NFONEST

February 2013

At a time when retail interest has been waning, the market may have got a boost with the Rajiv Gandhi Equity Savings Scheme (RGESS).

Despite the fact that Rajiv Gandhi Equity Savings Schemes dominate the February 2013 NFONEST, this month’s NFONEST offers a mixture of other funds too, which add the much-needed spice to the bland and scarce NFO offerings in the past one year.

LIC Nomura RGESS Fund

Opens: February 9, 2013

Closes: February 25, 2013

LIC Nomura Mutual Fund launched its RGESS Series 1, a close-ended equity tax advantage savings scheme for equity investors in India. Under the fund, an individual with an income of up to Rs 10 lakhs would get tax incentives for investing up to Rs 50,000. The investment objective of the fund is to generate opportunities for growth while providing income tax benefits under section 80CCG of the Income Tax Act 1961 by active management of portfolio investing predominantly in RGESS eligible equity and equity related instruments. The benchmark index for the fund is BSE 100 Index.

ICICI Prudential Capital oriented Fund III – Plan F 36M

Opens: February 12, 2013

Closes: February 21, 2013

ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund has launched a new fund namely, ICICI Prudential Capital Protection Oriented Fund III – Plan F – 36 Months Plan, a close-ended capital protection oriented fund with the duration of 1100 days from the date of allotment. The investment objective of the fund is to seek to protect capital by investing a portion of the portfolio in highest rated debt securities and money market instruments and also to provide capital appreciation by investing the balance in equity and equity related securities. The fund will allocate 80% to 100% of assets in debt securities and money market instruments with low to medium risk profile. On the other hand, it would allocate up to 20% of assets in equity and equity related securities with medium to high risk profile. The performance of the fund will be benchmarked against CRISIL MIP Blended Index. Debt portion of the fund will be managed by Mr. Rahul Goswami and equity portion will be managed by Mr. Rajat Chandak. The investments of the scheme in ADR/GDR and other foreign securities will be handled by Mr. Atul Patel.

Indiabulls Income Fund

Opens: February 12, 2013

Closes: February 26, 2013

Indiabulls Mutual Fund has launched Indiabulls Income fund, an open-ended debt scheme that invests in government securities. The primary investment objective of the fund is to generate a steady stream of income and/or medium to long-term capital appreciation/gain through investment in fixed income securities. The fund will invest in a diversified set of fixed income securities and money market instruments with the aim of generating steady returns with a low-risk strategy. The fund will invest 50%-100% in debt instruments and securitized debt. The fund will also invest up to 50% in money market instruments. The performance of the fund will be benchmarked against CRISIL Composite Bond Fund Index. The fund will be managed by Mr. Raju Sharma.

Morgan Stanley Gilt Fund

Opens: February 14, 2013

Closes: February 21, 2013

Morgan Stanley Mutual Fund announced the launch of an open-ended gilt fund ‘Morgan Stanley Gilt Fund’. The investment objective of the fund is to generate returns primarily through investments in sovereign securities issued by the Central Government and/or a State Government or repos/reverse repos in such securities. The fund will allocate 65% to 100% of assets in securities issued by Central and State Government and Treasury bills with Sovereign risk profile and will allocate up to 35% in CBLO, Repo against Government securities with sovereign to low risk profile. The fund will be benchmarked against the I-SEC Composite Gilt Index and will be managed by Ritesh Jain, Head of Fixed Income and Lead Portfolio Manager, Fixed Income Boutique at Morgan Stanley Mutual Fund. 

DSP Blackrock RGESS Fund

Opens: February 14, 2013

Closes: February 28, 2013

DSP BlackRock Mutual Fund launched DSP BlackRock RGESS Fund Series 1 to 5, a close-ended equity scheme which will invest in eligible securities as per Rajiv Gandhi Equity Savings Scheme, 2012. The primary investment objective is to seek to generate capital appreciation, from a portfolio that is substantially constituted of equity securities, which are specified as eligible securities for Rajiv Gandhi Equity Savings Scheme  (RGESS). The fund will invest a certain portion of its corpus in cash and cash equivalent and money market instruments from time to time. The fund will allocate up to 95%-100% of assets in equity securities specified as eligible securities for RGESS with medium to high risk profile and will invest up to 5% in cash and cash equivalents and money market instruments with low to medium risk profile. BSE 100 Index is the benchmark index for the fund. The fund will be managed by Apoorva Shah and Dhawal Dalal.

IDBI RGESS Fund

Opens: February 9, 2013

Closes: March 8, 2013

IDBI Mutual Fund announced the launch of IDBI RGESS-Series I, a close-ended growth fund. The investment objective of the fund is to generate opportunities for growth while providing income tax benefits under section 80CCG of the Income Tax Act 1961 by active management of portfolio investing predominantly in RGESS eligible equity instruments.

SBI Sensex ETF Fund

Opens: February 9, 2013

Closes: March 8, 2013

SBI Mutual Fund, one of the oldest and trusted mutual fund houses in the country, announced the launch of SBI Sensex ETF scheme, a Mutual Fund Scheme eligible under Rajiv Gandhi Equity Savings Scheme 2012, which offers an opportunity to first time equity investors across the country to participate in India’s expected robust economic growth, through investments in Sensex, India’s oldest stock index in the Indian stock market. SBI Sensex ETF is SBI Mutual Fund’s first equity ETF, which would, take exposure in the defined basket of stocks in SENSEX index, in the same proportion. SBI Sensex ETF would thus passively invest in the best of Indian companies, which offer superior financial performance, better governance coupled with maximum liquidity, thereby making a comfortable start for the first time investors. SBI Sensex ETF comes with a passive investment strategy and at a significantly lower cost to invest in the equity market. The fund shall endeavour to provide returns that, before expenses, closely correspond to the returns delivered by BSE Sensex, subject to tracking error. A few unique advantages of ETFs are disclosure of portfolio on a daily / real time basis and   investors would find it easy to buy and sell at any time during market hours. From the tax benefits point of view, Investment in SBI Sensex ETF is eligible for tax benefits under RGESS 2012 (Section 80CCG of the Income tax Act) for new retail investor having gross total income less than or equal to Rs. 10 lakh. The performance of the fund will be benchmarked against BSE Sensex Index. The fund will be managed by Mr. Ravi Prakash Sharma.

UTI RGESS Fund

Opens: February 9, 2013

Closes: March 8, 2013

UTI Mutual Fund has launched a new fund namely, UTI Rajiv Gandhi Equity Saving Scheme UTI-RGESS, a close-ended passive index fund tracking S&P CNX Nifty Index with a tenure of 3 years from the date of allotment. The investment objective of the fund is to invest in stocks of companies comprising S&P CNX Nifty and endeavor to achieve return equivalent to Nifty by “passive” investment. The fund will be managed by replicating the index in the same weightage as in the S&P CNX Nifty Index with the intention of minimizing the performance difference between the fund and the S&P CNX Nifty Index in capital terms, subject to market liquidity, costs of trading, management expenses and other factors which may cause tracking error. The fund would alter the scrips/weights as and when the same are altered in the S&P CNX Nifty Index. The fund will allocate 95% to 100% of assets in equity and equity related instruments of S&P CNX Nifty. On the other hand, it would allocate up to 5% of assets in money market instruments. The fund will be managed by Mr. Kaushik Basu.

HDFC RGESS, JP Morgan Emerging Markets Opportunities Equity Offshore Fund, Baroda Pioneer Diversified Equity Fund, Birla Sun Life RGESS, ING Forward P/E Ratio Fund, and Axis Dynamic Balanced Fund are expected to be launched in the coming months.