Rare Mutual Fund schemes

The Indian mutual funds industry boasts a few unique schemes, which are not necessarily investment-worthy. We look at three. Kayezad E Adajania writes.

The Indian mutual funds industry boasts a few unique schemes, which are not necessarily investment-worthy. We look at three.

HT Image

Unit-linked insurance plans
LIC Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd offers LIC Nomura MF Unit Linked Insurance Scheme (ULIS) - an equity-oriented scheme that invests at least 65% in equity markets, while UTI Asset Management Co. Ltd offers UTI - Unit Linked Insurance Plan (UTI-ULIP) - a debt-oriented scheme investing at least 60% in debt markets; both at least a decade old. Due to a turf war between the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and the Insurance Regul-atory Development Authority, fund houses avoid launching such schemes.

Pension plans
Only two - Franklin Templeton's Templeton India Pension Plan and UTI AMC's UTI Retirement Benefit Pension Fund - are on offer, investing up to 40% in equities and the rest in debt. SEBI is encouraging MFs to launch pension-type products. In June, Reliance AMC Ltd filed a draft offer document of a pension-type plan.

PE ratio FOF
Though a few schemes do switch between equity and debt, only one fund of funds (FoF) scheme - FT India Dynamic PE Ratio Fund of Funds (FTDPEF) - switches between one equity scheme and one debt scheme, Franklin India Bluechip fund and Templeton India Income Fund. So far, the fund has a good track record.

Write to us
If you are having a problem with your financial product or need help
bizdesk@hindustantimes.com