NFO NEST

December 2016

Equity NFOs reduced to one-third in 2016

After two consecutive years of high number of new fund offers (NFOs) in the equity segment, India's mutual fund industry has seen a substantial decline in new launches. With stricter norms on the commission structure, rising preferences among investors for existing funds with a performance of track record, regulator's tough stance on merger of similar schemes, and more importantly a lack of a strong stock market rally put together have taken a toll on new offerings.

ICICI Prudential Capital Protection Oriented Fund – Series XI Plan B

Opens: December 6, 2016

Closes: December 20, 2016

ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund has launched the ICICI Prudential Capital Protection Oriented Fund-Series XI-Plan B 1222 Days, a close ended income fund. The investment objective of the fund is to protect capital by investing a portion of the portfolio in highest rated debt securities and money market instruments and also to provide capital appreciation by investing the balance in equity and equity related securities. The debt securities would mature on or before the maturity of the fund. The fund’s performance will be benchmarked against CRISIL Composite Bond Fund Index (85%) and Nifty 50 Index (15%) and its fund managers are Vinay Sharma, Rahul Goswami, Chandni Gupta, and Ihab Dalwai.

SBI Dual Advantage Fund – Series XVIII

Opens: December 7, 2016

Closes: December 21, 2016

SBI Mutual Fund has unveiled a new fund named as SBI Dual Advantage Fund - Series XVIII, a close ended hybrid fund. The tenure of the fund is 1211 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 upto 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 Ruchit Mehta shall manage investments in equity and equity related instruments of the fund.

Sundaram Select Micro cap Fund – Series 11

Opens: December 8, 2016

Closes: December 22, 2016

Sundaram Mutual Fund has launched a new fund named as Sundaram Select Micro cap Fund - Series 11, a close ended equity fund. The tenure of the fund is 4 years from the date of allotment of units. The investment objective of the fund is to provide capital appreciation by investing primarily in equity and equity related securities of companies that can be termed as microcaps. A company whose market capitalisation is equal to or lower than that of the 301st stock by market cap on the NSE at the time of investment will be considered to be in micro-cap category. Benchmark Index for the fund is S&P BSE Small Cap Index. The fund managers will be S. Krishna Kumar and Dwijendra Srivastava.

BNP Paribas Enhanced Arbitraged Fund

Opens: December 8, 2016

Closes: December 22, 2016

BNP Paribas Mutual Fund has launched the BNP Paribas Enhanced Arbitrage Fund, an open ended growth fund. The investment objective of the fund is to generate income and capital appreciation by investing in a combination of diversified portfolio of equity and equity related instruments, including use of equity derivatives strategies and arbitrage opportunities with exposure in debt and fixed income instruments. The fund will invest a minimum of 90% in equities, equity related instruments and derivatives and a minimum of 10% in debt securities and money market instruments with maturity of up to 91 days. The fund’s performance will be benchmarked against CRISIL Liquid Fund Index and its fund managers are Karthikraj Lakshmanan and Mayank Prakash.

Axis Emerging Opportunities Fund – Series 1

Opens: December 9 , 2016

Closes: December 23, 2016

Axis Mutual Fund has launched the Axis Emerging Opportunities Fund-Series 1 (1400 Days), a close ended growth fund. The investment objective of the fund is to generate long term capital appreciation by investing in a diversified portfolio of equity and equity related instruments of midcap companies. The fund’s performance will be benchmarked against S&P BSE Midcap Index and its fund managers are Jinesh Gopani and Anupam Tiwari.

IDFC Balanced Fund  

Opens: December 12 , 2016

Closes: December 26, 2016

IDFC Mutual Fund has launched a new fund named as IDFC Balanced Fund, an open ended balanced fund. The investment objective of the fund is to generate long term capital appreciation and current income from a portfolio that is invested in equity and equity related securities as well as in fixed income securities. The fund will allocate 30% to 60% of assets in equity and equity related instruments, invest 5%-35% of assets in Net Equity Arbitrage Exposure with medium to high risk profile, and invest 35% - 60% of assets in debt securities and money market instruments with low to medium risk profile. Benchmark Index for the fund is CRISIL Balanced Fund Index. The fund managers are Punam Sharma (equity portion) & Anurag Mittal (debt portion).

Reliance CPSE ETF, Sundaram Arbitrage Fund, Axis Corporate Debt Opportunities Fund, and IDFC BFSI Fund are expected to be launched in the coming months.