ICICI Prudential hopes to achieve 100% growth

Kolkata/ Bhubaneswar: ICICI Prudential Asset Management Company (AMC) is looking at doubling its asset under management (AUM) in Orissa within next two years. For the purpose, the company has drawn plans to expand its service network through branch expansion, opening of small offices and appointment of more number of distribution agents across the state. At present, the company is managing assets worth Rs.120 crore in Orissa and expects to increase it to Rs. 240 crore in two years. While the company has about 750 agents engaged in the state, it plans to increase the number to about 2000 by the end of the fiscal. Mutual fund market size of Orissa is estimated at about Rs. 400 crore, with the UTI Mutual Fund being the market leader. ICICI Prudential has one operational team in Bhubaneswar and it intends to have one such team each at Cuttack and Berhampur within next three months. Besides ICICI Prudential AMC is focussing to tap the huge potential in the rural areas. To leverage this potential, it is planning small offices at Puri and Rourkela. Currently, the company is having relationship managers posted at Balasore, Sambalpur and Anugul. The share of the equity mutual fund in the total asset under management has been around 60 percent. The reason being other funds have been able to provide around 15 percent return. In the zone comprising Jharkhand, Bihar, Orissa and Chhatishgarh, the company has about 1.4 lakh investors. In Orissa the number stands at about 15,000. On mutual fund investment, Tripathy said it helped investors in risk diversification across sectors. Investment in mutual funds was very liquid except the equity linked savings scheme (ELSS) where there was a lock-in period of three years. Investors funds would be handled by fund managers investing in mutual funds through the asset management company.