Page 16 - Banking Finance April 2025

MUTUAL FUND

Highlighting the affordability and sim- ings include the ICICI Prudential Nifty even as a majority of funds managed
plicity of SIPs, Shah remarked, "We can EV & New Age Automotive ETF, an to generate alpha during the month.
call it 'Choti Rakam - Bada Kadam,'" open-ended exchange-traded fund
reflecting the belief that small invest- that tracks the Nifty EV & New Age Tata Mutual Fund Intro-
ments can pave the way for significant Automotive Index, and a fund-of-fund
financial progress. (FOF) variant for investors without duces BSE Quality Index
Demat accounts. Fund
SBI Mutual Fund Rolls Out The new fund offer (NFO) for the ETF Tata Mutual Fund has launched the
Two PSU Bank-Based Pas- will be open from March 21 to April 2, Tata BSE Quality Index Fund, a factor-
while the FOF NFO will be available based index fund designed to track
sive Funds from March 28 to April 10. These high-quality companies with robust fi-

SBI Mutual Fund has launched two schemes aim to offer investors expo- nancial metrics. The fund's New Fund
passive schemes based on the BSE PSU sure to emerging trends in the evolv- Offer (NFO) is open for subscription
Bank Index-SBI BSE PSU Bank Index ing automotive industry. and will close on March 28.
Fund and SBI BSE PSU Bank ETF. Both This scheme aims to replicate the BSE
offerings aim to replicate the perfor- 54% Equity Mutual Funds Quality Index, which comprises 30 top

mance of the BSE PSU Bank Index, Beat Benchmarks in Febru- companies selected based on param-
which tracks India's public sector bank- eters such as high return on equity, low
ing sector. While the index fund targets ary Despite AUM Drop leverage, and strong earnings quality.
retail investors seeking SIP-based in- According to a study by PL Wealth
According to the fund house, the offer-
vestments, the ETF is suitable for inves- Management, 54% of equity mutual ing is intended to provide investors
tors with Demat accounts. The funds outperformed their respective with consistent long-term returns by
schemes aim to offer returns in line benchmarks in February 2025. Out of investing in companies that demon-
with the total returns of the underly- 294 total schemes, 159 delivered re- strate strong profitability and opera-
ing index, subject to tracking error. turns above their benchmarks. Despite tional efficiency.
this positive performance, the total
ICICI Prudential Launches assets under management (AUM) for
equity mutual funds-excluding sectoral SEBI partners with Digi-
Nifty EV & New Age Auto- and thematic funds-fell by 6.97%, from Locker to tackle unclaimed
motive Thematic Funds Rs. 24.85 lakh crore in January to Rs.
23.12 lakh crore in February. assets, streamline demat
ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund has intro-
duced two new passive schemes fo- The decline in AUM highlights the im- access
cused on the electric vehicle (EV) and pact of recent market volatility on in- SEBI partnered with DigiLocker, a gov-
new-age automotive sector. The offer- vestor sentiment and fund valuations, ernment backed digital document stor-
age platform, to reduce unclaimed
Distributors Recommend 'Loans Against MFs' Amid assets in the Indian securities market
and enhance investor protection.
Market Decline
The initiative will help investors store
As equity mutual fund values decline due to recent market volatility, distribu- and access information on their demat
tors are encouraging investors to explore the 'loan against mutual funds' fa- and mutual fund holdings through
cility instead of redeeming their investments. Traditionally cautious about in- DigiLocker, benefiting investors and
vestor borrowing, distributors now view this option as a way to help clients their families.
manage short-term liquidity needs without liquidating long-term holdings.
Under this, DigiLocker users can now
This strategy benefits both investors and distributors-investors retain their
fetch and store their statement of
investment positions, potentially gaining from future recovery, while distribu- holdings for shares and mutual fund
tors maintain assets under management (AUM) and continue to earn com-
units from their demat accounts, along
mission fees from fund houses. The shift reflects a pragmatic approach to with their Consolidated Account State-
preserving wealth during volatile market conditions. ment (CAS), SEBI said in a circular.

BANKING FINANCE | APRIL | 2025 | 15