Ethical’ funding postpones launch

JANUARY 31: The fund with a conscience''--the JM Heritage Fund has postponed its scheduled launch on February 6 by a month because of th...

JANUARY 31: The “fund with a conscience”–the JM Heritage Fund has postponed its scheduled launch on February 6 by a month because of the Gujarat earthquake.

Explained Krishnamurthy Vijayan, CEO of JM Capital Management, “We have postponed the launch since it would have meant organising a series of events giving it a celebratory spirit. We thought it prudent to postpone it in view of the Gujarat tragedy.” Besides, a majority of the investers are expected to be from the Jain community, as the fund is based on the principles of ahimsa’ expressly barring investment in businesses connected with meat, meatpackaging, sericulture and aquaculture. The fund has also barred investments in liquor and tobacco companies, the hospitality industry and in pesticides. It is in the process of carefully screening pharmacuetical and cosmetic companies.

According to Krishnamurthy the companies are being vetted to ensure they do not test their products on animals. They have enlisted the help of Beauty Without Cruelty, an animal welfare organisation based in Pune.Krishnamurthy was confident that the market was not restricted to Gujarat. “The JM Heritage fund is bound to attract people from Punjab since it does not invest in tobacco companies,” he added, explaining there is an increasing concern worldwide among investors with strong personal and religious beliefs against investing in funds that go against their beliefs. The fund was meant to tap these investors.

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The launch of the funds meant to concide with the 2600th birth anniversy of Lord Mahavira hopes to provide a medium risk investment vehicle for individuals, temple trusts and religious institutes, who would otherwise avoid investments since they violated their staunch ethical standards.

Besides, the funds will definitely attract the growing army of animal rights activists in India. “We expect an initial investment of Rs 150 crore,”said Krishnamurthy, adding that the fund would be launched just after the budget. The investment strategy of the fund is conservative and aims at providing good and consistent returns. The history of such niche investment dates back to the Vietnam war when some fund mangement companies in the US barreed investment in war-related businesses. Since then the market for niche investment funds has seen a healthy growth especially abroad where ethical funds have attracted good investments.