IDBI Principal revamps schemes

S. Vaidya Nathan

IDBI Principal Mutual Fund is to revamp its Child I-Nit Plan.

The fund has decided to tag an insurance facility to the scheme in alliance with the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC). A complimentary insurance facility is to be offered along with the Child I-Nit Plan. The premium for the policy will be paid by the fund. The revamped scheme is to be launched shortly.

IDBI Principal is also to relaunch the Tax I-Nit 1996 scheme as an open-end fund. The IDBI Future Goal Series, which comprised an income fund, a growth fund, cash management and a balanced fund, has raised Rs 578 crore. IDBI Principal is a 50:50 joint venture between IDBI Investment Management Company and Principal Financial Services.

Bluechip dividend proposed: Kothari Pioneer Mutual Fund has proposed a dividend payable to all investors in the Dividend Option of its open-end growth fund, Bluechip Fund. The record date for the dividend is November 10. The ex-dividend date when the scheme will re-open for fresh sales and purchases is November 10. An exit load of 0.75 per cent will be levied on purchases made in the Dividend Plan between October 31 and November 10, and redeemed before January 31.

Birla MIP extended: Birla Mutual Fund has extended the initial offer period of Birla Monthly Income Plan up to November 17. The offer was earlier scheduled to close on November 10.

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MIP 95 (III) Maturity: The Unit Trust of India has announced that the Monthly Income Plan 95 (III) is maturing on December 31. The UTI has indicated that investors who have not given their bank account details should do so immediately to UTI-ISL.

Sales load cut: The UTI has cut the deferred sales charge under the UTI Bond Fund to 1 per cent and 0.50 per cent for repurchases made within three months, and between three and six months. This took effect from October 16. Prior to the change, the deferred sales charge was 1.50 per cent.

Monthly disclosure: The UTI will disclose 75 per cent of the portfolio of US-64 and the complete portfolio of all its other schemes on a monthly basis. The portfolio details are available on its Web site: www.unittrustofindia.com

Facilities suspended: The facility of transmission of units from one office of the UTI to another will be temporarily suspended from January 1 for a brief period. Any service under US-64 will also be suspended from this date. This is to facilitate the UTI's move towards an investor-centric database. During this suspension period, the UTI will accept inter-branch services, such as change of address and change in bank particulars for US-64.

India Growth Fund: The top ten holdings of the India Growth Fund as of September 30 were SSI, Satyam Computer, Hindustan Lever, Mastek, Infosys Technologies, Hero Honda, ITC, Reliance Industries, Zee Telefilms and NIIT. The Fund's investment adviser is Unit Trust of India Investment Advisory Services Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of the UTI. As of September 30, the Fund's ten largest equity holdings (in descending order), represented 50.8 per cent of net assets.

The India Growth Fund Inc., a non-diversified, closed-end management investment company seeking long-term capital appreciation through investments, primarily in equity securities of Indian companies. As of September 30, the fund had net assets of $150.75 million (September 30, 1999: $166.45 million) and NAV of $15.33 ($16.93). The number of shares outstanding was 9.83 million. The fund traded at a discount of 27.02 per cent to the NAV (30.23 per cent).

The fund has reported a net loss per share of $0.06 per share, against $0.01 in 1999. The net unrealised loss was $2.36 as against net unrealised gain of $3.37. As of September, the fund had 105.19 per cent of assets in equities and equity-related securities, 0.44 per cent in debt and a borrowing of 5.63 per cent of net assets.

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US-64 prices: The Unit Trust of India has fixed the sale price and repurchase price for US-64 at Rs 14 per unit and Rs 13.70 per unit respectively for October. These prices represent a 10-paise rise over the October prices.