Mf Newsline

Pioneer ITI has launched an open-end Index Fund. The fund will have two plans which will replicate the portfolio with Nifty and BSE Sensex. This will take the number of passive index trackers to seven. The five existing funds - UTI Master Index, UTI Nifty, Franklin India Index, Franklin India Index Tax and IDBI Principal Index (Nifty) together manage Rs. 565 crore as on July 31, 2001.

The fund will provide returns similar to that delivered by the respective indices. It aims to keep the tracking error in the range of +/-2% by keeping the expenses as minimum as possible and will consider investing in index derivatives to reduce impact costs. The initial issue of the scheme will open for investment for one day on August 27, 2001. The scheme is available for subscriptions on an ongoing basis from August 28, 2001. Both BSE Sensex Plan and Nifty Plan offer a choice of growth and dividend options. The dividend option also offers reinvestment facility.

Prudential ICICI Mutual Fund has announced changes in its schemes which have come into effect from August 20, 2001. The load structure for Liquid Plan and Income Plan has changed. Prudential ICICI Liquid Plan has become a no load fund, the CDSC has been withdrawn.

In case of Prudential ICICI Income Plan now an exit load of 0.50% will be charged for redemptions upto Rs five lakh made within six months of the investment and a load of 0.25% will be charged for redemptions greater than Rs five lakhs but made within three months. Some changes have also been made in the Systematic Investment Plans of the Growth and Income Plan. Now the investors opting for a Monthly SIP in these two schemes need to invest a minimum amount of Rs 1000 and six post-dated cheques of Rs 750 each and those opting for a Quarterly SIP need to invest a minimum of Rs 1000 and four post-dated cheques of Rs 1000 each. The applicable NAV in case of subscription to the Prudential ICICI Liquid Plan would be the previous day