Franklin Templeton MF Declares Dividend

Franklin Templeton Mutual Fund has announced 4 January 2008 as the record date for the declaration of dividend under Templeton Quarterly Interval Plan - Plan C. The AMC plans to distribute entire appreciation in the NAV as dividend. The NAV for the scheme stood at Rs 10.44 as on 28 December 2007.

The objective of the scheme is to generate returns and reduce interest rate volatility, through a portfolio of fixed income securities.

DSP ML MF Declares Dividend

DSP Merrill Lynch Mutual Fund declared dividend under DSP Merrill Lynch Technology.com Fund. The record date for the same is 4 January 2008 and the quantum of the dividend is Rs 10 per unit on the face value of Rs 10. The NAV of the scheme was recorded at Rs 36.366 on 28 December 2007.

Entry Load Scrapped On Open-Ended MF Schemes

KOLKATA: It's raining goodies on the mutual fund industry. Within days of issuing guidelines for real estate investment trusts and indicating a willingness to increase the total overseas investment limit by $2 billion, the Securities & Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has decided to scrap the entry load on open-ended mutual fund (MF) schemes.

The move is in sync with SEBI’s ongoing efforts to reduce the cost to investors looking to invest in mutual fund schemes. Sometime ago, the market regulator had reduced the fee structure for open-ended schemes.

When contacted by ET, SEBI chairman M Damodaran said: “Mutual fund scheme is a good entry-level vehicle for first time investors. We are constantly trying to find ways of making investment in MF schemes more friendly and attractive.” He, however, refused to comment on SEBI’s decision to scrap the entry load on open-ended MF schemes or on its plans for the close-ended schemes.

SEBI has been toying with the idea of either allowing mutual fund houses to charge a variable entry load for open-ended schemes or eliminating the load from these schemes.

The Association of Mutual Funds in India (Amfi) and other market participants had, in their last meeting, suggested that SEBI may look at introducing a variable load structure in line with the structure prevalent in developed markets such as the United States and Australia.

Entry load is a charge levied by a mutual fund when an investor steps in. Open-ended mutual fund schemes charge between 2- 2.5 % of the amount invested as entry load to meet their marketing costs and distribution commissions. On the other hand, close-ended schemes are permitted to charge up to 6% as initial issue expenses that are amortised over the life of the scheme.

UTI MF To Open 53 Branches In Next 3 Months

UTI Mutual Fund said it will open 53 new branches in the next three months across the country by utilising a part of proceeds from its proposed public offer which is likely to hit in February. Without giving the investment details, he said, the fund would come from the IPO proceeds which is likely to enter the capital market in February. Besides, the IPO proceeds would be utilised for technology upgradation and raising capital of its subsidiary UTI Venture, a venture capital arm of the fund house. The branch expansion would provide more access points to investors in the 450 districts across the country.

Stanchart To Seek New Buyer For MF Business

MUMBAI: Foreign bank Standard Chartered on Friday said it will seek new buyers for its mutual fund business in India after global financial major UBS failed to secure "certain regulatory approvals."

"Standard Chartered will now seek a new buyer by re-initiating the tender process," the bank said here in a statement.

"The Sale and Purchase Agreement that was signed with UBS in January 2007 was conditional upon UBS securing certain regulatory approvals which have not been granted," it said.

UBS had agreed to buy StanChart's MF management business for $118 million but with the Sale and Purchase Agreement expiring, the two sides decided to end negotiations in this regard, UBS had said in a statement from its Hong Kong office.

The Swiss firm, however, said a strategic alliance between the two companies for fund distribution in Asia, announced at the same time as the planned acquisition, would remain unaffected. The failure of the proposed deal would have negligible costs and would not impact UBS' earnings.

UBS said it remains committed to India and Asia Pacific. "It will continue to provide its clients in India with market-leading equity brokerage and advisory services via UBS India Securities Private Ltd," it noted.

Mutual Funds On Buying Spree

Mutual funds (MFs) bought shares worth a net Rs 716 crore on Thursday, 27 December 2007, compared to their buying of Rs 742.70 crore on 26 December 2007. MFs' net inflow of Rs 716 crore on 27 December 2007 was a result of gross purchases of Rs 1835.50 crore and gross sales Rs 1119.50 crore. The 30-share BSE Sensex rose 24.20 points or 0.12% to 20,216.72 on that day. MFs were net buyers of shares worth Rs 3167.50 crore in this month, till 27 December 2007.

ABN AMRO MF Merged Its Two Schemes

ABN AMRO mutual fund has merged ABN AMRO Dividend Yield Fund and ABN AMRO Opportunity Fund. ABN AMRO Dividend Yield Fund will cease to exist with effect from 10 February 2008.

With this merger the fund house has revised its load structure for ABN AMRO Opportunity Fund. The scheme will charge an entry load of 2.25% for the investment amount less than Rs 5 crore. There will not be any entry load for the investment amount equal to or above Rs 5 crore.

The fund house will charge a Contingent Deferred Sales Charge (CDSC) of 1.00% for the investment less than Rs 5 crore and if its redeemed before the 6 month from the allotment. There will not be any CDSC for the investment more than Rs 5 crore but less than Rs 10 crore. However there will be an CDSC of 1.00% for the investment more than Rs 10 crore and if if its redeemed before the 6 month from the allotment.

Sundaram MF May Mop Up Rs 2500 Crore

Sundaram BNP Paribas Mutual Fund has so far garnered over Rs 2500 crore through more than 500,000 applications in its energy fund, Managing Director T.P. Raman said. The collection figures are likely to be finalized on 28 December 2007, Raman said. So far we have crossed Rs 2500 crore. Some five banks are still to reconcile and give the numbers. So it will take a day more, he said.

On 18 December it was reported that collection is likely to be over Rs 2400 crore. The three year Sundaram BNP Paribas Select Thematic Funds Energy Opportunities Fund was open for subscription from 12 November-11 December 2007.

Raymond Stocks Likely To Benefit MF Scheme

Share prices of Raymond went up by 2.31% to Rs. 435.50 reported at BSE at 10.25 a.m. on 28 December 2007 against previous day close of Rs. 425.65.

Birla India Opportunities Fund - B (G) is likely to gain as it has the highest percentage hold of the stocks of the company compared to its peer groups who have invested in the stocks of the company. Birla India Opportunities Fund - B (G) was holding 5.50% of its total portfolio size invested in the stocks of the company as on 30 November 2007. The scheme holds 1.08 lakh units of the company in November 2007 compared to its peer groups who have invested in the stocks of the company.

It is followed by Tata Growth Fund - (Bonus) with 1.10 lakh units (3.40% of its portfolio), Birla Midcap Fund (G) with 5.04 lakh units holding (3.22%) as on November 2007.

However, the schemes like, Franklin India Prima Fund - (G) was holding 2.93 lakh units on 31 October 2007, has sold its 2.44 lakh shares reducing its exposure to 49,479 units as on 30 November 2007 and thus less likely to gain. ICICI Pru Discovery Fund (G) was holding 3.98 lakh units on 31 October 2007, has sold its 99066 shares reducing its exposure to 2.99 lakh units as on 30 November 2007 and thus less likely to benefit.

SEBI Set For Speedy Clearance Of MF Schemes

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) proposed a fast track mechanism for clearance of mutual fund schemes.

In a draft scheme SEBI has invited public comments till 15 January 2008. As per the draft, Asset Management Companies (AMCs) will have to file final offer document with SEBI as against the current practice of submitting draft offer document.

After receiving the confirmation of receipt of the document from SEBI, the AMC will be free to launch the scheme. The regulator, however, will retain the right to advise amendments. The aim of adopting the new procedure is to squeezing the existing process without compromising on the quality of disclosures to investors.

Fmps Put On Fast Track

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has said it would soon put the fixed maturity plans (FMPs) and close-ended income schemes of mutual fund houses on the fast-track route.

The move is aimed at reducing the time taken by the asset management companies (AMCs) to launch these products for investors.

The FMPs and close-ended income schemes, which invest the funds collected in the debt and money market instruments, form the bulk of the new offer documents filed with Sebi.

The asset allocations in these schemes are standard and most fund houses have such schemes, reasons a discussion paper put out by the regulator for comments and suggestions. Sebi is likely to place other mutual fund products also on the fast-track in the next stage.

The fast-track model is framed after examining the experiences of regulators in Australia, Malaysia, the US and the UK, and customising the framework available in these countries to suit Indian needs,Sebi said.

According to the new draft proposal, the mutual fund houses are required to place a final offer document (hard as well as soft copy), due diligence certificate from trustees with additional due diligence certificate from the compliance committee, comprising CEO of the AMC, compliance head and fund manager, along with a copy of receipt of the filing fee.

The document is then uploaded on the Sebi website. After receiving a written confirmation of the offer document from Sebi, the AMC will be free to launch the scheme.

The regulator, however, will retain the power to advise amendments, if required in the interest of investors, to the offer document.

Most developed markets have similar models. For instance, in Australia, the prospectus is only needed to be lodged with the Australian Securities and Investments Commissions, passing the full responsibility of ensuring compliance to the product provider.

The regulator merely retains the power to require amendments to product disclosure statements and to place stop order on any PDS, meaning it is incapable of accepting new investments.

The American Securities and Exchange Commission vets the document and they also do not clear it, once the AMC files the draft offering document.

In Korea, the mutual fund industry self-regulatory organisation goes through the proposed offer documents and after the approval, it is filed with the regulator and launched soon after.

ABN Amro MF Unleashes New Interval Fund

ABN Amro MF has unleashed a new fund called ABN Amro Interval Fund - Quarterly Plan K and it is a debt oriented interval scheme. The primary objective of the scheme launched would be to seek to generate steady returns through investments made in a basket of fixed income securities, with a provision to offer liquidity at periodic interval. The fund will invest in 0-100% in debt instruments such as bonds and debentures with low to medium profile of risk and 0-60% in securitised debt with exposure in debt derivatives up to 100%. The fund can also invest 0-100% in money instruments.

Deutsche MF Files Offer Document

Deutsche Mutual Fund has launched a new fund called DWS Fixed Term Fund - Series 45 - 49 and it is a series of 12-18 month close-ended debt schemes. The objective of the fund is to generate regular income by investing in fixed income securities money market instruments usually maturing line with the time profile of the fund. The fund can invest up to 100 % in domestic debt instruments including government securities & money market instruments and securitised debt. The investment in securitised debt will be up to a maximum of 100% of the net asset of the scheme.

Reliance MF Rolls Out New Fixed Horizon Fund

Reliance MF has rolled out a new fund called Reliance Fixed Horizon Fund -IV-Series 8. It is a close-ended income scheme with maturity period of 494 days from the date of allotment. The primary investment objective of the scheme is to seek to generate regular returns and growth of capital by investing in a diversified portfolio of central and state government securities and other fixed income/ debt securities normally maturing in line with the time profile of the series with the objective of limiting interest rate volatility. The scheme will invest 0%-70% in money market instruments. The scheme will invest 30%-100% in government securities issued by central &/or state government & other fixed income/ debt securities including but not limited to corporate bonds and securitised debt. Debt securities will also include securitised debt, which may go up to 100% of the portfolio.

Principal PNB MF Declares Dividend For Two Schemes

Principal PNB Mutual Fund has approved the dividend under the dividend option of two schemes namely Principal Personal Tax Saver Fund and Principal Growth Fund.

The fund house has declared a dividend of 110% i.e. Rs 11 per unit on face value of Rs 10 in its open-ended equity linked saving scheme - Principal Personal Tax Saver Fund. It has also declared a dividend of 25% i.e. Rs 2.50 per unit on face value of Rs 10 on its open ended balanced scheme- Principal Growth Fund.

The record date for both the scheme has been fixed as 31 December 2007.

The NAV of Principal Personal Tax Saver Fund was recorded at Rs. 206.54 as on 24 December 2007 whereas the NAV of Principal Growth Fund was recorded at Rs. 35.39 as on 24 December 2007.

Birla Sun Life MF Declares Dividend For Two Schemes

Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund has approved the dividend under the dividend option of two schemes namely Birla Dynamic Bond Fund and Birla Sun Life Monthly Income Fund.

The fund house has declared a dividend of 3.50% i.e. Rs 0.35 per unit on face value of Rs 10 in its open-ended income scheme - Birla Dynamic Bond Fund. It has also declared a dividend of 2.50% i.e. Rs 0.25 per unit on face value of Rs 10 on its open ended balanced scheme- Birla Sun Life Monthly Income Fund.

The record date for both the scheme has been fixed as 31 December 2007.

The NAV of Birla Dynamic Bond Fund was at Rs. 10.4480 as on 24 December 2007 whereas the NAV of Birla Sun Life Monthly Income Fund was at Rs. 12.0305 as on 24 December 2007.

Finolex Industries Stocks Likely To Benefit MF Scheme

Share prices of Finolex Industries went up by 2.23% to Rs. 119.45 reported at BSE at 10.22 a.m. on 27 December 2007 against previous day close of Rs. 116.85.

DSP ML Micro-Cap Fund (G) is likely to gain as it has the highest percentage hold of the stocks of the company compared to its peer groups who have invested in the stocks of the company. DSP ML Micro-Cap Fund (G) hold 1.17% of its total portfolio size invested in the stocks of the company as on 30 November 2007. The scheme holds 5.93 lakh units of the company in November 2007 compared to its peer groups who have invested in the stocks of the company.

It is followed by Sundaram BNP Paribas Growth Fund - (G) with 39,688 units (0.99% of its portfolio) as on November 2007.

Deutsche MF Files Offer Document

Name of Fund: DWS Fixed Term Fund - Series 45 - 49

Scheme: A series of 12-18 month close-ended debt schemes

Objective: The objective of the fund is to generate regular income by investing in fixed income securities money market instruments usually maturing line with the time profile of the fund.

Asset Allocation: The fund can invest up to 100 % in domestic debt instruments including government securities & money market instruments and securitised debt. The investment in securitised debt will be up to a maximum of 100% of the net asset of the scheme.

Face Value: Rs 10.

Investment Options: Each scheme offers two plans regular plan, institutional plan. Each of the plans will offer two sub-options namely growth and dividend payout.

Entry Load: There will no entry load charged for the scheme due to its close-ended structure.

Exit Load: The scheme charges an exit load of 2.00%, if the investment is redeemed any time before the date of maturity.

Minimum Investment Amount: Under regular plan the minimum investment is Rs 5,000 and in multiple of Re 1 thereafter. Under institutional plan the minimum investment is Rs 1 crore and in multiple of Re 1 thereafter.

SEBI To Frame Norms For Real Estate Mfs

MUMBAI: The action never stops on the property front. Market regulator Sebi will soon unveil norms for real estate mutual funds (REMFs) as well as for Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs).

The norms allow local asset management firms to raise money from investors here which would be invested in the realty sector — in projects and in the equity of both listed and unlisted firms. Sebi has finalised a concept paper on REMFs and, after taking the views of stakeholders, will seek approval from its board for this new product.

The introduction of realty mutual funds will open up a new investment horizon for local investors, many of whom are in no position to take an exposure directly to the real estate sector. The move also comes at a time when real estate, as a separate asset class, is fast catching the attention of investors. This is reflected in the number of real estate firms which are getting listed, apart from a growing pool of private equity funds waiting to invest in the sector.

Sebi has already finalised a concept paper on REMFs with the proposed norms being based on a committee headed by HDFC Mutual Fund CEO Milind Bharve. The committee went into a host of issues such as the computing of net asset values, valuation of properties, periodicity of disclosures and liquidity. Valuations need to be conducted not later than three months from the time of initial work on a property, persons close to the development said. Unlike in conventional mutual fund schemes, a critical issue in an REMF relates to providing liquidity.

In a normal mutual fund scheme, which comprises stocks or bonds, investors need to exit can be met by selling down the securities. That is not the case in an REMF since the underlying assets — property— is not a liquid asset. Mutual fund managers reckon that any REMF may have to be a closed-ended structure with an exit option only after a specified period, say three or five years.

Nilesh Shah, deputy CEO of ICICI Pru Mutual Fund, says there is investor appetite for such products. According to him, taking into account rental income and capital appreciation, investors can hope to earn returns of well over 20%.

In mid-2006, Sebi first came out with the basic guidelines for REMFs in India, although it has been on the drawing board for over six years. However, the committee appointed by the regulator has been grappling with issues of accounting and valuations for individual projects. The real estate sector does not have a regulator and arriving at a benchmark to guide investors could pose problems.

Much in line with the initial suggestions from Sebi, the committee for real estate MFs feels these funds should be closed-ended with a minimum of six to seven years duration, but they should be listed on the exchanges providing daily entry and exit points for investors. The initial amount to be invested could be in line with equity funds, just that the disclosures on the portfolio may be done every quarter, unlike monthly for equity funds, the report says.

Birla Sun Life MF Announces Dividend For FMP

Birla Mutual Fund has declared dividend in Birla Fixed Term Plan-Quarterly Series 2 dividend option. The record date for dividend is 27 December 2007. The fund house has announced that 100% of the distributable surplus available on the record date will be distributed as dividend. The scheme had NAV of Rs 10.2167 per unit as on 20 December 2007. Birla Fixed Term Plan-Quarterly Series 2 is a close-end income scheme with the objective to generate current income by investing in a portfolio of fixed income securities maturing normally in line with the duration of the scheme.

ICICI MF Declares Dividend

ICICI Prudential MF declared dividend on five schemes: ICICI Prudential Income Plan Quarterly Frequency, ICICI Prudential Fixed Maturity Plan Series 34 One Year Plan B, ICICI Prudential Fixed Maturity Plan Series 38 One Year Plan D, ICICI Prudential Interval Fund II Quarterly Plan C and ICICI Prudential Interval Fund Quarterly Interval Plan I. The fund house fixed 31 December 2007 as the record date for the payment of dividend.

HSBC MF launches Quarterly Interval Fund

Name of Fund: HSBC Quarterly Interval Fund Plan III

Scheme: Debt oriented interval scheme.

Objective: The objective of the scheme is to seek generation of returns by investing in a portfolio of fixed income instruments normally maturing in line with the time profile of the respective plan.

Asset Allocation: The fund will invest 0%-100% in debt instruments including securitised debt. The fund will invest 0%-100% in money market instruments.

Fund Opens: 26 December 2007

Fund Closes: 26 December 2007

Face Value: Rs 10

Investment Options: HSBC Quarterly Interval Fund Plan III offers investors with regular & institutional options and sub-options of dividend reinvestment & growth. The dividend and growth options will have two facilities viz. automatic renewal and automatic redemption with the default facility as automatic redemption.

Entry Load: There will no entry load charged for the scheme due to its close-ended structure.

Exit Load: The scheme charges an exit load of 0.50%, if the investment is redeemed any time other than specified transaction period. Whereas there will be no exit load charged on the redemption made on or after specified transaction period.

Minimum Investment Amount: The minimum investment under regular plan is Rs 10,000 and in multiple of Re 1 thereafter. The minimum investment under institutional plan is Rs 1 crore and in multiple of Re 1 thereafter.

CMC Stocks Likely To Benefit MF Scheme

Share prices of CMC went up by 6.10% to Rs. 1260.00 reported at BSE at 10.42 a.m. on 24 December 2007 against previous day close of Rs. 1187.60.

HDFC Multiple Yield Fund (G) is likely to gain as it has the highest percentage hold of the stocks of the company compared to its peer groups who have invested in the stocks of the company. HDFC Multiple Yield Fund (G) 4.49% of its total portfolio size invested in the stocks of the company as on 30 November 2007. The scheme holds 50000 units of the company in November 2007 compared to its peer groups who have invested in the stocks of the company.

It is followed by ING A.T.M. (Against The Market) Fund (G) with 6,671 units (3.13% of its portfolio), ING Domestic Opportunities Fund (Bonus) with 26,418 units holding (2.15%) as on November 2007.

LIC MF Launches New FMP

LIC Mutual Fund has launched another fixed maturity plan (FMP) with following details.

Name of Fund: LIC Mutual Fund Fixed Maturity Plan Series 34

Scheme: Close ended Income Scheme

Plans: It will mature after 16 months, which is called 16 months plan.

Objective: The scheme aims to minimize interest rate risk by investing in a portfolio of fixed income securities normally maturing in line with the time profile of the scheme.

Asset Allocation: Under 15 months plan the fund would invest up to 100% in debt instruments having residual maturity of more than 16 months. It can also invest up to 100% in money market instruments. Investment in debt instruments includes securitised debt up to 100%.

Fund Opens: 17 December 2007

Fund Closes: 24 December 2007

Face Value: Rs. 10

Investment Options: The scheme provides dividend and growth option. Under dividend option investors can choose either dividend reinvestment or dividend payout.

Minimum Investment Amount: The minimum investment is of Rs.10, 000 and in multiple of Rs. 1000 thereafter.

Entry Load: In case of close-ended scheme no entry load can be levied.

Exit Load: Exit load will be 1.50% if the investment is redeemed on or before 180 days. The exit load will come down to 1.00% if the investment is redeemed after 180 days but before maturity. No exit load will be charged upon maturity of the scheme.

The Minimum Target: The minimum target amount during the New Fund offer period is Rs. 50 lakh.

Birla Sun Life MF Declares Dividend For FMP

Birla Mutual Fund has declared dividend in Birla Fixed Term Plan-Quarterly Series 2 dividend option. The record date for dividend is 27 December 2007. The fund house has announced that 100% of the distributable surplus available on the record date will be distributed as dividend. The scheme had NAV of Rs 10.2167 per unit as on 20 December 2007.

Birla Fixed Term Plan-Quarterly Series 2 is a close-end income scheme with the objective to generate current income by investing in a portfolio of fixed income securities maturing normally in line with the duration of the scheme.

Reliance MF Declares Dividend For Interval Fund

Reliance Mutual Fund has announced the declaration of dividend for Reliance Interval Fund Monthly Interval Fund Series II. The record date is set as 28 December 2007. The fund house has decided to distribute 100% of surplus available under both plans as on record date. The NAV for the scheme under retail plan was Rs. 10.0532 as on 20 December 2007. The NAV for the scheme under institutional plan was Rs. 10.0536 as on 20 December 2007.

Reliance Interval Fund Monthly Interval Fund Series II is a debt oriented interval scheme. The investment objective of the scheme is to generate regular returns and growth capital by investing in a diversified portfolio of central and state government securities and other fixed income/ debt securities normally maturing in line with the time profile of the plan with the objective of limiting interest rate volatility.

LIC MF Launches Another New FMP

LIC Mutual Fund has launched another fixed maturity plan (FMP) with following details.

Name of Fund: LIC Mutual Fund Fixed Maturity Plan Series 38

Scheme: Close ended Income Scheme

Plans: It will mature after 3 months, which is called 3 months plan.

Objective: The scheme aims to minimize interest rate risk by investing in a portfolio of fixed income securities normally maturing in line with the time profile of the scheme.

Asset Allocation: Under 3 months plan the fund would invest up to 100% in debt instruments having residual maturity of more than 3 months. It can also invest up to 100% in money market instruments. Investment in debt instruments includes securitised debt up to 100%.

Fund Opens: 17 December 2007

Fund Closes: 24 December 2007

Face Value: Rs. 10

Investment Options: The scheme provides dividend and growth option. Under dividend option investors can choose either dividend reinvestment or dividend payout.

Minimum Investment Amount: The minimum investment is of Rs.10, 000 and in multiple of Rs. 1000 thereafter.

Entry Load: In case of close-ended scheme no entry load can be levied.

Exit Load: Exit load will be 0 .50% if the investment is redeemed before the date of maturity. No exit load will be charged upon maturity of the scheme.

The Minimum Target: The minimum target amount during the New Fund offer period is Rs. 50 lakh.

NFO: LIC Fixed Maturity Plan Series 34

Fund House: Life Insurance Corporation of India set up LIC Mutual Fund in June 1989. LIC Mutual Fund was constituted as a Trust in accordance with the provisions the Indian Trust Act, 1882. This trust has appointed Jeevan Bima Sahayog Assets Management Company Ltd. as the Investment Managers for LIC Mutual Fund in April 1994. The fund house manages assets worth Rs. 13437.66 crore at end of November 2007.

Scheme: LIC Fixed Maturity Plan Series 34 is a close-ended income scheme. The NFO price for the fund is Rs 10 per unit. The issue will open for subscription from 17 December and close on 24 December 2007.

Plans: It will mature after 16 months, which is called 16 months plan.

Investment Options: The scheme provides dividend and growth option. Under dividend option investors can choose either dividend reinvestment or dividend payout.

Minimum Investment Amount: The minimum investment is of Rs.10,000 and in multiple of Rs. 1000 thereafter.

Loads: As it is a close-ended scheme no entry load can be levied. But there will an exit load of 1.50% if the investment is redeemed on or before 180 days. The exit load will come down to 1.00% if the investment is redeemed after 180 days but before maturity. No exit load will be charged upon maturity of the scheme.

Corpus: Rs 50 lakh.

Investment Objective: The scheme aims to minimize interest rate risk by investing in a portfolio of fixed income securities normally maturing in line with the time profile of the scheme.

Investment Strategy: The proportion of investment in various securities will be decided after considering the prevailing political conditions, the economic environment (including interest rates and inflation), the performance of the corporate sector and general liquidity and other considerations in the economy and markets so as to have a liquid portfolio providing optimum returns.

Asset Allocation: Under 15 months plan the fund would invest up to 100% in debt instruments having residual maturity of more than 16 months. It can also invest up to 100% in money market instruments. Investment in debt instruments includes securitised debt up to 100%.

Performance of other schemes: There is no single fixed maturity plan of LIC mutual fund that has posted returns in 1-year period. If we glance through performance of fixed maturity schemes of LIC Mutual Fund in 6 months period we can see LIC MF Fixed Maturity Plans: Series 19 - 13 Month (G) topping the chart with 5.64% returns in 6 months period. LIC MF Fixed Maturity Plans: Series 20 - 14 Month (G) follows this scheme with 5.34% in 6 months period.

Performance of other fund houses: If glance through the performance of top ten close ended fixed maturity plans in 1 year period, we can see Principal PNB Fixed Maturity Plans 3 Years - Series 1 (G) tops the chart with 13.72% returns in 1-year period. Grindlays Fixed Maturity Plus Plan III - A (G) follows it at sixth position with 10.69% returns in 1-year span.

Outlook: LIC Mutual Fund has launched LIC Fixed Maturity Plan Series 34 with 16 months maturity. This close-ended scheme seek to minimize interest risk by investing in fixed income securities, debt, and money market instruments normally maturing in line with the duration of the scheme.

Overall fixed maturity plans are good options for investors wanting to block their money for a fixed time frame. Though the returns are not assured, investors can expect a return in tune with the current interest rate scenario.

Reliance MF launches Equity Linked Saving Scheme Series I

Reliance Mutual Fund announced the launch of Reliance Equity Linked Saving Scheme Series I that closes on 17 March 2008. Units can be purchased only during the NFO period i.e. 18 December 2007 to 17 March 2008.

Reliance Equity Linked Saving Scheme Series I is a ten-year close-ended Equity Linked Savings Scheme (ELSS).

The primary objective of the scheme is to generate long-term capital appreciation from a portfolio that is invested predominantly in equities along with income tax benefit.

Snapshot

Name of Fund: Reliance Equity Linked Saving scheme series I a 10-year close-ended equity linked savings scheme.

Asset Allocation: The fund will invest can invest 80%-100% in equities. Whereas the investment in debt and money related instruments will be 0% - 20%.

Fund Opens: 18 December 2007

Fund Closes: 17 March 2008

Face Value: Rs 10

Investment Options: The scheme has growth option and dividend option with payout and reinvestment facilities

Entry Load: Nil

Exit Load: Nil

Minimum Investment Amount: Minimum initial investment is Rs.500/- and in multiples of Rs.500/- thereafter with no upper limit. However under Section 80C of Income Tax Act, 1961, tax benefit will be available only up to a maximum amount of Rs.1, 00,000

Benchmark Index: BSE 100

Principal India MF launches Liquid Plus Fund

Name of Fund: Principal Money Manager Fund

Scheme: Open ended liquid scheme

Objective: The investment objective of the scheme is to generate steady returns by investing in debt and money market securities.

Asset Allocation: The fund would invest up to 100 % Debt Instruments & Money MarketInstruments (Including MIBOR linked instruments with daily put and call option. The investment in securitised debt will be up to 50% of the net asset of the scheme.

Fund Opens: 20 December 2007

Fund Closes: 27 December 2007

Face Value: Rs 10

Investment Options: Principal Money Manager fund offers two plans – regular plan, institutional plan. Each of the plans will offer two sub-options namely growth and dividend. Each of the dividend options will have a frequency of declaration of dividend on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. Further, the aforesaid dividend options will have the facility of re-investment, payout and sweep.

Load: The scheme does not charge any entry load as well as exit load.

Minimum Investment Amount: Under regular plan the minimum investment is Rs 10,000 and in multiple of Rs 1,000 thereafter. Under institutional plan the minimum investment is Rs 1 crore and in multiple of Rs 1 lakh thereafter.

Minimum Target Amount: Rs.10 crore.

Benchmark Index: Crisil Liquid Fund Index

HSBC MF Declares Dividend

HSBC Mutual Fund has approved the declaration of dividend under the dividend option of HSBC Interval Fund Plan I. The record date for dividend is set as 28 December 2007. The quantum of dividend under scheme will be Rs. 0.0861 per unit i.e. 0.86 %. The NAV for the scheme under retail plan was Rs. 10.0677 as on 19 December 2007.

HSBC Interval Fund Plan I is a debt oriented interval scheme with an aim to generate reasonable returns by investing in a portfolio of fixed income instruments normally maturing in line with the time profile of the scheme.

Birla MF Declares Dividend For Midcap Fund

Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund has announced dividend under Birla Midcap Fund. The dividend declared for the scheme is 60% i.e. Rs. 6 per unit on the face value of Rs. 10 per unit The record date for the scheme is 28 December 2007. The NAV of the scheme is recorded at Rs 38.22 as on 21 December 2007. Birla Midcap Fund is an open-ended growth fund with an aim to achieve long term growth of capital at controlled level of risk by primarily investing in Midcap stocks.

Stanchart Likely To Call Off AMC Deal With UBS

MUMBAI: Standard Chartered is likely to call off the deal with Swiss giant UBS to take over its asset management operations in India. StanChart is expected to make an official announcement over the next fortnight. Incidentally, a host of overseas players have already kicked off talks with StanChart in this regard.

Sources pointed out that the timeline given by StanChart to UBS for the deal to be completed expires at the end of this month. According to sources, a host of foreign mutual funds have started discussions with StanChart in the past one week. Some of the interested parties, which are believed to have shown interest include Credit Suisse, Morgan Stanley, Goldman, Lotus and Aviva. Incidentally, Aviva had been one of the highest bidders for the AMC before it walked out of the race, leaving UBS as the sole contender. However, these names could not be confirmed. Sources said the talks are at a very preliminary stage.

ET had reported on December 15 that the deal, which was signed in January this year, has come a cropper with RBI rejecting the application of UBS. UBS is said to have re-applied to RBI. However, it is unlikely to get an approval in the next few days.

When contacted, a StanChart spokesperson said: “At this point of time, we would not like to comment on the transaction.” A UBS official had earlier said: “UBS considers its discussions with regulators to be confidential. We would not presume to pre-empt the regulatory approval process by commenting further.” The official added that he did not want to add to the earlier response.

UBS had already received Sebi and FIPB approval. Once the decision is taken by StanChart, it will have to go back to Sebi. Sources said the central bank has blocked the deal citing existing restrictions on transfer of shares in a non-banking finance company. Here, the asset management company (AMC), which manages the MF schemes is an NBFC. A secondary transaction entails a transfer of the NBFC licence, which can be cleared only by RBI. The central bank is learnt to have conveyed its decision about a month ago, following which UBS has put in a fresh application.

StanChart has to date not booked the sale proceeds in its accounts as it was subject to regulatory approvals. StanChart had sold its entire stake in Standard Chartered Asset Management Company Private and Standard Chartered Trustee Company Private to UBS Global Asset Management for around $120 million.

StanChart owns 74.99% in the AMC, while the bulk of the balance is with the Atul Choksey group of companies. Mr Choksey is said to have sold his stake to UBS in the AMC for Rs 129 crore. If one includes the valuations paid to Mr Choksey, UBS has paid around 5% of the AUM.

ING MF Declares Dividend

ING Mutual Fund has announced 27 December 2007 as the record date for the declaration of dividend under ING Fixed Maturity Fund Series-XXIX. The AMC plans to distribute entire appreciation in the NAV from date of allotment to 27 December 2007 as dividend. The scheme recorded NAV of Rs 10.1922 on 19 December 2007.

ING Fixed Maturity Fund Series-XXIX is a close-ended scheme offering an investment plan of 91 days of maturity, investing in portfolio of government securities, or highly rated corporate bonds maturing close to the maturity of the scheme so as to generate returns comparable with alternative fixed income instruments of similar maturity.

Birla Sun Life MF Declares Dividend For FMP

Birla Mutual Fund has declared dividend in Birla Fixed Term Plan-Annual Series 3 dividend option. The record date for dividend is 27 December 2007. The fund house has announced that 100% of the distributable surplus available on the record date will be distributed as dividend. The scheme had NAV of Rs 10.6522 per unit as on 20 December 2007.

Birla Fixed Term Plan-Annual Series 3 is an open-end income scheme with the objective to generate current income by investing in a portfolio of fixed income securities maturing normally in line with the duration of the scheme.

ICICI Prudential MF Declares Dividend

ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund has announced the dividend under dividend option of ICICI Prudential Liquid Plan Quarterly Frequency. The record date for the declaration of dividend is 27 December 2007. The quantum of dividend will be 100 % of distributable surplus available on the record date. The NAV for the scheme under retail plan was recorded at Rs. 10.9320 on 19 December 2007.
ICICI Prudential Liquid Plan Quarterly Frequency is an open-ended liquid income fund with an aim to generate reasonable returns while providing high level of liquidity.

Magnum Midcap Fund (G) Outperforms The Sensex Over All Time Periods

SBI Funds Management Ltd manages SBI mutual fund a wholly owned subsidiary of India's premier and largest bank; the State Bank of India. SBI Mutual Fund set up in June 1987. The AMC has already launched a range of products to suit different risk and maturity profiles. SBI Mutual Fund house has Rs 27359.59 crore assets under management at the end of November 2007.

Magnum Midcap Fund (G) an open-ended balanced scheme launched in August 1995.The objective of the scheme is to provide growth through capital appreciation. It also plans to provide periodic income through declaration of dividends. The minimum investment amount is Rs.5000 and in multiples of Rs.1000 thereafter. The unit NAV of the scheme was Rs.35.41 as on 20 December 2007.

Portfolio: The total net assets of the scheme increased by Rs.31.69 crore to Rs.515.11 crore in November 2007.

Magnum Midcap Fund (G) took no fresh exposure to any stock in November 2007.

The scheme completely exited from Sri Adhikari Brothers Television Network at 5.38 lakh units (0.21%) in November 2007.

Sector-wise the scheme took no fresh exposure in the November 2007.

Sector-wise the scheme did not exit completely from any sector in November 2007.

The scheme had highest exposure to Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation with 10.08 lakh units (9.32% of portfolio size) followed by Gitanjali Gems with 6.61 lakh units (5.58%), Thermax with 3.14 lakh units (5.27%) and Kesoram Industries with 4.49 lakh units (4.88%) among others in November 2007.

It reduced its exposure to Thermax by selling 220 units to 3.14 lakh units (by 0.50%), Radico Khaitan by selling 1617 units to 4.98 lakh units (0.50%) and Elecon Engineering Company to 6.83 lakh units (0.45%) among others in November 2007.

Sector-wise, the scheme had highest exposure to Steel – Large at 10.53% (9.96% in October 2007), followed by Mining / Minerals / Metals at 9.32% (10.65%), Engineering at 9.13% (10.08%) and Electric Equipment at 6.19% (6.02%) among others in November 2007.

Sector wise, the scheme had reduced exposure Mining / Minerals / Metals to 9.32% (by 1.33%), Engineering to 9.13% (by 0.95%), Construction to 5.69% (by 0.56%) and Breweries & Distilleries to 1.42% (by 0.50%) among others in November 2007.

Performance: The scheme outperformed the category average over all time periods. It has outperformed the sensex over all time periods.

Over three-month period ended as 20 December 2007, the scheme posted 27.38% of returns outperforming the category average of 22.33%. It outperformed the sensex that posted 16.97% returns during the same period.

Since inception, the scheme posted 256.50% returns underperforming the category average of 316.32%.

Short-Selling Will Be Back

Short-selling will be back after a gap of six years, with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on 20 December 2007 allowing all classes of investors, including institutional ones, to sell stocks that they do not own at the time of trade.

Sebi also proposes to introduce the Securities Lending & Borrowing (SLB) scheme along with short-selling, which will allow traders to borrow stocks and honour their sales. All classes of investors will be allowed to participate in the stock lending and borrowing programme.

Short-selling, which is an essential feature of all developed markets, refers to the sale of securities that an investor does not own.

Investors sell short when they feel that share prices are overvalued and that the prices of shares they have sold will come down.

"Shorting will provide liquidity and help price corrections in over-valued stocks," said an analyst with a foreign brokerage. Restrictions on short-selling, according to its votaries, distort efficient share price discovery.

At present, there is no prohibition on short-selling by retail investors. Institutional investors foreign institutional investors, mutual funds, banks and insurance companies are, however, prohibited from short-selling, under different regulations, and are currently required to settle trades on a delivery basis in the cash markets.

The regulator did not specify any date for the implementation of short-sale, but has asked stock exchanges and depositories to put "fool-proof systems" in place for the new products.

Some of the features of the rules include a ban on naked short-selling. This means all short-sellers would be required to mandatorily honour their obligation of delivering the securities at the time of settlement. They can honour the trades by borrowing the securities through the proposed SLB scheme.

No institutional investors will be allowed to do day trading. This virtually prohibits squaring off of their transactions intra-day.

All shares that are in the futures and options (F&O) segment will be eligible for short-selling. There are currently 200-odd stocks available in F&O on the National Stock Exchange. Sebi said it will review the list of stocks that are eligible for short-selling from time to time.

A key feature of the SLB scheme is that the lending/borrowing will be for a tenure of seven days, to begin with. There will also be fixed standardised contracts for the securities under the SLB.

The settlement cycle on SLB will be on a T+1 basis. This means, investors are required to settle their transactions a day after their trades.

Securities lending and borrowing, which is considered a necessary ingredient for short selling, will be introduced simultaneously with short selling.

Sebi has been preparing the ground for short-selling and it had invited comments from market players on short sales in January 2006.

The regulator banned short sales in the Indian securities market in early 2001 following the Ketan Parekh scam, which saw a crash in stock prices under the weight of heavy short-selling by big operators. The new rules are expected to plug the loopholes in the earlier system.

In a circular, Sebi asked stock exchanges to establish systems to operationalise short-selling and SLB. The exchanges were also asked to ensure all appropriate trading and settlement practices as well as surveillance and risk containment measures, before their introduction.

On SLB, the capital markets regulator said, to begin with, the scheme will be operated through Clearing Corporation and stock exchange clearing houses that have nationwide terminals. At present, only BSE and NSE have nationwide terminals.

These clearing agents will be required to be registered as Approved Intermediaries (AI) under the Securities Lending Scheme.

Stock lending and borrowing will also be allowed only in F&O stocks.

Sebi said the borrowers and lenders should access the platform for lending/borrowing set up by the AIs through the clearing members (which include banks and custodians), who are authorised by the AIs for the process.

To follow the Know Your Client (KYC) norms, Sebi said AIs should allot a unique ID to each client, which would be mapped to the Permanent Account Number of the respective clients.

AIs shall put in place appropriate systematic safeguards to ensure that a client is not able to obtain multiple client IDs, the regulator said.

Extension of NFO of Kotak Indo World Infrastructure Fund

Kotak Mahindra Mutual Fund has extended the offer period for its Kotak Indo World Infrastructure fund by six days. Now, the offer would close on 22 December 2007.

Kotak Indo World Infrastructure fund is a three year close-ended equity Scheme with an investment objective to generate long-term capital appreciation from a portfolio of equity, equity related securities or units of overseas mutual funds, which are likely to directly or indirectly contribute to or benefit from the growth in infrastructure in India/across the world.

The scheme will invest 65%-85% in equities & equity related securities in India related to infrastructure. The investment in overseas equity and equity related securities or class of share /units of overseas mutual fund related to infrastructure would be 10%-35%. Investment in domestic debt, money market instruments will be 0%-35% including investment in securitised debt up to 50% of the net assets.

Principal Pnb MF Declares Dividend

Principal Pnb Mutual Fund declared dividend under its four schemes namely- Principal Monthly Income Plan, Principal Monthly Income Plan - MIP Plus, Principal Government Securities Fund and Principal Income Fund.

New Funds See Record Collections

Booming equity markets have enabled mutual funds to collect a record sum in new fund offerings (NFOs) in this calendar year.

Fund houses collected in excess of Rs 27,500 crore in 2007, with several ongoing or just-concluded equity-oriented NFOs yet to announce their collection figures.

The money mopped up through NFOs last year was Rs 28,969.76 crore. Infrastructure and global funds hogged the limelight this year, with funds such as SBI Infrastructure Fund Series-1 (Rs 2,536 crore), Fidelity International Opportunities (Rs 1,557 crore), ICICI Prudential Indo Asia Equity Fund (Rs 1,000.72 crore) and Tata Indo Global Infrastructure (Rs 2,200 crore).

It is believed that the infrastructure theme will continue to dominate the fund market in the coming year. In fact, HDFC Mutual Fund has filed the draft offer document for its infrastructure fund with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi).

Tata Mutual Fund, which has already raised a global infrastructure fund, has also filed with the regulator for the Growing Economies Infrastructure Fund. NFOs by fund houses that have a good track record ruled the roost this year.

Reliance Long-Term Equity (Rs 2,091.62 crore), Franklin India High Growth Companies (Rs 1,515 crore) in 2007 and UTI Leadership Equity (Rs 2,080 crore) in 2006, among others.

Funds investing overseas were popular too and that trend is likely to continue with new entrant Mirae AMCs Asia-Pacific Opportunities Fund, ABN Amro China Equity Fund and even the Principals Global Real Estate Fund filing their documents with Sebi.

JM Financial MF Files An Offer Document

Name of Fund: JM Core 11 Fund - Series II

Scheme: A 3-year close -ended equity oriented scheme

Objective: The investment objective of the scheme is to provide long-term growth by investing predominantly in a concentrated portfolio of equity and equity related instruments of companies.

Investment options: The scheme offers two options to the investor i.e. growth and dividend option. Under dividend option, investors have the facility of dividend payout and dividend reinvestment.

Asset Allocation: The scheme will invest 65-100% of its portfolio in equity and equity related securities. The scheme will invest 0-35% in debt and money market instruments including securitised debt. The securitised debt will not include foreign securitised debt.Exposure to derivatives would be restricted at 50 % of equity portfolio of the scheme.

Face Value: Rs 10.

Entry Load: During the NFO period there will be no entry load, as close-ended schemes are not permitted to charge entry load.

Exit Load: For redemptions or switch out during the specified redemption period, till the maturity of the scheme, the unit holder will have to pay the balance proportionate unamortized initial issue expenses applicable to their investments.

Minimum Investment Amount: The minimum investment amount is Rs. 25000 and in multiples of Re. 1 thereafter.

ING MF Changes Its Fund Management Team

ING mutual fund has announced that Mr. Sajjan Raut Desai, Fund Manager- Equities for Optimix Division Income has ceased to be a part of the services of ING Investment Management. From 10 December 2007, Mr. Badrish Kulhalli will manage the scheme managed by Mr. Desai. The change will come into effect from 10 December 2007.

Mr. Badrish Kulhalli is BE (Mech.) from University of Poona. He also holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Management from IIM Calcutta. Mr. Kulhalli holds the experience of about 10 years joined ING mutual fund Optimix division in November 2005

Extension of NFO of Birla Sun life Quarterly Interval Fund

Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund has extended the offer period for its Birla Sun Life Quarterly Interval Fund Series 4 to 26 December 2007. The NFO Period for the scheme will be from 19 December 2007 to 26 December 2007.

Birla Sun Life Quarterly Interval Fund Series 4 is an interval income scheme with an aim to generate regular income through investments in debt and money market instruments. The scheme charge an exit load of 0.50% for the redemption made during period other than specified transaction period.

HCL Info Systems Stocks Likely To Benefit MF Scheme

Share prices of HCL Info systems went up by 5.66% to Rs. 254.00 reported at BSE at 10.35 a.m. on 20 December 2007 against previous day close of Rs. 240.40.

Tata Life Science & Technology Fund - (G) is likely to gain as it has the highest percentage hold of the stocks of the company compared to its peer groups who have invested in the stocks of the company. Tata Life Science & Technology Fund - (G) 6.98% of its total portfolio size invested in the stocks of the company as on 30 November 2007. The scheme holds 1.66 lakh units of the company in November 2007 compared to its peer groups who have invested in the stocks of the company.

Tata Dividend Yield Fund (G) follows it with 3.30 lakh units (4.47% of its portfolio), Birla Dividend Yield Plus (G) with 2.96 lakh units holding (2.03%) as on November 2007 secures the third position.

However, the schemes like, AIG India Equity Fund (G) was holding 10.30 lakh units as on 31 October 2007, has sold its 2.29 lakh shares to 8.01 lakh units as on 30 November 2007 and thus less likely to gain. DSP ML Technology.com (G) was holding 1.62 lakh units as on 31 October 2007, has sold its 38,395 shares to 1.24 lakh units in November 2007 and thus less likely to benefit.

ICICI MF Launches New FMP

Name of Fund: ICICI Prudential Fixed Maturity Plan Series 41 16 months plan

Scheme: A close-ended debt fund

Objective: A close-ended debt scheme seeking to generate returns by investing in a portfolio of fixed income securities/ debt instruments normally maturing in line with the time profile of the scheme. It is proposed to make investments in securities having tenure of approx 480 days.

Asset Allocation: The fund would invest up to 100% in money market instruments, short term and medium term debt securities/debt instruments and securitised debt. The investments in central and state government securities will be in normal circumstances limited to 50% of the net assets of the plan. The investment in securitised debt will be 50% of the net asset and derivative instruments to the extent of 50% of the net assets of the scheme.

Fund Opens: 17 December 2007

Fund Closes: 27 December 2007

Face Value: Rs 10

Investment Options: Presently there is one option available under the scheme viz. retail option. The cumulative and dividend sub-options are available under this option. The dividend payout is the only facility available under dividend sub-option.

Load: Due to its close-ended structure the scheme does not charge any entry load. There will be an exit load of 2.00% for the redemption made during the repurchase facility period.

Minimum Investment Amount: The minimum investment amount under retail plan is Rs. 5000 and in multiples of Re. 1 thereafter The minimum investment amount under institutional plan is Rs. 1 crore and in multiples of Re. 1 thereafter

HDFC Balanced Fund (G) Underperforms The Category Average Over Most Of Time Periods

HDFC Assets Management Company Ltd. is sponsored by Housing Development Finance Corporation Limited (HDFC) and Standard Life Investment Ltd. HDFC incorporated in 1977 as the first specialized housing finance institution in India. HDFC AMC was incorporated on 10 December 1999, and today manages assets worth Rs. 46751.86 crore at the end of November 2007.

HDFC balanced Fund (G) an open-ended balanced scheme launched in July 2000.The objective of the scheme is to generate capital appreciation along with current income from a combined portfolio of equity and equity related and debt and money market instruments. The minimum investment amount is Rs.5000 and in multiples of Rs.100 thereafter. The unit NAV of the scheme was Rs.39.25 as on 18 December 2007.

Portfolio: The total net assets of the scheme decreased by Rs.0.11 crore to Rs.117.23 crore in November 2007.

HDFC balanced Fund (G) took fresh exposure to three stocks in November 2007. The scheme has purchased 40,000 units (4.02%) of ICICI Bank, 80,000 units (3.90%) of Biocon, 1,631 units (0.13%) of Mundra Port & Special Economic Zone in November 2007.

It does not completely exited from any of the scheme in November 2007.

Sector-wise, the scheme took no fresh exposure in November 2007.

Sector-wise, the scheme does not exit completely from any sector in November 2007.

The scheme had highest exposure to Reliance Industries with 32500 units (7.91% of portfolio size) followed by Balkrishna Industries with 1.17 lakh units (6.59%) and Coromandel Fertilisers with 5.61 lakh units (5.60%) among others in November 2007.

It reduced its exposure to M .M Forgings to 1.29% with holding of 1.04 lakh units (from 1.34% in October 2007), Tata Consultancy Services to 2.59% (from 2.65%) with holding 30000 units, among others in November 2007.

Sector-wise, the scheme had highest exposure to Refineries at 7.91% (from 7.71% in October 2007), followed by Pharmaceuticals - Indian - Bulk Drugs & Formulation at 7.66% (5.39%), Banks - Private Sector at 7.27% (3.33%), and Tyres at 6.59% (6.01%) among others in November 2007.

Sector wise, the scheme had reduced exposure Pharmaceuticals - Multinational to 0.73% (by 2.22%), Engineering - Turnkey Services to 5.07% (by 2.16%), Steel - Large to 4.31% (by 1.41%) and Banks - Public Sector to 4.56% (by 5.85%) in November 2007.

Performance: The scheme underperformed the category average over most of time periods. It has underperformed the Sensex over all time periods.

Over three-month period ended as on 18 December 2007, the scheme posted 18.32% returns outperforming the category average of 16.54%. It underperformed the Sensex that posted 21.77% returns during the same period.

Since inception, the scheme posted 292.54% returns underperforming the category average of 337.03%.

Tata MF Announces Dividend For Fixed Horizon Fund

Tata Mutual Fund has announced declare dividend under the dividend option of Tata Fixed Horizon Fund Series 8- Scheme H. The quantum of dividend will be 100 % of distributable surplus available on the record date. The record date for the same has been fixed as 24 December 2007. The NAV for the scheme was Rs. 10.4433 as on 18 December 2007.

Tata Fixed Horizon Fund Series 8- Scheme H is a close-ended debt fund with an aim to provide regular income and or capital appreciation by investing in a wide range of debt and money market instruments. The scheme charges an exit load of 1.00% for the redemption made before maturity date.

Extension of NFO of ICICI Prudential FMP

ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund has extended the offer period for its ICICI Prudential Fixed Maturity Plan - Series 39 Sixteen Weeks Plan A to 20 December 2007.

Union Bank To Enter MF Business

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The public sector Union Bank has decided to enter the Mutal Fund business as part of its diversification process, Bank Chairman and Managing Director M V Nair said here on Monday.

"We will start looking for a partner for the Mutal Fund business and it will be operationalised by the middle of next fiscal," he told reporters after the two-day Board meeting of the Bank here.

The bank expected to start its Life Insurnace business, for which it has signed up with Daichi Life Insurance, Japan, and Bank of India, by the end of this financial year, he said.

Nair said the board discussed the strategies to be adopted for the next four years and decided to explore the possiblity of entering into the venture capital area and looking for a foreign partner for credit card trade, he added.

The objective was to position itself as a 'Global Bank' and the process of re-positioning itself in tune with this would start by next February. There are plans to change the logo and colour, but no move to change the name, he said.

The Bank plans to enter 20 countries by 2012, subject to approval of the controller. The first representative office was opened in Shanghai in May 2007 and it plans to open its first full-fledged overseas branch in Homg Kong in February next, he said.

As part of expansion plans, the Bank opened 124 branches last year and plans to open 150 this year.

The bank has a total of 2,200 branches with total business of more than Rs.1,60,000 crore as on September last.

On the Bank's corporate social responsibility initiatives, he said it planned to set up a Public Referral Library at Kochi at an investment of Rs two crore. "We are waiting for land approval" he said.

Reliance MF To Float RNR Fund

Reliance Mutual Fund has launched Reliance Natural Resources Fund. The scheme will open for subscription on 1 January 2008 and close on 30 January 2007. The open-ended equity scheme will invest at least 65% of its corpus in shares of companies engaged in discovery, development, production or distribution of natural resources in the domestic market.

It also has provision to invest up to 35% in foreign securities, especially those listed on the London Stock Exchange, New York Stock Exchange, Toronto Stock Exchange and Australian Stock Exchange.

LICMF Top 100 Fund Mops Up Rs 472 Crore

LIC Mutual Fund has collected Rs 472 crore through LIC Top 100 Fund. Subscriptions to the close-ended equity scheme, launched on 15 November, closed on 14 December 2007. the 36-month scheme will be rendered open-ended on maturity.

At least 80% of its investments will be made in 100 stocks of companies that track CNX Nifty and Nifty Junior indices together. The remaining corpus will be deployed in debt market securities.

Reliance MF Declares Dividend For Short Term Fund

Reliance Mutual Fund has announced the declaration of dividend of 3.12% for Reliance Short Term Fund under dividend option. The record date is set as 19 December 2007. The NAV of the scheme stood at Rs 10.5929 as on 17 December 2007.

Reliance Short Term Fund is an open-ended income scheme. The investment objective of the scheme is to generate stable returns for investors with a short-term investment horizon by investing in fixed income securities of short- term maturity.

UTI MF Declares Dividend

UTI Mutual Fund Variable Investment Scheme-Index Plan (UTI-VIS-ILP) has declared a dividend resulting in a gross payout of 14% including the applicable income distribution tax. After the payment of dividend, the net asset value of the dividend option of the scheme would fall to the extent of the payout and statutory levy, if any.

The record date for dividend is 20 December 2007. The payout translates into a dividend of 12.263% for individual and HUF investors and of 11.414% for other categories of investors. UTI-VIS-ILP is an open-ended scheme with an investment objective to take contrarian outlook on the equities.

Lotus India MF Launches New Interval Fund

Name of Fund: Lotus India Quarterly Interval Fund - Plan D

Scheme: Debt oriented interval scheme.

Objective: The objective of the scheme is to seek to generate income by investing in a portfolio of debt and money market instruments.

Asset Allocation: The fund will invest 0%-100% in money market instruments including reverse repo. The investment in government securities issued by the central government and/or state government(s) will be 0%-50%. The fund will invest 0%-100% debt instruments such as bonds and debentures. The investment in securitised debt will be up to 50%. The investment in fixed income derivatives will be up to 50%.

Fund Opens: 17 December 2007

Fund Closes: 18 December 2007

Face Value: Rs 10

Investment Options: Lotus India Quarterly Interval Fund - Plan D offers two options i.e. dividend reinvestment and growth.

Entry Load: There will no entry load charged for the scheme due to its close-ended structure.

Exit Load: The scheme charges an exit load of 1.00%, if the investment is redeemed any time other than specified transaction period. Whereas there will be no exit load charged on the redemption made on or after specified transaction period.

Minimum Investment Amount: Minimum investment under retail plan is Rs 5,000 and in multiple of Re 1 thereafter.

Target Amount: Rs 50 lakh

Benchmark Index: CRISIL Liquid Fund Index

Fund Manager: Mr. Umesh Sharma.

Birla Sunlife MF Declares Dividend

Birla Mutual Fund has declared dividend in Birla Fixed Term Plan-Quarterly Series 23 dividend option. The record date for dividend is 20 December 2007. The fund house has announced that 100% of the distributable surplus available on the record date will be distributed as dividend. The scheme had NAV of Rs 10.1847 per unit as on 13 December 2007.

Birla Fixed Term Plan-Quarterly Series 23 is a closed end income scheme with the objective to generate current income by investing in a portfolio of fixed income securities maturing normally in line with the duration of the scheme.

Jet Airways India Stocks Likely To Benefit MF Scheme

Share prices of Jet Airways India went up by 2.49% to Rs. 1026.00 reported at BSE at 10.24 a.m. on 17 December 2007 against previous day close of Rs 1001.05.

JM Equity Fund - (G) is likely to gain as it has the highest percentage hold of the stocks of the company compared to its peer groups who have invested in the stocks of the company. JM Equity Fund - (G) 4.26% of its total portfolio size invested in the stocks of the company as on 30 November 2007. The scheme holds 48,841 units of the company in November 2007 compared to its peer groups who have invested in the stocks of the company.

It is followed by JM Emerging Leaders Fund (G) with 1.85 lakh units (3.27% of its portfolio), Quantum Long-Term Equity Fund (G) with 13,559 units holding (2.49%) as on November 2007.

Three mutual fund schemes exited from Jet Airways India in November 2007. Among them, the schemes like, ING A.T.M. (Against The Market) Fund (G) was holding 2998 units on 31 October 2007, has sold all its shares as on 30 November 2007 and thus less likely to gain. LICMF Unit Linked Insurance Scheme - (G) also holding 9986 units on 31 October 2007, has sold all its shares as on 30 November 2007 and thus less likely to benefit. LICMF Monthly Income Plan - (G) also affected as it was holding 15,000 units (0.80%) as on 31 October 2007 and sold all its shares in November 2007.

Dredging Corporation of India losses by 3.93%

Share prices of Dredging Corporation of India lost by 3.93% to Rs. 1088.00 reported at BSE at 10.41 a.m. on 17 December 2007 against previous day close of Rs 1132.55.

Magnum SFU - Contra Fund (G) is likely to lose as it has the highest percentage hold of the stocks of the company compared to its peer groups who have invested in the stocks of the company. Magnum SFU - Contra Fund (G) has 1.96% of its total portfolio size invested in the stocks of the company as on November 2007. The scheme holds 4.83 lakh units of the company in November 2007 compared to its peer groups who have invested in the stocks of the company.

It is followed by Reliance Long-Term Equity Fund (G) with 5.64 lakh units (1.89% of its portfolio), Sundaram BNP Paribas Select Small Cap (G) with holding of 51,420 units (1.30%) as on November 2007.

However, the scheme Sundaram BNP Paribas Select Small Cap (G) was holding 89,923 units in October 2007, has sold its 38,503 shares to 51,420 units as on 30 November 2007 and thus likely to benefit most among others.

Big Is Beautiful For Mutual Funds

MUMBAI: When it comes to pooling investments, small is just not good enough. The Indian mutual fund industry is slowly waking up to the concept of ‘mega funds’. According to mutual fund distributors, major fund houses have begun launching schemes with stiff NFO mobilisation targets in the range of Rs 5,000 crore to Rs 10,000 crore.

Until now fund houses have been launching schemes by fixing NFO mobilisation limit in the range of Rs 1,500 crore to Rs 2,000 crore. Though there are more than 550 equity schemes in the Indian market, there has been only two instances when NFO mobilisation has exceeded Rs 3,000 crore.

The plain vanilla Reliance Equity fund, launched in June 2006, collected Rs 5,790 crore in the NFO phase while the UTI Equity Fund of April 1992 netted around Rs 4,772 crore. If fund distributors are to be believed, the recently-launched Sundaram Energy Fund, UTI Infrastructure Fund and ICICI Prudential Infrastructure fund have already raised their NFO targets to around Rs 5,000 crore. The Reliance Natural Resources Fund, expected to be launched in January 2008, is said to have fixed an NFO mobilisation target of Rs 10,000 crore.

“If you look at it from the distribution point of view, mega funds differ in size and product distribution,” says Bajaj Capital CEO Anil Chopra. “Most mega funds these days have a minimum NFO mobilisation target of over Rs 4,500 crore. They would distribute applications in the range of 10-25 lakhs in a bid to pool the targeted sum. In a normal issue, application size would not usually exceed 4 lakhs,” he adds.

With around four major mega fund offers in December and January, net NFO collection during the period is likely to be a bit more than Rs 30,000 crore. But what is the logic behind launching mega funds?

“Pure business,” says the chief investment officer of an international fund house. “Mutual funds make money on assets they manage; that is, more assets the fund house raises, the more profitable its is. Secondly, fund houses are trying to corner investors who are petrified of the amazing bull run the market has had over the past three-four months. Newsflows pertaining to instabilities in the market, bleak outlook and concerns over external market are helping AMCs to hunt down investors,” says the CIO of an international fund house.

Fund houses are likely to collect huge money as, historically, November, December and January are usually good months for mutual fund schemes. All the more encouraging is the fact that there are a large number of private equity funds and HNI investors who have raised billions of dollars for investments.

Industry experts say that so far they have been sitting on huge amount of cash. But in the coming two months they have to deploy that money. Mega funds would provide good investment opportunities for these bulge-bracket investors, experts say.

“Launching mega funds is not a very desirable trend. This will flood AMCs with lots of money, beyond their capacity to deploy these funds meaningfully. It is always easier to direct Rs 500 crore in 10 tranches than Rs 5,000 crore at one go. The hype generated while marketing these funds will give false hopes to investors.

Mfs To Buy Debentures From Realty Firms

Mutual Funds are looking to invest in debt securities issued by the property developers such as DLF, Unitech and Hiranandani group, in an attempt to ride the real estate boom. All the major property developers have big fund raising plans via debentures, which offer returns ranging from 12-14% per annum compared with 9-9.5% provided by similar debt securities of top-rated corporate houses. ICICI-Prudential MF has launched a debt-oriented real-estate fund to tap the potential.

Fund Houses To Invest In Debt Securities Issued By Realty Firms

Mumbai: Mutual funds are keen on investing in debt securities issued by the property developers such as DLF, Unitech and Hiranandani group, in an attempt to ride the real estate boom. All the major property developers have big fund raising plans via debentures, which offer returns ranging from 12-14 per cent per annum compared with 9-9.5 per cent provided by similar debt securities of top-rated corporate houses. ICICI-Prudential MF has launched a debt-oriented real-estate fund to tap the potential.

Lotus India MF Rolls Out New FMP

Lotus India Mutual Fund has launched a new fund called Lotus India Fixed Maturity Plans- 1 Month-Series IV and it is a close ended income scheme. The objective of the scheme is to generate income by investing in a portfolio of debt and money market instruments normally maturing in line with the duration of the scheme. The fund will invest 0%-100% in money market instruments including reverse repo. The investment in government securities issued by the central government and/or state government(s) will be 0%-50%. The fund will invest 0%-100% debt instruments such as bonds and debentures. The investment in securitised debt will be up to 50%.

ING MF Declares Dividend Under ING Fixed Maturity Fund Series-XXV

ING Mutual Fund has announced 19 December 2007 as the record date for the declaration of dividend under ING Fixed Maturity Fund Series-XXV. The AMC plans to distribute entire appreciation in the NAV from date of allotment to 19 December 2007 as dividend. The scheme recorded NAV of Rs 10.1941 on 12 December 2007. ING Fixed Maturity Fund Series-XXV is a close-ended scheme offering an investment plan of 91 days of maturity, investing in portfolio of government securities, or highly rated corporate bonds maturing close to the maturity of the scheme so as to generate returns comparable with alternative fixed income instruments of similar maturity.

Sundaram BNP Paribas MF Files An Offer Document

Sundaram BNP Paribas MF unveils Sundaram BNP Paribas Fixed Term Plan 13-to-15 Months Series/2007, a close-ended income scheme, which offers 5 series with tenures of 13, 14 and 15 months. The objective of the scheme is to generate income with minimum volatility by investing in debt and money market securities. The fund will invest upto100% in money market instruments. The fund will invest upto100% in short term and medium term debt instruments and securitised debt. The investment in securitised debt will be up to 80% of the net assets.

DBS Chola MF offers Interval Income Fund - Monthly Plan A

Name of Fund: DBS Chola Interval Income Fund- Monthly Plan A

Scheme: The fund is a debt oriented interval income fund. The specified interval period for the fund is 30 days. The fund will offer liquidity at monthly intervals during the specified transaction period without any payment of entry/exit loads. The specified transaction period for DBS Chola Interval Income Fund - Monthly Plan A would be 15th of every month. In addition, the fund will also offer Redemption/ Switch-Out facility on an ongoing basis, subject to payment of applicable loads.

Objective: The scheme seeks to generate regular income through investments in debt (including securitized debt), money market and government securities normally maturing in line with the time profile of the respective plans and also with a provision to offer liquidity at periodic interval.

Asset Allocation: The fund would invest 65% - 100 % in debt and money market instruments. The debt investment includes investment in securitised debt. It will also invest 0% - 35% in government securities.

Specified transaction date: 17 December 2007

Yield on the scheme: For Institutional Plan 8.80% For Retail Plan 8.60%

Investment Options: The scheme offers retail and institutional plan. Both plans offers two cumulative option and dividend option. The dividend options will have payout and reinvestment facility.

Load: The scheme does not charge any entry load to the investors. The scheme will charge 0.1% if investment is redeemed on any other day than during the specified transaction period.

Minimum Investment Amount: The minimum investment amount under retail plan is Rs. 5000 and in multiples of Re. 1 thereafter. For institutional plan, the minimum investment amount is Rs 1 lakh and in multiples of Re 1 thereafter.

ING MF Declares Dividend

ING Mutual Fund has announced 19 December 2007 as the record date for the declaration of dividend under ING Fixed Maturity Fund Series-XXV. The AMC plans to distribute entire appreciation in the NAV from date of allotment to 19 December 2007 as dividend. The scheme recorded NAV of Rs 10.1941 on 12 December 2007.

ING Fixed Maturity Fund Series-XXV is a close-ended scheme offering an investment plan of 91 days of maturity, investing in portfolio of government securities, or highly rated corporate bonds maturing close to the maturity of the scheme so as to generate returns comparable with alternative fixed income instruments of similar maturity.

Standard Chartered Declares Dividend

Standard Chartered Mutual Fund has announced 18 December 2007 as the record date for the declaration of dividend under Standard Chartered Quarterly Interval Fund - Plan A. The AMC plans to distribute entire appreciation in the NAV as dividend. The scheme will also mature on 18 December 2007.

Standard Chartered Quarterly Interval Fund - Plan A is an interval income scheme with an objective to generate returns from investments in debt and money market instruments.

Kotak Mahindra MF Announces Dividend

Kotak Mahindra mutual fund has approved 18 December 2007 as the record date for declaration of dividend, as under the dividend option of Kotak Quarterly Interval Plan Series 1 (the scheme) an interval debt scheme.

Record date 18 December 2007 Quantum Dividend 100% of distributable surplus available as on record date Face value per unit Rs.10/- NAV as on 11 December 2007 Rs.10.1835

Lotus India MF Rolls Out New FMP

Lotus India Mutual Fund has announced the launch of Lotus India Fixed Maturity Plans- 1 Month-Series IV and it is a close ended income scheme. The objective of the scheme is to generate income by investing in a portfolio of debt and money market instruments normally maturing in line with the duration of the scheme. The fund will invest 0%-100% in money market instruments including reverse repo. The investment in government securities issued by the central government and/or state government(s) will be 0%-50%. The fund will invest 0%-100% debt instruments such as bonds and debentures. The investment in securitised debt will be up to 50%.

HDFC MF Declares Dividend For FMP

HDFC Mutual Fund has announced the declaration of dividend for HDFC Fixed Maturity PlanSeries VI-181 Days June 2007 - retail and wholesale plan- dividend option. The record date is set as 18 December 2007. The quantum of dividend will be 100 % of distributable surplus available on the record date. The NAV for the scheme under retail plan was recorded at Rs. 10.3990 on 11 December 2007. The NAV for the scheme under wholesale plan was recorded at Rs. 10.4029 on 11 December 2007.

HDFC Fixed Maturity Plan- Series VI- 181 Days June 2007-retail and institutional plan- dividend option is a close-ended scheme. The investment objective for plan is to generate regular income through investments in debt or money market instruments and government securities. The scheme carry no entry load whereas there will be an exit load of 1.50% if units are redeemed /switched out before maturity

Gillette India Stocks Likely To Benefit MF Scheme

Share prices of Gillette India went up by 8.54% to Rs. 1098.90 reported at BSE at 10.21 a.m. on 13 December 2007 against previous day close of Rs. 1012.40.

ICICI Pru FMCG Fund - (G) is likely to gain as it has the highest percentage hold of the stocks of the company compared to its peer groups who have invested in the stocks of the company. ICICI Pru FMCG Fund - (G) 9.96% of its total portfolio size invested in the stocks of the company as on 30 November 2007. The scheme holds 85,496 units of the company in November 2007 compared to its peer groups who have invested in the stocks of the company.

It is followed by Kotak MNC with 15,000 units (3.26% of its portfolio), UTI-MNC Fund (D) with 73,002 units holding (3.14%) as on November 2007.

UTI MF Forges Alliance With Citibank

UTI Mutual Fund and Citibank have forged a strategic tie-up for distribution of UTI MF schemes. Under the agreement, Citibank will offer the entire bouquet of UTI MF's schemes across the bank's branches. UTI MF has assets under management of Rs 52,180 crore and investor accounts of over 8 million under its 76 domestic schemes (as of 30 November 2007).

Deutsche MF Unveils New Fixed Term Fund Series 39

Deutsche Mutual Fund has launched a new fund called DWS Fixed Term Fund Series 39 and it is a 370 days close ended debt fund. The objective of the fund is to generate regular income by investing in fixed income securities and money market instruments, usually maturing in line with the time profile of the fund. The fund will invest up to 100% in domestic debt instruments including government securities and money market instruments and securitised debt. The investment in securitised debt would be up to a maximum of 70% of the net assets of the scheme.

ICICI MF Rolls Out Quarterly Interval Fund

ICICI MF has launched a new fund called ICICI Prudential Interval Fund Series II Quarterly Interval Plan E and it is a debt oriented interval scheme. The objective of the scheme is to seek to generate income by investing in a portfolio of debt and money market instruments. The fund will invest 0%-30% in money market instruments. The fund will invest 30%-100% in government securities issued by central &/or state government and other fixed income/ debt securities. The debt securities may include securitised debt up to 70% of the portfolio and derivative instruments to the extent of 50% of the net asset of the scheme.

Dividend Announced Under Three Schemes Of HSBC MF

HSBC Mutual Fund has announced a dividend of Re.0.18 per unit, Re.0.30 per unit and Re. 0.18 per unit under the quarterly dividend option of HSBC MIP Regular, HSBC MIP Saving and HSBC Income Investment Plan, respectively. The record date for the same is 14 December 2007.

HSBC MF Declares Dividends

HSBC Mutual Fund has announced 14 December 2007 as the record date for the declaration of dividend under the Regular and Institutional Plan of HSBC Fixed Term Series 21, HSBC Fixed Term Series 23, HSBC Fixed Term Series 25 and HSBC Fixed Term Series 28.

In addition to the above plans the fund house has also announced dividend under the Regular plan of HSBC Fixed Term Series 22 and HSBC Fixed Term Series 27. The quantum of dividend will be 100% for all the above schemes.

Extension of NFO of ICICI Prudential FMP

ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund has extended the offer period for its ICICI Prudential Fixed Maturity Plan - Series 42 Thirteen Months Plan A to 18 December 2007. Earlier the fund was scheduled to close on 14 December 2007.

ICICI Prudential MF Declares Dividend

ICICI Prudential MF declared dividend on four schemes: ICICI Prudential Fusion Fund, ICICI Prudential Fusion Fund Series II, ICICI Prudential Discovery Fund and ICICI Prudential Growth Fund. The fund house fixed 14 December 2007 as the record date for the payment of dividend.
Details of dividend declared are as followed:
Name of Scheme Dividend (%) NAV as on 6 December 2007
ICICI Prudential Fusion Fund 10 16.59
ICICI Prudential Fusion Fund Series II 10 14.17
ICICI Prudential Discovery Fund 12 21.02
ICICI Prudential Growth Fund 20 29.44

Single-Point KYC Clearance For MF Investors

MUMBAI: Come January 15, 2008, mutual fund investors will have a single-point of dissemination of all financial documentation essential to fulfil the mandatory KYC norms as prescribed by SEBI.

Mutual funds association AMFI, in collaboration with CDSL Ventures, a subsidiary of Central Depository Services (India), has developed a single centralised platform, to store these documents for access by asset management companies in line with the enhanced “Know Your Client” norms, AMFI chairman AP Kurian told ET.

The AMFI chief said with PAN being made mandatory for all mutual fund investments from January 1, 2008, the association had decided to facilitate a common KYC process to ease matters for investors. “Besides as part of the PMLA Act, the back-up documentation has to be kept for a period of 10 years. If there is no common system evolved, think of the wastage in terms of human resources,” he adds.

However, unlike PAN, this system would be introduced in two stages. In the first stage, every investor with a fresh investment of Rs 50,000 and above in mutual funds will be asked to adhere to the KYC norms. The second stage would see the limit phased down to zero. “We have tentatively decided on kick-starting the process from January 15 or latest by February 1,” Mr Kurian said.

Investors will henceforth be able to submit all the required documentation at around 300 points of services, that include non-AMCs (registrars, distributors, CVL, CDSL etc) and AMCs. The essential documentation includes proof of identity and residence apart from the financial status of the individual.

“This will help the investors to give the required documents and information only once. No new number will be issued. PAN will be the only identification and reference number,” said Mr Kurian. In terms of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act 2002, the rules issued there under the Sebi guidelines regarding the Anti Money Laundering (AML) Laws, all intermediaries, including MFs, have to formulate and implement a client identification programme, verify and maintain the record of identity and addresses of investors.

Lotus India MF Unveils New FMP 375 Days Series

Lotus India MF has rolled out a new fund called Lotus India FMP 375 Days- Series VI and it is a close ended debt scheme. The objective of the scheme is to generate income by investing in a portfolio of debt and money market instruments normally maturing in line with the duration of the scheme. The fund will invest 0%-100% in money market instruments including reverse repo. The investment in government securities issued by the central government and/or state government(s) will be 0%-50%. The fund will invest 0%-100% debt instruments such as bonds and debentures. The investment in securitised debt will be up to 50%. The investment in fixed income derivatives will be up to 50% of the net asset of the scheme.

Pan card to be mandatory for MF from Jan 1

The finance ministry instructed AMFI, a trade body of Indian asset management companies, that every investment made into a fund will compulsorily have to be accompanied by a valid PAN card from Jan. 01, 2008, reports Economic Times.

For the last few months even proof of having applied for a PAN card was sufficient for investing in mutual funds.

The ministry said that unlike what happened in mid-2007, there would be no relaxation in the deadline. In July 2007, SEBI had relaxed the deadline for compulsory PAN cards for MF investments from July 2007 to Jan. 01, 2008.

Standard Chartered MF to launch small and mid-cap fund

Standard Chartered Mutual Fund will launch Standard Chartered Small and Mid-cap equity fund, a 3 years close ended equity scheme with an automatic conversion into an open ended scheme on expiry of 3 years from the date of allotment and has already filed the offer document with SEBI. The units of the scheme will be available for Rs 10 per unit.

The investment objective of the scheme is to generate capital appreciation from a diversified portfolio of equity and equity related instruments. The scheme will invest in small and midcap equity and equity related instruments.

The scheme offers Growth option and Dividend option. The Dividend option will offer Dividend reinvestment option.

Minimum Application Amount

The minimum application amount is Rs 5,000 and in multiples of Re 1 there after.

Benchmark

The scheme will be benchmarked against CNX Midcap Index.

Load Structure

An Entry load of 2.25% will be charged for investment less than Rs 50 million. However, exit load will be nil.

Infra, real estate, power gen strong themes: Mirae Asset

The markets are trading at a fair value, but expects a positive market in December and January. He feels that the rally is likely to spread further into the mid & small caps. Out of the sectors, he identified real estate as attractive and said that the investors are looking at Tier-II companies there. Power valuations seem slightly stretched in the short-term, Pandey said. Infra and power generation remain strong themes for the next 12-14 months, he opined. Pandey said that sugar and textile sectors are likely to remain subdued.

Omaxe stocks likely to benefit MF scheme

Share prices of Omaxe went up by 7.28% to Rs. 561.50 reported at BSE at 11.24 a.m. on 11 December 2007 against previous day close of Rs. 523.40.

UTI-SPrEAD Fund (G) is likely to gain as it has the highest percentage hold of the stocks of the company compared to its peer groups who have invested in the stocks of the company. UTI-SPrEAD Fund (G) 0.90% of its total portfolio size invested in the stocks of the company as on 30 November 2007. The scheme holds 91,000 units of the company in November 2007 compared to its peer groups who have invested in the stocks of the company.

It is followed by Kotak Equity Arbitrage Fund (G) with 72,150 units (0.63% of its portfolio), SBI Arbitrage Opportunities Fund (G) with 12,334 units (0.08%), and HDFC Arbitrage Fund (G) with 3,250 units holding (0.04%) as on November 2007.

Six mutual fund schemes have completely exited from Omaxe in November 2007. Among them, the schemes like, DBS Chola Contra Fund (G) was holding 24,982 units on 31 October 2007, has sold all its shares as on 30 November 2007 and thus less likely to gain. DSP ML Tax Saver Fund (G) holding 59,864 units on 31 October 2007, has sold all its shares as on 30 November 2007 and thus less likely to benefit.

JM Arbitrage Advantage Fund (G) was also holding 0.63% of its portfolio with 1.62 lakh units in October 2007, has sold all its shares as on 30 November 2007 and thus less likely to gain.

ICICI Pru Infrastructure Fund (G) outperforms the Sensex over all time periods

ICICI Asset Management Company Ltd manages ICICI prudential Mutual Fund. A joint venture between Prudence Plc, UK's leading insurance company and ICICI Bank Ltd. India's premier financial institution. ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund house has Rs. 54903.69 crore assets under management at the end of November 2007.

ICICI Pru Infrastructure Fund (G) an open-ended scheme launched in September 2004. The objective of the scheme is to seek to generate capital appreciation and income distribution to unit holders by investing predominantly in equity/ equity related securities of the companies belonging to the infrastructure industries and balance in debt securities and money market instruments including call money. However, there can be no assurance that the investment objective of the plan will be realized. The minimum investment amount is Rs 5000 and in multiples of Rs 1 thereafter. The unit NAV of the scheme was Rs.34.01 as on 10 December 2007.

Portfolio: The total net assets of the scheme increased by Rs.470.41 crore to Rs. 4009.21 crore in November 2007.

ICICI Pru Infrastructure Fund (G) took fresh exposure to thirteen new stocks in November 2007. The scheme has purchased 70.70 lakh units (3.75%) of Cairn India, 46.58 lakh units (3.00%) of Steel Authority of India, 18.11 lakh units (1.94%) of GAIL (India) and 10.00 lakh units (1.68%) of Reliance Communication in November 2007.

The scheme completely exited from J K Cements by selling 3.33 lakh units (0.18%), and Punjab National Bank by selling 69,889 units (0.10%) in November 2007.

Sector-wise, the scheme took fresh exposure Electric Equipment at 1.99%, Mining / Minerals / Metals at 1.29%, and Electronics – Components at 0.91%, Cables – Telephone at 0.11% and Finance & Investments at 0.01% in November 2007.

Sector-Wise, the scheme did not completely exited from any sector in November 2007.

The scheme had highest exposure to Reliance Industries with 13.48 lakh units (9.58% of Portfolio) followed by Jindal Steel & Power with 2.25 lakh units (7.59%), NTPC with 1.00 crore units (5.90%), ICICI Bank with 17.76 lakh units (5.25%) and Larsen & Toubro with 4.99 lakh units (5.15%) among others in November 2007.

It reduced its exposure to Oil & Natural Gas Corporation by selling 5.65 lakh to 7.97 lakh units (by 2.48%), NTPC by selling 19.74 lakh units to 1.00 crore units (by 2.20%) and Bharti Airtel by selling 4.99 lakh units to 15.00 lakh units (by 2.17%), among others in November 2007.

Sector-wise, the scheme had highest exposure to Power Generation And Supply at 11.11% (from 12.38% in October 2007), followed by Refineries at 9.58% (8.63%), Steel - Sponge Iron at 7.59% (7.55%) and Construction at 6.92% (7.34%) among others in November 2007.

Sector wise, the scheme had reduced exposure to Banks - Public Sector to 0.95% (by 1.52%), Power Generation And Supply to 11.11% (by 1.27%) Diversified - Mega to 5.84% (by 0.70%) and Telecommunications - Service Provider to 5.20% (by 0.49%) among others in November 2007.

Performance: The scheme outperformed the category average over most of the time periods. It has outperformed the sensex over all time periods.

Over three-month period ended as on 10 December 2007, the scheme posted 46.53% of returns outperforming the category average of 29.08%. It outperformed the sensex that posted 28.07% returns during the same period.

Since inception, the scheme posted 225.45% returns under performing the category average of 326.24%.