Banks, Corporates Offloaded Us-64 Holdings In Apr-May

A slew of banks and corporates offloaded their US-64 holdings in April-May triggering large-scale redemptions of the unit. The list of financial intermediaries which sold their US-64 holdings includes Infrastructure Leasing and Finance Corporation (IL&FS), Infrastructure Development Finance Corpo- ration (IDFC), Bank of Baroda and Bank of India, besides a slew of public sector banks.

Telco, Bajaj Auto and Bombay Dyeing are some of the corporates which have redeemed their US-64 units. In the face of large outflow, UTI found an ally in IDBI which perked up its fund with it.

As for IDFC, a senior official said that the institution has redeemed its entire holding in US-64 of Rs 50 crore. "The redemption was to meet year-end obligations," the official added. It redeemed its units in February, well before others made a beeline to offload their holdings.

Sources said that IL&FS redeemed its US-64 holdings in three tranches during the past few months. They also added that Bombay Dyeing had redeemed its entire holding of more than Rs 200 crore in the last few months.

Bajaj Auto, which had more than 5 crore units of US-64, has sold off a part of its holding in the last few weeks. Telco redeemed its units worth around Rs 145 crore in May. Other corporates like Videocon and Indian Oil Corporation had liquidated their holdings in 1999-2000 itself.