Debt returns competing with equities: CIOs of MF houses at BFSI Summit

Naren said after a long time the need for money in the deposit market has come and we see hikes in bank deposit rates

Debt is giving a tough competition to equities as major central banks unwind their monetary easing and rate hikes, chief investment officers (CIO) of mutual fund (MF) houses said at the Business Standard Insight Summit on Thursday.

“Debt is becoming a more structural asset class...From 2008 to 2021, there was continued monetary easing. Debt is now becoming a competition to equity,” said S Naren, CIO of ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund.

After a long time, the need for money in the deposit market has come and the banks have raised deposit rates, he said. “That has played a bigger role in