Swarup Mohanty, CEO of Mirae Asset Investment Managers (India), transformed his retirement strategy after artificial intelligence revealed critical flaws in his original plan. According to reports from Mint, Mohanty spent 15 years building what he thought was a solid retirement plan but discovered through AI-driven simulations that his assumed 6% annual withdrawal rate could quietly erode his principal if equity markets stayed flat for just three consecutive years. The math showed that in a range-bound market, withdrawals wouldn't be funded by returns—they'd start eating into the corpus itself. Mohanty subsequently cut his withdrawal assumption to 4%, stepped up monthly contributions, and built a separate three-year withdrawal buffer to avoid redeeming long-term investments during weak markets.
Mohanty's portfolio has evolved from a 60:40 equity-debt structure five years ago to a current 70:15:15 split—70% equity, 15% debt (including provident fund) and 15% alternates. As reported by Mint, he focuses almost entirely on asset allocation rather than market movements, with a mechanical rule that if equity corrects 10%, his next investment goes higher into equity to restore balance. His equity book is roughly 75% active and 25% passive, with large-caps accounting for about 40% of his equity allocation, small-caps for 10-15%, and the balance in mid-cap and thematic funds covering healthcare, banking, defence, chemicals and capital market themes.
According to Mint reports, Mohanty's portfolio delivered overall returns of 11.5-12% over the last one year, driven largely by mid-cap and small-cap exposure and a timely position in silver. Over a five-year horizon, annualised returns have remained around 13.5-14%, ahead of his target return of 11-12%. His equity book is roughly 75% active and 25% passive, with his equity allocation split between large-caps (40%), small-caps (10-15%), and mid-cap and thematic funds covering various sectors.
Mohanty's 15% alternate allocation is split between art, silver ETFs, and start-up investments. As reported by Mint, his wife manages their art portfolio entirely, researching artists and tracking gallery prices to create a wishlist for collection additions. The call on silver, made early on a colleague's advice, contributed meaningfully to recent portfolio returns. Mohanty maintains ₹3 crore in health cover for himself and his wife, and ₹75 lakh for his son, totaling ₹3.75 crore in family health cover, with plans to never let the floor go below ₹2 crore even in retirement.
According to Mint reports, Mohanty acknowledges insufficient global exposure as a gap in his portfolio. He began investing internationally through overseas funds early but regulatory restrictions on outflows from Indian mutual funds into foreign assets stalled fresh allocations. He is now rebuilding this leg through the GIFT City outbound route, motivated by India's limited global market capitalisation of 3-3.5%. He plans to build exposure through real estate investment trusts (Reits) through multi-asset funds, focusing on owning businesses that India doesn't have yet rather than just rupee depreciation hedging.
