Know your fund manager Siddharth Vora, Head – Investment Strategy & Fund Manager, PL Capital

I was born and raised in Mumbai, the financial capital of India. Growing up in a family that is deeply rooted in financial services, my interest in the markets developed almost instinctively, formed in years of dining table discussions. I aimed CA, CFA and an MSc in Management for Business Excellence, together with a double diploma in the world politics of the University of Warwick. I also completed CMT level 2 and am a SEBI-registered research analyst, investment adviser and portfolio manager. To further sharpen my skills, I completed programs on Harvard, the London School of Economics and Cornell.

How did you get in this job?

After completing my articles at EY, I joined the Institutional Equits shares in 2016 in 2016 in 2016 and later I discussed the investment strategy and advice. While I received deep exposure on the research side, I saw a clear opportunity to innovate and differentiate, which led me to the world of quantitative investing.

I got out of the PLs in the quantitative assets management space. This decision not only reinforced the position of PL with a separate canal, but also introduced more advanced and systematic strategies in the investment landscape of India.

In the past five years I have built and led a multidisciplinary team of experts to introduce groundbreaking strategies and I completely switched to quant -based asset management. I am currently the Head – Quant Investment Strategies and Fund Manager at PL Asset Management.

Which funds do you currently manage?

I manage PL’s flagship Equity Strategy Aqua, adaptive; Quantitative; Unbiased; Alpha, the pioneering style-agent and style-adaptive flexicap PMs from India. I also manage MADP-Multi Asset Dynamic Portfolio-one first PMS multi-asset PMS that uses quant models for tactical activity location with only passive instruments. Together, Aqua and MADP INR 500 Crore surpassed in AUM and an example of our differentiated ‘man with machine’ approach-a synergy between PL’s traditional investment wisdom and advanced quantitative techniques.

Aqua, PL PMS from PL Capital, has completed two successful years. From 30 June, Aqua supplied a TWRR of 28.14%, better than the BSchmark BSE 500 with 7.61%. This milestone validates the systematic, data -driven investment framework of Aqua Sterk, powered by robust quantitative models, adaptive strategy and disciplined implementation.

What is your investment philosophy and how would you describe your investment strategy?

We have designed adaptive investment strategies that depend on data-driven models and systematic processes to switch between investment styles, sectors and risk levels based on market and macro cycli. Technically, it is a quantitative, ruled, dynamic multifactor strategy -based. The core philosophy is based on the pillars of adaptability, flexibility, agility and totality – offers a sustainable, repeatable and holistic method for investing in changing market regimes. We follow a “quantity” investment approach, integrating fundamental, alternative, technical and quantitative analytics. Our team has built up 25+ its own factors, with the help of more than 1,000 indicators and has tested more than 7,500 strategies to provide our models with power. Each decision is led by structured rules and systematic processes.

What gives you the stairs while you manage the money from other people?

Making machines that can earn money – that is what really fascinates me. We build models with the help of advanced technology and statistics. At the same time, we create synergies by translating the insight into human investing into rules, which we rigorously test over multiple market cycles. Simply put, it is about combining art and science, in which human intelligence is reinforced by machine testing and accuracy. This approach makes investing scientific, advanced and systematic.

I believe that there is always room to improve and explore the boundless possibilities of the man-with-machine approach. This includes finding smarter solutions, building new functions and making systems more robust in the decision -making of investments.