Suyash: Still with Fidelity terms reports of move to UTI speculative

Ashu Suyash, managing director & country head, FIL Fund Management Pvt Ltd, said she continues to hold her current position, in the wake of reports of her moving to a rival fund house.

“I can confirm that I have not put in my papers at Fidelity. The news regarding my move is entirely speculative,” Suyash said in an email response to a questionnaire sent by Business Standard today.

A spokesperson for Fidelity said, “Ashu Suyash is very much with Fidelity and we cannot comment further on rumours and speculation.”

A chartered accountant, Suyash spent most of her initial professional years at Citigroup before moving to set up the India operations of Fidelity in 2005. She has seen the fund house go from zero to Rs 9,500 crore in assets under management.

Media reports had suggested she could take a diluted CEO position at UTI Asset Management Co. US-based T Rowe Price, which took a 26 per cent stake in UTI AMC, is said to be in favour of a professional CEO. State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda and Life Insurance Corporation control the remaining stake.

The top post at UTI AMC has been vacant for several months, after the former chief, U K Sinha, left the AMC to take charge as chairman of the Securities and Exchange Board of India in February. Egon Zhender, a global head hunting firm, was appointed soon after.

The names it suggested did not get clearance. UTI then appointed a committee comprising its board members to find a new chief for the AMC, agreeable to all stakeholders.

Prithvi Haldea, who was part of this committee, resigned last month, citing personal reasons. The committee and some representatives from the shareholders met some prospective candidates on Saturday. While the search committee had recommended some professionals from the financial services industry with prior experience in handling big funds, the government-owned institutions which together hold 74 per cent in the company are said to be in favour of a member of the civil services for the position.

Reports also suggested a compromise formula, to have two people, a civil servant and a professional, sharing responsibilities at the top.

Traditionally, UTI MF had been control by civil service CEOs, even after the government divested its stake to the four public sector institutions. This is the first time the top post became vacant after the entry of a strategic foreign investor.

U K Sinha and his predecessor, M Damodaran, were both part of the Indian Administrative Service.

UTI MF's assets under management had shrunk by 10 per cent in the past three months to Rs 62,580 crore, according to the Association of Mutual Funds in India