Investor confidence still high; UTI plan mobilises Rs 200cr

It looks like investor confidence in the Unit Trust of India (UTI) still remains high. At least, the mobilised numbers for the clone of UTI’s monthly income plan — Regular Income Scheme (RIS) — seems to indicate. The RIS, which opened for subscription from September 11 and closed on October 12 has mobilised close to Rs 200 crore.

	Jaswant Singh, former fms to clarify before jpc in November
NEW DELHI: Finance minister Jaswant Singh, his predecessors Yashwant Sinha, P. Chidambaram and Manmohan Singh will be appearing before the Joint Parliamentary Committee looking into the stock scam and the temporary freeze on UTI’s flagship us-64 scheme during its meetings to be held between November 6 and November 9. Asked whether Singh and the former ministers would be quizzed during the hearing, jpc chairman Prakash Mani Tripathi told PTI that “we will only be seeking clarifications from them before finishing the spadework for completion of the report. We have virtually received all the reports including the ones from the Sebi and the future meetings will be to finetune the draft report”, Tripathi said. (PTI)

The important aspect of the scheme is that it is the first scheme of UTI, under the tenure of M. Damodaran, the current chairman and also the first scheme of UTI, since the last one-and-half years. UTI’s last scheme hit the market in March, 2001.

Damodaran, said: “The response for RIS was good and the mobilisation amount shows that investors are back with UTI. The mobilisation amount was close to Rs 200 crore. The response augurs good as the money was mobilised in a very difficult market conditions and under the backdrop of looming uncertainty with regard to splitting UTI”, adding: “The confidence of investors in RIS is basically on the back of overall good performance by the fund”.

The government, along with a lifeline of Rs 14,500 plus, proposes to split UTI into two separate entities— called UTI-I and UTI-II. UTI-I would comprise US-64, the flagship scheme of UTI and all the assured return schemes while UTI-II, on the other hand, would comprise the ‘healthy’ part of UTI and would house the NAV-linked schemes.

Damodaran said: “RIS differs from the existing (MIP’s). Firstly, it is a non-assured returns scheme and the structure of the portfolio is also different to the existing MIP’s of UTI”.

The scheme can invest to a maximum of 10 per cent in equity and a minimum of zero and it can only invest in index dedicated stocks—the 50-share S&P CNX Nifty and the 30-share, BSE Sensex.