NFO NEST

September 2015

The NFO deluge …

With rising demand from retail investors for mutual fund schemes, the draft papers by fund houses filed with capital markets regulator SEBI for launching NFOs have gone as high as 100 since January 2015. UTI MF, Axis MF, ICICI Prudential MF, Birla Sunlife MF, and SBI MF are among the fund houses that are offering NFOs to investors. A large number of these schemes are aimed at investment in equity and equity-related securities. Besides, the schemes are focused on debt fund, hybrid fund, and Fixed Maturity Plan. Manufacturing, economic recovery, resurgence of the business cycle, e-commerce and retirement, are some of the themes that are attracting mutual fund houses. The NFO market has picked up as the investors' confidence about equity markets is back and participation from retail investors is also on the upswing. But fund investors should give NFOs a wide berth and invest only in funds with a good track record. 

Kotak Capital Protection Oriented Fund Series 1

Opens: September 7, 2015

Closes: September 21, 2015

Kotak Capital Protection Oriented Scheme Series 1 offers an investment solution that seeks capital protection by investing a large portion of the portfolio in highest rated debt securities and money market instruments while the balance is invested in equity to provide capital appreciation. It is a close ended scheme with a maturity of 1101 days, which is 3.02 years. The fund has been designed for conservative investors who look for capital appreciation associated with equity investments but have low risk appetite on the capital. To hedge against market volatility, this fund will pick growth oriented stocks available at reasonable valuations, which are now available in plenty after market correction while putting the greater share in higher rated debt instruments. With a two pronged investment strategy, the fund will invest in debt and money market securities as well as equity. The fund is benchmarked against CRISIL Composite Bond Fund Index (80pc) and CNX Nifty (20pc). The fund managers are Abhishek Bisen (debt) and Deepak Gupta (equity).

DSPBR Dual Advantage Fund – Series 39

Opens: September 7, 2015

Closes: September 21, 2015

DSP BlackRock Mutual Fund has launched a new fund named as DSP BlackRock Dual Advantage Fund - Series 39, a closed ended income fund. The primary investment objective of the fund is to generate returns and seek capital appreciation by investing in a portfolio of debt and money market securities. The fund also seeks to invest a portion of the portfolio in equity and equity related securities to achieve capital appreciation. As far as investments in debt and money market securities are concerned, the fund will invest only in securities which mature on or before the date of maturity of the fund. The fund shall invest 50-95% in debt securities, up to 15% in money market securities with low to medium risk profile and 5-35% in equity and equity related securities with high risk profile. Benchmark Index for the fund will be CRISIL MIP Blended Index. The fund will be managed by Dhawal Dalal (debt portion) and Vinit Sambre (equity portion).

SBI Dual Advantage Fund – Series XI

Opens: September 8, 2015

Closes: September 22, 2015

SBI Mutual Fund has unveiled a new fund named as SBI Dual Advantage Fund - Series XI, a close ended hybrid fund. The tenure of the fund is 1111 days from the date of allotment. The primary investment objective of the fund is to generate income by investing in a portfolio of fixed income securities maturing on or before the maturity of the fund. The secondary objective is to generate capital appreciation by investing a portion of the fund corpus in equity and equity related instruments. The fund will invest 55%-95% of assets in debt and debt related instruments, invest up to 10% of assets in money market instruments with low to medium risk profile and invest 5%-35% of assets in equity and equity related instruments including derivatives with high risk profile. Benchmark Index for the fund is CRISIL MIP Blended Fund Index. Rajeev Radhakrishnan shall manage debt portion and Richard D'souza shall manage investments in equity & equity related instruments of the fund.

ICICI Prudential Business Cycle Fund – Series 1

Opens: September 18, 2015

Closes: September 30, 2015

ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund has launched the ICICI Prudential Business Cycle Fund-Series 1, a close ended growth fund. The investment objective of the fund is to provide capital appreciation by predominantly investing in equity and equity related securities with focus on riding business cycles through dynamic allocation between various sectors and stocks. The fund’s performance will be benchmarked against S&P BSE 500 Index and its fund managers are Mrinal Singh, Pushpinder Singh, and Shalya Shah.

Birla Sunlife Focused Equity Fund – Series 6

Opens: September 7, 2015

Closes: October 1, 2015

Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund has launched a new fund as Birla Sun Life Focused Equity Fund – Series 6, a close ended equity fund investing in eligible securities as per Rajiv Gandhi Equity Savings Scheme, 2013. The investment objective of the fund is to generate capital appreciation, from a portfolio of equity securities specified as eligible securities for Rajiv Gandhi Equity Savings Scheme, 2013 (RGESS). The scheme shall invest 95-100% in equity securities specified as eligible securities for RGESS with medium to high risk profile and invest up to 5% of assets in cash and cash equivalents and money market instruments with low risk profile. The fund shall invest in money market instruments as defined under SEBI (MF) regulations with residual maturity of less than or equal to 91 days. The benchmark Index for the fund will be CNX 100. The fund manager will be Anil Shah.

Kotak India Growth Fund Series II

Opens: September 22, 2015

Closes: October 6, 2015

Kotak Mutual Fund has launched a new fund as Kotak India Growth Fund Series - II, a 3 year close ended equity fund. The investment objective of the fund is to generate capital appreciation from a diversified portfolio of equity and equity related instruments across market capitalization and sectors. The tenure of the fund is 3 years after the date of allotment. The fund would invest 80-100% in equity and equity related securities with medium to high risk profile and invest up to 20% of assets in debt and money market securities with low risk profile. The fund is benchmarked against CNX 200. The fund manager will be Harish Krishnan.

HSBC Global Estate Equity Fund, BOI AXA Hybrid Midcap Fund, HDFC Equity Opportunities Fund, Indiabulls Relative Value Fund, Union KBC Focused Largecap Fund, Axis Active Equity Allocation Fund, UTI Sensex ETF, UTI Nifty ETF, Kotak Arbitrage Plus Fund, Pramerica Focused Equity Fund, Canara Robeco Retirement & Pension Solution, Axis Focused Bluechip Fund, HDFC Nifty ETF, IIFL Equity Income Fund, HDFC Focused 25 Fund, Sundaram Equity Savings Fund, IDBI Prudence Fund, Pramerica Dynamic Gilt Fund, Mirae Asset Tax Saver Fund, L & T Index Fund, JP Morgan India Focus Fund, JP Morgan India Value Fund, IDBI Nifty ETF, HDFC Banking ETF, Kotak Dynamic Equity Fund, LIC Nomura MF ETF – CNX Nifty, LIC Nomura MF ETF - Sensex, LIC Nomura MF ETF – Nifty Junior, LIC Nomura MF ETF – Banking, Kotak Equity Advantage Fund, DSP BlackRock Cash Manager Fund, and Tata India Fund are expected to be launched in the coming months.