Page 14 - Banking Finance September 2024

MUTUAL FUND

Insider trading norms for

MFs effective from Nov 1
Nearly two years after they were no-
tified, insider trading regulations for
mutual funds (MF) will finally come into
force from November 1 this year. Such
rules currently apply only to securities Ò»©­
of listed companies or those proposed
to be listed.
SEBI had issued a consultation paper on
applying insider norms to mutual funds
units in July 2022, followed by a notifi-
cation in November. The delays in en-
forcing the law were mainly due to the formation (UPSI), which may have a LIC Mutual Fund, and 360 One Mutual
industry pushback and operational material impact on the net asset value Fund have filed for one fund each.
hurdles in setting up common stan- of a scheme or on the interest of the
dards. unit holders. Axis Mutual Fund laun-

The new norms will require MFs to cre-
ate a structured digital database (SDD) 7 mutual funds filed draft ches Axis Consumption
containing the nature of unpublished documents with Sebi Fund
price sensitive information, a separate Around seven mutual funds have filed Axis Mutual Fund has announced the
code of conduct for employees and draft documents with Sebi recently to launch of Axis Consumption Fund, an
additional disclosures - increasing com-
launch eight new funds. Axis Mutual open-ended equity scheme following
pliance burden significantly. Fund has filed draft for two funds, the consumption theme.
No "insider" can trade in units of a WhiteOak Capital Mutual Fund, The new fund offer or NFO of the
mutual fund scheme when in posses- Groww Mutual Fund, ICICI Prudential scheme will open for subscription on
sion of unpublished price sensitive in- Mutual Fund, Edelweiss Mutual Fund, August 23 and will close on September
6. The scheme will reopen for continu-
Mutual fund monthly SIP is Rs 23,000 crore or Rs ous sale and repurchase within five
business days from the date of allot-
9,000 crore ment.

Amid reports that the net SIP inflow into mutual funds was just Rs 8,964 The scheme will be benchmarked
crore as against the gross SIP inflow of Rs 23,332 crore, the Association of against Nifty India Consumption TRI.
Mutual Funds in India (AMFI) CEO Venkat Chalasani clarified that the two The fund will be managed by Hitesh
figures should not be compared as it won't be an apple-to-apple compari- Das, Shreyash Devalkar, and Krishnaa
son.
Narayan.
"I'm not saying that redemptions should not be taken into cognizance at
The investment objective of the
all. All I'm saying is how to read the numbers. We take gross flows because
scheme is to provide long term capital
this is the sum total of small investments that come in. Redemptions hap- appreciation from an actively managed
pen in bulk of what has been accumulated over long periods of time," portfolio of equity and equity related
Chalasani told reporters over a call.
securities of companies engaged in
Every month, AMFI releases monthly SIP investment data which has gross consumption and consumption related
numbers. Critics often cite net inflows, which takes into account redemp- sectors or allied sectors.
tions as well, to indicate that the mutual fund industry could be window-
The fund aims to provide a diversified
dressing the SIP inflow numbers.
portfolio that reflects the broad spec-

BANKING FINANCE | SEPTEMBER | 2024 | 13