New Fund Offers(NFO) From Mutual Fund Houses

SBI MF launches “SBI Debt Fund Series - 366 Days - 30”; NFO to close on June 19

SBI Mutual Fund has launched a new close ended debt scheme named “SBI Debt Fund Series - 366 Days - 30” with maturity period of 366 days from the date of allotment. The New Fund Offer (NFO) price for the scheme is Rs 10 per unit. The NFO opened for subscription on June 18 and will close today. According to the offer document filed with SEBI, the entry load is nil and since the scheme is planned to be listed on the Stock Exchange or any other exchange, the exit load charge will not be applicable. This suggests that the investors wishing to exit may do so through the stock exchange mode. The minimum application amount is Rs 5000 and in multiples of Rs 1 thereafter. The two options available under the Plan of the Scheme are Growth and Dividend option. The performance of the scheme will be benchmarked against Crisil Short Term Bond Fund Index. Rajeev Radhakrishnan will be the Fund Manager of the scheme. The asset allocation of scheme will be in such a way that the objective of the scheme to provide regular income, liquidity and returns to the investors will be met through investment in a diversified portfolio of debt instruments such as government securities, PSU & corporate bonds and money market instruments. Hence, the scheme will allocate 0 to 100 per cent of the asset in debt and money market instruments.

New Fund Offers(NFO) From Mutual Fund Houses

ICICI Prudential MF launches “ICICI Prudential Fixed Maturity Plan-Series 68-368 Days Plan D”; NFO to close on June 20

ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund has launched a new close ended debt fund named “ICICI Prudential Fixed Maturity Plan-Series 68-368 Days Plan D” with maturity period of 368 days from the date of allotment. The New Fund Offer (NFO) price for the scheme is Rs 10 per unit. The NFO opened for subscription today and will close on June 20, 2013. According to the offer document filed with SEBI, the entry load is nil and since the scheme is planned to be listed on the Stock Exchange or any other exchange, the exit load charge will not be applicable. This suggests that the investors wishing to exit may do so through the stock exchange mode. The minimum application amount is Rs 5000 and in multiples of Rs 10 thereafter. The two options available under the Plan of the Scheme are Cumulative and Dividend option. The performance of the scheme will be benchmarked against CRISIL Short Term Bond Fund Index. Manish Banthia will be the Fund Manager of the scheme. The asset allocation of scheme will be in such a way that the objective of the scheme to generate income will be met through investment in diversified portfolio of fixed income securities/ debt instruments. Hence, the scheme will allocate 0 to 100 per cent of asset in money market instruments.

Recent Dividend announcement from Mutual Fund Houses

Franklin Templeton MF announces dividend under “Franklin India Prima Fund - Direct Plan”

Franklin Templeton Mutual Fund has declared 50.0000 per cent dividend under dividend payout option of scheme named as “Franklin India Prima Fund - Direct Plan” on the face value of Rs 10 per unit. The record date for the dividend is June 21. The NAV of scheme as on June 17, 2013 was at Rs 37.6208. The investment objective of the open ended equity diversified scheme is to provide long term capital appreciation as primary objective and income as secondary objective. The performance of the scheme is benchmarked against S&P CNX 500 Equity Index and K N Siva Subramanian is the fund manager of the scheme.

Govt considers allowing PSUs to park surplus funds in private sector MFs

The government is considering allowing the PSUs to park their surplus funds in private sector mutual funds (MFs). At present, the PSUs are allowed to invest their funds only in public sector mutual funds With a view to offer some relaxation to PSUs in existing investment norms. "Now, the government wants to give some flexibility to PSUs and provide them level-playing field vis-a-vis private companies. Therefore, it has proposed that there should be certain limit for investing in public MFs and PSUs should be allowed to invest rest of their funds either with private or public sector mutual funds," an official said. This proposal is a part of the report prepared by a panel of the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE), headed by Department of Economic Affairs Additional Secretary Shaktikanta Das. The committee was formed by the government to review guidelines on investment of excess funds available with cash-rich PSUs. "The DPE is in the process of preparing the note in this regard. After the inter-ministerial consultations will be over, the note will be sent to Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs for its consideration," the official added. Moreover, the panel also proposed that PSUs must be allowed to invite bids from banks to invest their surplus funds. As per existing norms, PSUs park their funds with whom they have regular business. On May 13, the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) had asked central PSUs to either invest their excess funds or pay higher dividend, thereby deploying surplus funds to fuel growth and create employment.

Recent Dividend Announcements from Mutual Fund Houses

Taurus MF declares dividend under “Taurus Dynamic Income Fund”

Taurus Mutual Fund has declared 100 per cent distributable surplus as dividend under dividend payout option of scheme named as “Taurus Dynamic Income Fund” on the face value of Rs 10 per unit. The record date for the dividend is June 21. The NAV of scheme as on June 14, 2013 was at Rs 10.7133. The investment objective of the open ended equity scheme is to generate optimal returns with high liquidity through active management of the portfolio by investing in Debt and Money Market Instruments. The performance of the scheme is benchmarked against Crisil Composite Bond Fund Index and Rahul Pal is the fund manager of the scheme.

New Fund Offers(NFO) From Mutual Fund Houses

Tata MF launches “Tata Dual Advantage Fund Scheme A(3 Years)”; NFO to close on June 28

Tata Mutual Fund has launched a new close ended income scheme named “Tata Dual Advantage Fund Scheme A(3 Years)” with maturity period of 3 years from the date of allotment. The New Fund Offer (NFO) price for the scheme is Rs 10 per unit. The NFO opened for subscription today and will close in June 28, 2013. According to the offer document filed with SEBI, the entry load is nil and since the scheme is planned to be listed on the Stock Exchange or any other exchange, the exit load charge will not be applicable. This suggests that the investors wishing to exit may do so through the stock exchange mode. The minimum application amount is Rs 5000 and in multiples of Rs 1 thereafter. The two options available under the Plan of the Scheme are Growth and Dividend option. The performance of the scheme will be benchmarked against CRISIL MIP Blended Index. Amit Somani and Predeep Gokhale will be the Fund Managers of the scheme. The asset allocation of scheme will be in such a way that the objective of the scheme to generate income will be met through investment in diversified portfolio of fixed income instruments and equity/equity related instrument. Hence, the scheme will allocate 75 to 95 per cent of the asset in debt and money market instruments and 5 to 25 per cent in equity and equity related instruments.

Reliance MF launches “Reliance Dual Advantage Fixed Tenure Fund III - Plan D”; NFO to close on June 28

Reliance Mutual Fund has launched a new close ended hybrid scheme named “Reliance Dual Advantage Fixed Tenure Fund III - Plan D” with maturity period of 36 months from the date of allotment. The New Fund Offer (NFO) price for the scheme is Rs 10 per unit. The NFO opened for subscription today and will close on June 28, 2013. According to the offer document filed with SEBI, the entry load is nil and since the scheme is planned to be listed on the Stock Exchange or any other exchange, the exit load charge will not be applicable. This suggests that the investors wishing to exit may do so through the stock exchange mode. The minimum application amount is Rs 5000 and in multiples of Rs 1 thereafter. The two options available under the Plan of the Scheme are Growth and Dividend option. The performance of the scheme will be benchmarked against Crisil MIP Blended Fund Index. Krishan Daga and Anju Chajjer will be the Fund Managers of the scheme. The asset allocation of scheme will be in such a way that the objective of the scheme to generate returns and reduce interest rate volatility will be met through investment in diversified portfolio of fixed income securities. Hence, the scheme will allocate 65 to 95 per cent of asset in debt securities, 0 to 30 in money market instruments and 5 to 20 per cent in equity and equity related instruments.

Kotak Mahindra MF launches “Kotak FMP Series 104 (370 days)”; NFO to close on June 17

Kotak Mahindra Mutual Fund has launched a new close ended debt scheme named “Kotak FMP Series 104 (370 days)” with maturity period of 370 days from the date of allotment. The New Fund Offer (NFO) price for the scheme is Rs 10 per unit. The NFO opened for subscription on June 15 and will close today. According to the offer document filed with SEBI, the entry load is nil and since the scheme is planned to be listed on the Stock Exchange or any other exchange, the exit load charge will not be applicable. This suggests that the investors wishing to exit may do so through the stock exchange mode. The minimum application amount is Rs 5000 and in multiples of Rs 10 thereafter. The two options available under the Plan of the Scheme are Growth and Dividend option. The performance of the scheme will be benchmarked against CRISIL Short Term Bond Index. Mayank Prakash and Abhishek Bisen will be the Fund Managers of the scheme. The asset allocation of scheme will be in such a way that the objective of the scheme to generate returns will be met through investment in diversified portfolio of debt and money market instruments. Hence, the scheme will allocate 0 to 100 per cent of asset in debt and money market instruments.

Debt Mutual Fund schemes get a boost in May on hopes of rate cut

The mutual fund industry’s assets under management (AUM) were at a lifetime high of Rs 8.68 lakh crore in May helped by significant jump in demand for debt schemes as investors looked forward to gain from reversal in monetary policy rates. On the other hand, equity MF schemes witnessed sluggish demand and redemptions touched an eight-month high of Rs 2,910 crore in line with poor performance of benchmark indices. Data released by the Association of Mutual Funds of India (Amfi) showed that MF industry’s month-end AUM rose Rs 42,900 crore, or 5 per cent, month-on-month in May. While the AUM of income funds, which include long-term debt funds, short-term debt funds, fixed maturity plans, rose 6 per cent to Rs 4.47 lakh crore, the assets of liquid funds also rose by Rs 21,700 crore to a 25-month high of Rs 2.06 lakh crore. However, some experts expressed concern over this saying that AMCs have not benefitted much from this as most of the flows are into fixed income, where margins are very thin. As per Industry expert shared a similar view that From the broader economy point of view, it is not a good sign that such huge inflows of money is coming into debt funds, as this clearly shows that corporates instead of investing in capital expenditure, are putting their money in mutual funds.

Recent Dividend Announcements from DWS(Deutsche)Mutual fund

Deutsche MF declares dividend under “DWS Fixed Maturity Plan - Series 18”

Deutsche Mutual Fund has declared entire distributable surplus as dividend under dividend payout option of scheme named as “DWS Fixed Maturity Plan - Series 18” on the face value of Rs 10 per unit. The record date for the dividend is June 17. The NAV of scheme as on June 11, 2013 was at Rs 10.9531. The investment objective of the close ended debt fund is to generate income by investing in debt and money market instruments maturing on or before the date of the maturity of the Scheme. The performance of the scheme is benchmarked against Crisil Short-Term Bond Fund Index and Kumaresh Ramakrishnan is the fund manager of the scheme.

Recent Dividend Announcements from Mutual Fund Houses

ICICI Prudential MF declares dividend under “ICICI Prudential Equity - Arbitrage Fund

ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund has declared 0.7000 per cent as dividend under dividend payout option of scheme named as “ICICI Prudential Equity - Arbitrage Fund” on the face value of Rs 10 per unit. The record date for the dividend is May 31. The NAV of scheme as on May 27, 2013 was at Rs 13.5300. The investment objective of the open ended equity diversified scheme is to seek to generate low volatility returns by using arbitrage and other derivative strategies in equity markets and investments in short-term debt portfolio. The performance of the scheme is benchmarked against Crisil Liquid Fund Index and Manish Banthia is the fund manager of the scheme.

ICICI Prudential MF declares dividend under “ICICI Prudential Blended Plan A”

ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund has declared 0.7000 per cent as dividend under dividend payout option of scheme named as “ICICI Prudential Blended Plan A” on the face value of Rs 10 per unit. The record date for the dividend is May 31. The NAV of scheme as on May 27, 2013 was at Rs 13.3082. The investment objective of the open ended equity balanced scheme is to provide capital appreciation and income distribution to unitholders by investing in Equity & Equity related securities including derivatives and the balance portion in debt securities. The performance of the scheme is benchmarked against Crisil Liquid Fund Index and Kayzad Eghlim is the fund manager of the scheme.

Recent Dividend Announcements from Mutual Fund Houses

Tata MF declares dividend under “Tata Equity P/E Fund - Trigger Option A - 5%”

Tata Mutual Fund has declared 5.000 per cent as dividend under dividend payout option of scheme named as “Tata Equity P/E Fund - Trigger Option A - 5%” on the face value of Rs 10 per unit. The record date for the dividend is May 28. The NAV of scheme as on May 23, 2013 was at Rs 26.3734. The investment objective of the open ended equity diversified scheme is to provide reasonable and regular income along with possible capital appreciation to its unitholder. The performance of the scheme is benchmarked against BSE Sensitive Index and Bhupinder Sethi is the fund manager of the scheme.

Morgan Stanley MF announces dividend under “Morgan Stanley Multi Asset Fund - Plan A”

Morgan Stanley Mutual Fund has declared Rs 0.20 per unit as dividend under dividend payout option of scheme named as “Morgan Stanley Multi Asset Fund - Plan A” on the face value of Rs 10 per unit. The record date for the dividend is May 29. The NAV of scheme as on May 22, 2013 was at Rs 10.7620. The investment objective of the open ended scheme is to generate regular income through investments in debt & money market instruments, along with capital appreciation through limited exposure to equity and equity related instruments. The performance of the scheme is benchmarked against Crisil Composite Bond Fund Index and Ritesh Jain is the fund manager of the scheme.

Tata MF announces dividend under “Tata Equity P/E Fund”

Tata Mutual Fund has declared Rs 0.50 per unit as dividend under dividend payout option of scheme named as “Tata Equity P/E Fund” on the face value of Rs 10 per unit. The record date for the dividend is May 28. The NAV of scheme as on May 22, 2013 was at Rs 26.8649. The investment objective of the open ended equity diversified scheme is to provide reasonable and regular income along with possible capital appreciation to its unit holder. The performance of the scheme is benchmarked against BSE Sensitive Index and Bhupinder Sethi is the fund manager of the scheme.

UTI MF announces dividend for “UTI Fixed Income Interval Fund

UTI Mutual Fund has declared 100 per cent distributable surplus as dividend under dividend payout option of scheme named as “UTI Fixed Income Interval Fund - Half Yearly Series 1” on the face value of Rs 10 per unit. The record date for the dividend is May 27. The NAV of scheme as on May 21, 2013 was at Rs 10.2143. The investment objective of the interval scheme is to generate regular income by investment in Debt/Money Market instruments and Government Securities having suitable maturity. The performance of the scheme is benchmarked against Crisil Liquid Fund Index and Amandeep Chopra is the fund manager of the scheme.

IDBI MF launches “IDBI fmp - Series III NFO to close on May 28

IDBI Mutual Fund has launched a new close ended debt scheme named “IDBI fmp - Series III - 370 Days (May 2013) – E” with a maturity period of 370 days from the respective date of allotment. The New Fund Offer (NFO) price for the scheme is Rs 10 per unit. The NFO opened for subscription on May 21 and will close on May 28, 2013. According to the offer document filed with SEBI, the entry load is nil and since the scheme is planned to be listed on the Stock Exchange or any other exchange, the exit load charge will not be applicable. This suggests that the investors wishing to exit may do so through the stock exchange mode. The minimum application amount is Rs 5000 and in multiples of Rs 1 thereafter. The two options available under the Plan of the Scheme are Growth and Dividend option. The performance of the scheme will be benchmarked against CRISIL Short Term Bond Fund Index. Gautam Kaul will be the Fund Manager of the scheme. The asset allocation of scheme will be in such a way that the objective of the scheme to generate income will be met through investment in a portfolio of debt & money market securities. Hence, the scheme will allocate 0 to 100 per cent of the asset in money market instruments and 0 to 100 per cent in debt instruments

Tata Mutual Fund announces dividend under “Tata Fixed Maturity Plan

Tata Mutual Fund has declared entire distributable surplus as dividend under dividend payout option of scheme named as “Tata Fixed Maturity Plan Series 40 - Scheme C” on the face value of Rs 10 per unit. The record date for the dividend is May 27. The NAV of scheme as on May 21, 2013 was at Rs 10.9884. The investment objective of the close ended debt scheme is to generate income and / or capital appreciation by investing in wide range of Debt and Money Market instruments having maturity in line with the maturity of the respective schemes. The performance of the scheme is benchmarked against Crisil Short-Term Bond Fund Index and Murthy Nagarajan is the fund manager of the scheme.

MFs invest Rs 4.74 lakh crore in FY'13, highest in 12 year

Indian Mutual funds pumped Rs 4.74 lakh crore into the debt market in 2012-13, making it their biggest investment in the last 12 years.

The financial year ended March 31, 2013 also marked the 12th consecutive year of net inflows by mutual funds (MFs) into the debt market.

As per the latest data compiled by market regulator Sebi, the net investment by MFs in the debt market during 2012-13 stood at Rs 4,73,460 crore -- which is the highest net inflow for a single fiscal since 2000-01, when funds had made investment worth Rs 50,235 crore.

The data for funds' investment into the debt market are not available before 2000-01. During 2011-12, MFs had invested Rs 3.35 lakh crore in debt-oriented schemes.

According to market participants, funds houses have poured most of the money in debt-oriented schemes because of the better returns offered by such schemes as compared to fixed deposits in banks.

ICICI Securities, ICICI Lombard launch new product for MF investors

Broking house ICICI Securities and private non-life insurer ICICI Lombard General Insurance have recently launched Secure Mind, a general insurance product meant for the former's mutual fund SIP (systematic investment plan) investors.

Under the arrangement, the product will insure those investing in mutual fund SIPs through ICICIdirect.com against job loss, accidental death, permanent total disability and nine critical illnesses. Instead of discontinuing SIPs or redeeming mutual fund investments to fund the hospitalisation expenses, investors can make a claim under the insurance policy.

The amount of sum insured will equal to the cumulative value of investment through SIP, subject to an overall cap of Rs 15 lakh. To be able to buy the cover, your total value of SIPs should amount to at least Rs 60,000. Investors in the age-group of 20-50 years are eligible to opt for this facility. The premium to be paid will depend on the investor's age and the investment amount.

Number of Mutual Fund accounts declined by 36 lakh

The Mutual Fund industry lost more than 36 lakh investors, measured in terms of individual accounts or folios, in the 2012-13 financial year.

The last fiscal marked the fourth consecutive year of loss of folios by mutual funds (MFs). During the preceding three financial years, the MF industry had lost over 15 lakh new investor accounts.

Folios are numbers designated to individual investor accounts, although one investor can have multiple folios.

As per the latest data compiled by market regulator Sebi (Securities and Exchange Board of India) on total investor accounts with the country's 44 fund houses, the number of folios have fallen to 4.28 crore at the end of March 2013 from 4.64 crore in the previous fiscal (2011-12), translating into a decline of 36.23 lakh new investor accounts.

Retail mutual fund folios drop by 5% in six months: CRISIL research

Fluctuations in the equity market resulted in a drop of 5% in retail mutual fund folios between September 2012 and March 2013, a CRISILBSE -1.83 % study has said. In terms of numbers, the mutual fund space lost over 21 lakh retail folios, data released by Association of Mutual Funds in India ( AMFI) indicated."" The decline in retail folios was mainly in the equity category, which was impacted by the ongoing volatility in the equity market. The CNX Nifty has declined by 3.8% and 0.4% in the three-month and six-month period till March 2013,"" noted CRISIL. The total share of retail individuals in the mutual fund assets under management (AUM) pie was 23%, behind corporates (46%) and high networth individuals (28%).

The analysis also showed that 63% of the retail assets under management (AUM) remained invested in equity funds for more than two years. ""Investors investing in equity mutual funds should resort to long-term investments in the period of 7-10 years to benefit the most from the underlying asset class. 

Equity mutual fund schemes' redemption hits 7-year high in FY 13

Equity mutual fund schemes, including equity-linked savings schemes which offer tax breaks, witnessed net redemption s of Rs 14,587 crore in the financial year 2012-13. The redemption's were the highest in the past seven years despite equity markets and equity schemes generating decent returns for the year.

According to mutual fund data provider Accord Fin tech  large-cap equity mutual fund schemes generated 6.3% gains on an average in FY13 while the mid-cap category generated 6.5%.

The broader market indices, SENSEX and Nifty, gave returns of 8.2% and 7.3%, respectively, during the period. This appears to have provided retail investors an opportunity to recoup the losses they incurred in the previous years and to exit from equity completely before any possible downswing again.

According to Sandesh Kirkire, CEO, Kotak Mutual Fund, "Lack of financial literacy has made retail investors believe that markets once again have heated up like they did during the rally of 2007-08. Those who had invested in mutual funds about five to seven years ago have thus booked profits and exited without realizing that markets today are trading at relatively cheaper valuations than they did in FY08. Also, with FII money dominating Indian equities, the extreme volatility seen over the past few years has resulted in investors losing confidence in the equity markets," he added.