Mutual funds line up 34 New Fund Offers led by positive market rally

Mutual fund companies have lined up nearly three dozen New Fund Offers (NFO) and have filed draft documents for them with market regulator Sebi pursuant to a rally in the stock market.

The documents for 34 New Fund Offers (NFOs) have been submitted with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) since the beginning of the year and the schemes will be opened for subscription soon after the necessary clearances.

Of these 34, two draft offers have been filed so far this month, while 19 papers submitted in February and the other 13 were filed in January.

Some of these NFOs have already been launched after getting regulatory clearances.

ICICI Prudential MF, Reliance MF, SBI MF, UTI MF and HDFC MF are among the fund houses that are offering NFOs to investors.

A large number of these schemes are aimed at investment in equity and equity-related securities.

Manufacturing, retirement, economic recovery, resurgence of the business cycle and e-commerce are some of the themes that are attracting mutual fund houses.

A number of fund houses are expected to come up with more schemes that will invest in equity and equity-related securities to take benefit from the rising stock market.

According to market participants, MF houses are rushing towards Sebi to launch new schemes on account of good response received from investors in the recent fund launches.

Also, they said that the NFO market has picked up as the investors' confidence about equity markets is back and participation from retail investors is also on the upswing.

The benchmark BSE Sensex has risen by 7% this year so far.