Monday, January 19, 2009

NFO NEST - JANUARY 2009

NFO Nest
(January 2009)

Funds lie to vie for the investor’s pie rather than die…

Old wine being pumped into new bottles is doing the rounds in the NFO market. To cash in on the rush for tax saving instruments this quarter, mutual funds have started launching a spate of ELSS Funds. The volatile and uncertain equity markets have not deterred mutual funds, not to mention dampening their “spirits”. Some fund houses have the dubious distinction of duplicating their offerings (Tata Tax Advantage Fund, DBS Chola Taxsaver...), thereby, facilitating duplication of the unsuspecting investor’s portfolio.

The following funds find their place in the NFO Nest in January, 2009.
Bharti AXA Tax Advantage Fund
Opens :12 Dec, 2008 Closes:12 Feb, 2009

The baby of the Indian mutual fund industry, Bharti AXA Mutual Fund, has come out with its fourth offering - second one in the diversified equity category. This will be a diversified multi-cap fund, not biased towards any sector or market capitalization. It also has a leeway to invest up to 20 per cent in debt and money market instruments. It offers two plans viz. eco and regular plan with growth & dividend options. The scheme is benchmarked against S&P CNX Nifty Index and will be managed by Mr. Prateek Agrawal.


DBS Chola Tax Advantage Fund
Opens: 19 Dec, 2008 Closes: 19 Mar, 2009

DBS Chola Tax Advantage Fund - Series 1 is a 10-year close ended equity linked saving scheme, subject to a lock in for a period of three years from the date of allotment. The objective of the scheme is to seek to generate long-term capital growth from a diversified portfolio of predominantly equity and equity-related securities and also to enable investors to get income tax rebate as per the prevailing Tax Laws and subject to applicable conditions. The fund would invest between 80-100% in Indian equities and equity related securities and 0% to 20% in money market instruments / debt securities instruments. This fund will follow value investing strategy. Current market conditions favour this strategy as it limits the downside potential of these stocks. The benchmark Index is BSE-200 Index and Anant Deep Katare will manage the fund.
Fidelity Wealth Builder Fund
Opens: 14 Jan, 2009 Closes: 5 Feb, 2009

Fidelity Wealth Builder Fund is an open ended fund of funds scheme offering asset allocation options with three Plans. The fund manager will use a two-tier investment approach – asset allocation and fund selection – to invest in Fidelity’s funds. This is a zero entry load Fund with free switching between Plans permitted. The Fidelity Wealth Builder Fund offers three plans with varying levels of exposure to debt and equity that investors can choose from depending on their risk appetite. These are called Plan A, Plan B and Plan C. The investment in the fund can be done via regular investment option or systematic Investment Plan. Under plan A, the fund will invest up to 85% in debt schemes and around 15% in equity schemes. Under plan B, the fund will invest around 30% of net assets in equity schemes and the remaining in debt schemes and under plan C, the fund will invest at least 50% of the net assets of the plan in debt schemes and 50% of the net assets of the plan in the equity schemes. The performance of the scheme will be measured against CRISIL Composite Bond Fund Index and the BSE 200 in the proportion of the split between debt and equity for each Plan. Sameer Kulkarni will be the fund manager for the scheme.

Bharti AXA Regular Return Fund
Opens: 28 Jan, 2009 Closes: 24 Feb, 2009

Bharti AXA Regular Return Fund aims to generate regular income through investments in fixed income securities and also to generate long term capital appreciation by investing a portion in equity and equity related instruments. The scheme will offer two plans viz. eco and regular plan with growth & dividend options. The scheme will invest up to 80%-100% in money market securities and debt securities including government securities, corporate debt, securitized debt and other debt instruments and invest up to 20% in equity and equity related securities. Investment in asset backed securities (securitised debt) will not exceed 20% of the net assets as at the time of purchase. Investment in derivatives instruments may be up to 50% of the net assets of the scheme for the purpose of hedging and portfolio balancing purposes. The benchmark index for the scheme is CRISIL MIP Blended Index. Sujoy Kumar Das will manage the fixed income and Prateek Agrawal will manage the equity investments of the scheme.

Tata Infrastructure Tax Saving Fund
Opens: 17 Dec, 2008 Closes :16 Mar, 2009

Tata Infrastructure Tax Saving Fund is a 10-year close ended ELSS, subject to a lock in for a period of three years from the date of allotment. The investment objective of the scheme is to seek to provide medium to long term capital gain by investing predominantly in equity / equity related instruments of the companies in infrastructure and infrastructure related sectors along with the income tax benefit to its unitholders. The fund will invest 80-100% in equities and equity related securities, out of which 65% to 100% will be invested in equity & equity related instruments of companies in infrastructure and infrastructure related sectors. The scheme may invest 0% to 20% in debt, money market & securitized debt instruments. The Benchmark index for the scheme would be BSE Sensex. Fund Manager for the scheme will be M. Venugopal & Mahendra Jajoo.

Bharati AXA Income Fund, ICICI Prudential Recovery Fund, ICICI Prudential Target Return Fund, Edelweiss Income Plus Fund and Tata Opportunities Fund are expected to be launched in the coming months.

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