Mahindra Mutual Fund eyes semi-urban India for growth

Mahindra Mutual Fund is betting on the semi-urban and rural markets which are under covered from financial investment perspective in India for growth and expansion.

According to Ashutosh Bishnoi, CEO and Managing Director, Mahindra Asset Management Company (MAMCPL), even in urban city like Mumbai, 50 per cent of the market is yet to be matured for investments.

The company is helping the customer understand the role of a specific mutual fund product in his or her life will be the key to inculcating an investment culture in its key markets. The combined mutual fund corpus was only 3-4% of the total savings.

In the current phase, it is expanding in the Northern and Western regions comprising Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Gujarat and Maharashtra. In the second phase, the company plans to expand base in the Southern and Eastern states of India.

"The mutual fund industry pre-dominantly concentrates on the top few cities in India. We chose to take the path less travelled, to tap into the savings and investment potential beyond urban India in the semi-urban and rural markets. Our approach revolves around educating the potential customer in our priority markets and explaining the investment opportunities to them in their own language, starting with the product names. Mahindra Mutual Fund Kar Bachat Yojana, is the first endeavor in that direction," Bishnoi said.

Mahindra Mutual Fund has launched an open ended equity linked savings scheme 'Kar Bachat Yojana' with three year lock-in period. The new fund offer opens on August 22 and closes on October 7, 2016. The scheme's performance will be bench marked against Nifty 200.

The investment objective of the scheme is to generate long-term capital appreciation through a diversified portfolio of equity and equity related securities. Earlier in July, the company has launched Mahindra Liquid Fund, an open ended liquid scheme, had touched an Assets Under Management (AUM) of 1000 crore as on July 31, 2016.

The company, a part of the diversified Mahindra Group, would also leverage the extensive presence of its parent company Mahindra Finance in the upcountry markets across the states.