NFO papers filed by mutual funds surge to 130 in 2015

16 draft papers filed in August alone, most schemes aimed at investment in equity and equity-related securities

With growing demand from retail investors for mutual fund (MF) schemes, the draft documents filed by fund houses with capital markets regulator Sebi for launching New Fund Offers (NFOs) have gone as high as 130 since January.

Most of these schemes are aimed at investment in equity and equity-related securities.

Besides, the products are focused on diversified funds, exchange traded funds, tax-saver funds and arbitrage schemes.

According to latest update, the documents for 130 NFOs have been submitted with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) since the beginning of 2015.

Of this, 16 draft papers have been filed this month alone.

LIC Nomura MF has filed for five Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) schemes based on Sensex, CNX Nifty, Nifty Junior, CNX 100 and banking.

In addition, JP Morgan has approached for JP Morgan India Focus Fund and JP Morgan India Value Fund, IDBI MF has submitted the draft document for IDBI Nifty ETF and IDBI Prudence Fund and HDFC MF has filed HDFC Banking ETF.

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.

In the past one year, several funds gave more than the index returns. This has brought retail investors' interest back into equities and they started participating through mutual funds, market participants added.