Quant Mutual's clients pull $168 million in three days after Sebi probe

By Ashutosh Joshi
 

Quant Mutual Fund said clients pulled about $168 million in three days through Wednesday after the rising star of India’s fund industry was ensnared in a probe by the nation’s markets regulator.

The redemptions amount to 1.5 per cent of assets, Sandeep Tandon, the firm’s founder and chief executive officer, said in a video call with investors late Wednesday. “The work at Quant Mutual Fund is as normal as it has been, apart from the data points asked by the regulator.”

The client withdrawals are among the first indicators of the probe’s impact. The Securities and Exchange Board of India is reviewing alleged front-running trades by Quant Mutual Fund employees, Bloomberg News reported earlier this week, citing people familiar with the matter.

The Mumbai-based asset manager, one of the fastest growing mutual funds in India, has seen its assets soar lately to Rs 93,000 crore ($11.1 billion) from Rs 240 crore in 2019. 

Tandon said the fund has received inquiries from the regulator and is fully complying with the requests. While he didn’t give details about the requests, Tandon said that such regulatory visits or inspections are a “part of life” for the fund industry and “in the past two years multiple mutual funds have got something similar.”

The regulator has not charged Quant or any of its employees, Tandon added. Quant’s portfolio consists of liquid investments, which including large-cap stocks, cash and treasury bills, he said.