Anil Maddala

Founder, @GrowFolio | Ex-Zerodha | 18 years investing | Writing on Indian wealth, investor behaviour and better financial decisions

[Anil Maddala @TheMaddala]

@deepakshenoy This is a good reminder of how lumpy equity returns are. A year can feel like nothing is working and then a few months end up doing most of the heavy lifting.

[Anil Maddala @TheMaddala]

Mumbai for @MoneyExpoIndia0 Expo today.
Looking forward to meeting people across wealth, markets and fintech and seeing what’s actually changing on the ground.

[Anil Maddala @TheMaddala]

US debt has crossed $40 trillion. Gold is around $4,600/oz.

That doesn’t mean “debt up = gold up”.

But persistent deficits and rising debt eventually make investors ask a basic question:

What should I own that isn’t somebody else’s promise to pay?

That’s one reason gold keeps coming back into the conversation.

[Anil Maddala @TheMaddala]

India is building GIFT City partly so Indian families can manage global wealth from India.

Yet some wealthy families are again exploring Singapore family-office structures.

That tells you both the opportunity and the gap.

For larger families, wealth management isn’t just about returns. It’s also about where assets sit, global diversification, succession and regulatory clarity.

[Anil Maddala @TheMaddala]

REITs aren’t automatically diversification.

If most of your net worth is already in your house, another property and land, adding REIT exposure is still adding real estate.

An asset class can be good and still be unnecessary in your portfolio.

[Anil Maddala @TheMaddala]

A surprisingly important financial document is one most families don’t have.

One page listing bank accounts, investments, insurance, loans, nominees and the people to contact.

Returns matter.

But making sure your family knows what exists matters too.

[Anil Maddala @TheMaddala]

India’s closing auction started on Aug 3.

By Aug 19, SEBI had already barred two firms over alleged manipulation in it.

New market structure. Old market behaviour 😄

[Anil Maddala @TheMaddala]

A complicated portfolio can look sophisticated.

Until you ask what each investment is actually there for.

[Anil Maddala @TheMaddala]

@Prouspering Math is right, but cash flows are very different. The FD gets ₹50L upfront and is left untouched for 30 years, while the loan needs an EMI every month. That makes this a bit of an apples-to-oranges comparison.

[Anil Maddala @TheMaddala]

@Akshat_World Good point on checking price vs iNAV before buying. I’d only be careful with “just buy US directly” as the solution — that comes with its own tax, remittance and operational issues.

[Anil Maddala @TheMaddala]

@deepakshenoy This is the part people miss. In the first few years, increasing how much you invest probably matters far more than chasing an extra 1–2% return.

[Anil Maddala @TheMaddala]

JioBlackRock started direct-only.

Now it wants mutual fund distributors too.

Buying investments has become easy.

Helping someone decide what to buy, what not to buy and stay invested apparently hasn’t.

[Anil Maddala @TheMaddala]

@velumania Revenue growth looks great until you ask what it cost to create it. Same with investing — growth matters, but the quality of that growth matters more.

[Anil Maddala @TheMaddala]

@AlphaWizarDD The car is much easier to show than the audited P&L 😄

[Anil Maddala @TheMaddala]

@akibsha84322143 Probably one of the hardest things to accept as an investor. Your buying price matters to you, not to the business or the market.

[Anil Maddala @TheMaddala]

@kothariabhishek The inflows help, but they don’t automatically strengthen the rupee. Higher crude and importer dollar demand are still putting pressure on it. Feels like the FCNR money is cushioning the fall more than pushing the rupee up.

[Anil Maddala @TheMaddala]

A prospective client told me he found growFOLIO because ChatGPT suggested us.

That was a first.

For years small businesses worried about whether Google knew they existed.

The next question might be:

Does AI know you exist?

[Anil Maddala @TheMaddala]

Interesting July MF data.

Large-cap funds saw outflows for the first time since Dec 2023.

Small-cap funds got a record ₹7,768 cr.

SIPs still did ₹31,961 cr.

Investors aren’t leaving equities. They seem to be moving further down the risk curve.

Worth watching.

[Anil Maddala @TheMaddala]

Building a business in India.
Investing in India.
Raising a family here.

There are plenty of things we can complain about.

But there is also an extraordinary amount of opportunity around us.

Grateful for that today. 🇮🇳

[Anil Maddala @TheMaddala]

India’s mutual fund industry was around ₹13.8 lakh crore a decade ago.

Today it is over ₹82 lakh crore.

One of the quieter changes in India has been millions of households slowly becoming owners of financial assets.

There’s still a very long way to go. 🇮🇳