NFO NEST

March 2016

NFOs of varied hues

There has been growing demand from retail investors for mutual fund products as the investor base touched a record high of 4.64 crore in January 2016. To tap the growing demand from retail investors, mutual fund houses have filed draft papers with market regulator SEBI to launch 16 New Fund Offers. Retirement, fixed maturity plan (FMP), and equity are some of the themes for which mutual fund houses have filed applications. DSP Black Rock MF, Tata MF, ICICI Prudential MF, DHFL Pramerica MF, and Indiabulls MF have filed for fixed maturity plan. In addition, Birla Sun Life MF has approached for banking ETF and ICICI Prudential has submitted the draft document for retirement fund. A total of 191 draft papers were filed last year with the capital markets watchdog.

NFOs of various hues adorn the March 2016 NFONEST.

Sundaram Hybrid Fund – Series P

Opens: March 8, 2016
Closes: March 22, 2016

Sundaram Mutual Fund has launched a new fund named as Sundaram Hybrid Fund - Series P, a close ended hybrid fund with the duration of 1300 days from the date of allotment of units. The objective of the fund would be to generate capital appreciation and current income, through a judicious mix of investments in equities and fixed income securities. The fund shall invest 55%-90% of assets in fixed income securities, up to 20% in money market instruments and cash equivalents with low to medium risk profile, and invest 10-45% in equity and equity related instruments with high risk profile. The fund's performance will be benchmarked against the mix of CRISIL Composite Bond Index (70%) and Nifty Fifty Index (30%). The fund will be managed by Siddharth Chaudhary and Shiv Chanani. Dwijendra Srivastava and S.Krishnakumar are co-fund managers.

DSP Blackrock Equity Savings Fund

Opens: March 8, 2016

Closes: March 22, 2016

DSP BlackRock Mutual Fund has launched the DSP BlackRock Equity Savings Fund, an open ended growth fund. The fund intends to generate long-term capital appreciation by investing a portion of its assets in equity and equity related instruments. It will also invest in fixed income securities and use arbitrage and other derivative strategies. When arbitrage opportunities are available and accessible, the fund’s total exposure to equity and equity related securities could vary between 65% and 75% of the total portfolio, of which, equity derivatives including Index Futures, Stock Futures, Stock Options, and Index Options could be between 25% and 55%. The fund’s exposure to debt and money market instruments could vary between 25% and 35% of the total portfolio. While the equity portion aims to provide capital growth, the arbitrage portion endeavours to capture mispricing opportunities. Further, the debt portion will provide stability in returns and likely low volatility. The fund would be treated as an equity-oriented fund for the purpose of taxation, which could provide better tax efficiency than debt funds. The fund is benchmarked against the Nifty 500 (30%) and Crisil Liquid Fund Index (70%). DSP BlackRock Equity Savings Fund will be managed by Vinit Sambre and Marzban Irani.

ICICI Prudential Capital Protection Oriented Fund – Series IX Plan F

Opens: March 15, 2016

Closes: March 28, 2016

ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund has launched a new fund named as ICICI Prudential Capital Protection Oriented Fund – Series IX Plan F, a close ended fund with the duration of 1120 days from the date of allotment of units. The fund seeks 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 is benchmarked against the Crisil Composite Bond (85%) and Nifty 50 (15%). The fund will be managed by Rahul Goswami, Chandni Gupta, Shalya Shah, and Vinay Sharma.

Sundaram Capital Protection Oriented Fund – Series 8 (5 years)

Opens: March 16, 2016

Closes: March 30, 2016

Sundaram Mutual Fund has launched a new fund named as Sundaram Capital Protection Oriented Fund - 5 Years - Series 8, a close ended capital protection oriented fund. The maturity period of the fund is 5 years from the date of allotment. The objective of this fund will be to seek income and minimise risk of capital loss by investing in a portfolio of fixed-income securities. The fund may invest a part of the assets in equity to seek capital appreciation. The fund will allocate 70%-100% of assets in fixed-income securities including money market instruments, if any with low to medium risk profile and invest up to 30% of assets in equity and equity related securities with high risk profile. The fund's performance will be benchmarked against CRISIL MIP Blended Index. The fund managers are Siddharth Chaudhary, Srividhya Rajesh, and S Bharath.

Kotak India Growth Fund Series 2 and 3 and DHFL Pramerica Money Market Fund are expected to be launched in the coming months.