Old Faces Move Out As Uti Reshuffles Portfolios

Large-scale transfer and reshuffling of key portfolios have changed the face of the senior management of the Unit Trust of India. Six of its eight executive directors (EDs) have either moved out or are in the process of moving out since M Damodaran took over as chairman in the aftermath of the unceremonious exit of former UTI chairman PS Subramanyam.

The senior most executive director, KG Vassal, was shifted to head the UTI Institute of Capital Markets in Navi Mumbai.

He had held fort as the acting executive trustee for a few days before Damodaran took over as chairman. BG Daga, who is in charge of business development and markets, recently sought voluntary retirement to join as managing director of the Central Depository Services.

Two other senior executive directors, MM Kapur and SK Basu, were suspended for their alleged involvement in the Cyberspace deal. Kapur passed away last month. Another senior ED, AK Thakur, retired before Damodaran took over while AN Palwankar, who was on deputation as advisor to the UTI Institute of Capital Market and in charge of investors' relations, retired on August 31.

DSR Murthy, one of the two existing executive directors, is now in charge of the department of investments (primary markets) in equity and debt. This involves handling assets worth about Rs 5,000 crore.

In addition, Murthy is in charge of the department of funds management (equity schemes). In that capacity, he heads all fund managers. This job involves handling over Rs 20,000 crore of investors' funds. He is also in charge of international finance and ventures, in addition to his existing responsibilities of fund accounting.

Another executive director, BS Pandit, in addition to his existing responsibilities, is now also head of the department of funds management (debt schemes and US-64) and money market operations.

There have also been several changes at the chief general manager (CGM) level too. SK Dasgupta, who was handling marketing in the western region, has been shifted to Chennai. He was initially replaced by SK Saha. But Saha was later shifted to Calcutta and AG Joshi took charge of marketing operations.

PC Gupta, who was transferred to Delhi last year, has come back to the UTI headquarters after a year and taken charge of investors' services.

Another chief general manager, PP Shastri, is now in charge of research and planning. SS Naik, who was in charge of research and planning till recently, now heads the western zone.

The list of CGMs posted at the headquarters includes SS Hedge (heading internal audit and compliance), JS Mascarenhas (international), M Paremeshwar (administration and HRD), Ajit Prasad (NPA management) and Ravi Kumar (accounts).

Some of the CGMs including Hedge and Prasad directly report to Damodaran. The practice of CGMs directly reporting to the chairman was put in place by former chairman Subramanyam.