Thursday, Jan 4, 2024
For the world, the year 2023 started with the dooming scare of AI, the devil taking over human jobs. The world saw the dark sides of geopolitical conflicts and the global economy.
India on the other hand, saw the bright side too. We surpassed China to become the most populous country and then became the world’s fastest-growing large economy. The Indian economy saw it all from the bear runs of March to the bull runs of November and December. We hosted the G20 summit as the world struggled to keep up with inflation and as the Indian equity markets crossed $4 trillion in market capitalization, the year ended on a cheerful note (ignoring the emotional World Cup finals).
We talked about what’s happening in the country and across the globe all year round and we’ll continue to do that in 2024. However, before that, I want to talk about Green Portfolio.
This year has been one of new beginnings, filled with prosperity and growth for all of us here at Green Portfolio. This was made possible with our investors’ patience and unwavering faith in our research and services. While I am not big on a 3 turning into a 4, 2023 was a splendid year for us and thus, we’re starting the new year counting the blessings that the last year brought us.
For anyone looking at GP from the outside, January would have seemed very quiet, as if nothing was happening. However, on the other side, our team was working very hard, building a new product.
Good things take time, so we took our time (a little over four months) to curate a new portfolio, and on 2nd March 2023, we launched our Green Ethical Portfolio - Shariah Investing. The portfolio was made for investors who want to invest in compliance with the Shariah principles of investing and we feel very proud to have investors who want to create wealth ethically. The fund now has over 250 investors and has given a 49% return since inception - which is just 10 months!
We ended the quarter by introducing Green Sharks - a podcast series where our analysts and fund managers deep dive into business with C-suite executives of Indian Incs. The idea behind this series was simply to connect investors with the managements of companies that they’re invested in. P.S.: Season two of the series is here too, but more on that later!
If it was a contest, I’d say that the second quarter was the quietest that Green Portfolio has been this year, but that’s not to say we were walking around with our hands in our pockets.
The second quarter brought us a new home - literally as we shifted to a new office. Weeks were spent as the team themselves designed every bit and corner of the office (our second home). Some of our team members designed the wallpapers by themselves, and I’m not even talking about the design team here. The team truly built the new office with their own hands.
Our founders Divam and Anuj have always emphasized the importance of financial education for individual investors, who often end up losing out on the opportunity to create wealth in equity markets. So, in early April 2023, our aim of imparting education and knowledge to small investors was reinstated and from there we went on to share updates and knowledge via all mediums we could from reels to our newsletters, which you are now reading.
The first half of the year gave us a great start, but the second half was even more eventful than the first and yes, I’m saying this despite the fact that we launched a new product in the first half! H2 of the year has been exciting for the Indian equity markets too. Our indices rallied reaching their all-time highs and most of this happened during the second half. For Green Portfolio, though, the third quarter was more than just rallying markets.
We proudly celebrated half a decade of Green Portfolio on July 13th. We are always learning, but we’re not toddlers anymore! Completing 5 successful
years of the company has been one of our biggest milestones this year and we celebrated it like a little festival of our own with our investors, and the team. Our founders and fund managers went live talking about the journey with investors and what lies ahead.
We absolutely love talking to investors and after the 5th anniversary live, we were delighted to know that our investors like hearing from us too. Thus, in an effort to give our investors what they like, we started a live series - Market Moments with Divam Sharma where your fund manager comes live on YouTube every other week to talk about markets and the economy.
A little confession: We haven’t been able to come live as often as we want because of plenty of things happening around, but we’re trying to change that in 2024. So, until then, please bear with us?
Also, another milestone! We reached the 10,000 active investors mark for the first time since inception, but I won’t bore you with numbers already (because I’m saving that for the end!). Gearing up for more milestones ahead, we freshened up the look of our smallcases, changed logos, and revamped our website.
The last quarter of the year, defined by the festive season, the World Cup adrenaline, and NIFTY 50 crossing the 20,000 and 21,000 point mark! With festive cheer around, November and December were truly two of the most exciting months of the year for us.
With Diwali in November, October was the month everyone around India was shopping, cleaning, and getting ready for Diwali. We too, were preparing for the festival of prosperity in our way by curating two Samvat smallcases which were then launched in November. We launch a Samvat smallcase every year to encourage the investing discipline, but the subscriptions would only be open for a day.
This year, however, we launched two Samvat smallcases, one each for smallcap and midcap stocks, and this was a success as we kept the subscriptions open for the whole month and many beginner investors joined us. It was truly a prosperous Diwali for investors!
In December, while the markets were beating all expectations, we decided to bring back two of our smallcases - Rising Responsibly: Green ESG and Smart Index Advantage. We saw some opportunities in these themes and after much contemplation, brought them back. We started the year with 5 funds and now we offer 7 actively managed smallcases revolving around different themes without counting the Samvat funds!
The first season of Green Sharks, the podcast series was completely zoom-based. In December, we went live with Season 2 of Green Sharks, and this time, we are doing it in person. For the first episode, our team flew from Gurgaon to Kolhapur to have a discussion with the management of the company. This is our effort to provide investors with business insights that they’re usually devoid of.
And that was 2023 for us! Wait, it's not a wrap yet, not before I talk numbers, after all we’re all investors here and we have to admit that we care a lot about numbers. However, I’ve put all the numbers together here. We’re very proud of these numbers, please have a look.
We love what we do and we’re feeling very grateful that we get to do this work. And the best part is that we do this work for and with our investors. Out of all the moments and milestones that have been there and will come, our biggest achievement, the thing that we proudly boast of are the relationships that we have built with our investors.
As I sit here writing this on a cold winter morning in our warm new office, I’m filled with gratitude. We’re proud of the work we do, and if you’re a part of the Green Portfolio family, I hope you’re proud too. If not, you can join us here to create a healthier financial future.
With the trust that our investors have put in us, we are looking forward to a better and brighter year ahead for everyone.
Green Portfolio - 2023 Wrapped with Divam Sharma
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Your fund manager will talk more about this in Green Portfolio's 2023 wrap-up live. This Friday at 5 PM, our CEO and founder, Mr. Divam Sharma will discuss:
- Green Portfolio's 2023 in a nutshell
- Major trends that guided markets in 2023
- Trends to look forward to in 2024
Set your notifications and join the live here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ke27TcUWAWk
Now, that’s a wrap. Happy New Year!
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