, CEO, Abakkus Asset Manager LLP, on a panel discussion on Powering Har Ghar Mutual Fund: From Products to Purposeful Solutions.
On Equity vs Debt vs Gold: Tactical Allocation for 2026, Ashish Gupta, CIO, Axis Mutual Fund; Rishi Kohli, CIO, JioBlackRock MF; Trideep Bhattacharya, President & CIO, Edelweiss Asset Management Limited; and Chirag Mehta, CIO, Quantum AMC, discussed asset allocation strategies for 2026, balancing optimism on India’s structural growth with global uncertainties. During the discussion, Gupta cautioned that in a lower inflation and lower nominal GDP environment, investors cannot expect 15–20% annual returns from equities. “If your expectations are reasonable, then it should still be a reasonable year for equities,” he said, adding that some earlier challenges, such as high valuations, have eased as earnings stabilised. However, he flagged global uncertainties, uneven capital flows and a large IPO pipeline as factors that could keep gains modest. “It will be a year of modest gain,” he said.
In a Fireside chat on The Journey of a Lifelong Learner and Investor, Navneet Munot, MD & CEO HDFC AMC, shared a key insight on long-term investing. Munot said that wealth creation is driven more by patience and investor behaviour than by financial knowledge alone. He stressed that staying disciplined through market cycles, avoiding emotional decision-making, and maintaining long-term conviction are far more critical than trying to time markets or chase short-term trends.
Munot stressed that investing success depends far more on behaviour than intelligence. “Long-term success in investing is not about how much you know. It’s about how you behave,” he said, warning that today’s information overload often creates an illusion of control and overconfidence.
His message was simple: discipline beats emotion. “Across cycles, crises and volatility, the secret to success has been remaining disciplined. Just stay the course,” Munot said.
Another panel discussion on Investing Through GIFT City: Leveraging Opportunity, Managing Challenges featured Pradeep Ramakrishnan, ED, International Financial Services Centres Authority; Vaibhav Shah, Head – Products, Business Strategy & International Business, Mirae Asset Investment Managers (India); Vandit Shah, Senior Director, Price Waterhouse & Co LLP; and Dr Dipesh Shah, Executive Director (Development), IFSCA. During the discussion, Pradeep Ramakrishnan emphasised that true international financial centres must remain neutral to inflows and outflows. “An International Financial Centre must remain neutral to both inflows and outflows, and that is the direction being pursued,” he said.
He highlighted that capital now flows into the GIFT ecosystem from nearly 70 countries and is deployed across close to 30 countries, underscoring the centre’s growing role in intermediating global flows.
The Fireside chat on India’s Growth Story: Beyond Nifty with Ajay Khandelwal, Fund Manager, Motilal Oswal AMC, broadened the lens beyond benchmark indices, focusing on thematic and sectoral opportunities shaping India’s next growth cycle.
The Moneycontrol Mutual Fund Summit in Ahmedabad showcased the plumbing and playbook for the next phase of India’s savings story: stronger infrastructure, smarter regulation, and a renewed focus on investor behaviour.
