Monday, March 14, 2011

Reliance Gold Fund sees record applications:

Anil Ambani group firm Reliance Mutual Fund on Tuesday said that its new Gold Savings Fund has got applications from over two lakh investors - a record for any new fund offer (NFO) - with actual investments and firm commitments worth Rs 4,000 crore.

The country's first gold savings fund, which enables investments in gold without any locker or demat account, opened on February 14 and closed on February 28.

The new fund is different from gold ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds) that require subscribers to have a demat account. It also offered investors the option to invest as little as Rs 100 per month, Reliance MF said.

The fund house, the largest in the country, said in a statement that it received over two lakh applications for the Reliance Gold Fund.

The fund also registered the largest number of applicants for any NFO till date under the Systematic Investment Plan (SIP), wherein investors can put in an amount as low as Rs 100 every month rather than putting in a lump sum amount.

Commenting on the development, Reliance MF CEO Sundeep Sikka said: "Through SIPs, we have a commitment of Rs 350 crore every year for the next 10 years, thereby locking in about Rs 3,500 crore. This is in addition to the lump sum investment of close to Rs 500 crore."

"Going by the encouraging response, I am sure we would see more of such product offerings from the industry participants," Sikka added.

Close on the heel of Reliance Gold Savings Fund being announced, Kotak Mutual Fund also announced a gold fund, which opened for subscription on March 4 and closes on March 18.

The allocation of investment in the Reliance Gold Savings Fund would be completed by March 14, after which the scheme would reopen for investments.

Sikka said that the robust response to the fund indicates that gold could emerge as one of the largest asset classes for the Indian MF industry.

A part of Anil Ambani group's financial services arm Reliance Capital, Reliance Capital Asset Management is the country's largest fund house and manages assets worth $24 billion across mutual funds, pension funds, managed accounts and hedge funds.
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Source : BT

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