'Lifestyle funds to grow'

Lifestyle funds, being floated by asset management companies, are expected to increase in number and size in the coming days owing to the rising income and consumption levels of people in India, according to Rama Mohan Rao, chief operating officer, UTI Asset Management Company Private Limited.

Speaking in connection with the launch of UTI-India Lifestyle Fund here on Monday, Rao said Lifestyle funds would yield more returns on a sustainable basis to the investors since the demand for consumer goods and lifestyle products is perennial, resulting in a consistent performance of stocks of those companies.

Referring to the already existing lifestyle funds floated by Kotak and others, Rao said there was scope for more such funds as has happened in the case of infrastructure funds.

"UTI first launched the infrastructure fund and others followed to reach the total size of infrastructure fund to around Rs 15,000 crore," he added.

UTI AMC has shortlisted the stocks of close to 250 companies in the lifestyle space and would try to bring more returns to the investors in its new fund compared with the competition, he said.

According to him, the company is looking at a corpus of Rs 2,000 crore for the Lifestyle Fund, which opened on Monday.