Some MFs miffed as Amfi kept them in dark on Maruti panel

Panel is formed to discuss Maruti's plans to set up its Gujarat plant as a fully-owned arm of its Japanese parent Suzuki

Some mutual fund houses are piqued at being kept in the dark about setting up a committee by their industry association Association of Mutual Funds of India to discuss the common stand on Maruti's controversial plan to set up a plant in Gujarat, industry sources said here today.

The AMFI panel has been formed to discuss Maruti's plans to set up its Gujarat plant as a fully-owned arm of its Japanese parent Suzuki as well as take a common position on similar cases where minority shareholders' interests are involved.

After Maruti rejected mutual funds' demand not go ahead with the Gujarat plan and instead hold an extraordinary general body meeting later this month, the Association of Mutual Funds of India (AMFI) had set up a panel to take a common mutual fund industry position on the issue.

As many as seven MFs hold 6.5% stake in the country's largest car maker, while LIC holds 6.83%.

Some fund houses felt that AMFI should have informed them about the decision to form the panel on the issue. They have contended that the committee's decision would not be binding on them while using their voting rights.

SBI Mutual Fund, which holds some stake in Maruti-Suzuki and has been kept out of the process, has been very critical about the manner in which the AMFI board constituted the committee.

Though the talks were on among mutual fund houses about formation of the committee for quite some time, many fund houses were not informed about the decision to set up the committee, the SBI MF said.

"Normally we are informed about any such decisions taken by the AMFI. However, this time we didn't receive any communication from the association. Once we get some mail from AMFI in this connection, we will definitely take a call on whether to raise a questions about the issue," SBI MF Managing Director and Chief Executive Dinesh Khara told PTI.