New facilities introduced by fund houses
Baroda Pioneer Mutual Fund has decided that investors who subscribe to any of its open-ended schemes through systematic investment plan (SIP) facility from January 1, 2012 will be offered the option of holding units in demat form. Units subscribed to in this format will be credited to investors' demat account on a weekly basis upon realization of funds.
Escorts Mutual Fund has decided to offer holding units in demat form for SIP for some of its schemes from January 1, 2012. The schemes are: Escorts Income Bond, Escorts Income Plan, Escorts Tax Plan, Escorts Opportunities Fund, Escorts Balanced Fund, Escorts Growth Plan, Escorts Gilt Plan, Escorts Liquid Plan, Escorts Short Term Debt, Escorts High Yield Equity Plan, Escorts Infrastructure Fund, Escorts Leading Sectors Fund, Escorts Power and Energy Fund and Escorts Fixed Maturity Plan-Series II. Units will be credited to investors’ demat account on a weekly basis.
IDFC Mutual Fund and BNP Paribas Mutual Fund have also decided to allow investors to hold units in demat form for SIP transactions from January 1, 2012. Units subscribed under this scheme will be credited into investors' accounts on a weekly basis post realization of funds.
BNP Paribas Mutual Fund has modified some features of its systematic transfer plan (STP) facility from January 2, 2012. The STP will now be available for all existing schemes. It has introduced 2 sub-facilities, Fixed Systematic Transfer Facility (FSTF) and Capital Appreciation Systematic Transfer Facility (CASTF).
UTI Mutual Fund has allowed investors to use debit cards for online investment through its website. Visa and Maestro debit cards will be the mode of payment for online investments.
Fund manager changes
Tata Mutual Fund has reshuffled fund managers for some of its schemes from January 2, 2012. Tata Growth Fund, Tata Mid Cap Fund, Tata Capital Builder Fund, Tata Retirement Savings Fund and Tata Equity Management Fund will now be managed by Amish Munshi. Tata SIP Fund Series 3 (36 months) will be managed by Atul Bhole and Tata Equity Opportunities Fund and Tata Service Industries Fund will be managed by Bhupinder Sethi.
New fund launch
Pramerica Mutual Fund has launched Pramerica Dynamic Bond Fund, an open-ended income scheme. The investment objective of the scheme is 'to generate optimal returns through active management of a portfolio of debt and money-market instruments'.
The NFO period is from January 3 till January 11, 2012 at a unit is priced at Rs 1,000. The performance of the scheme will be benchmarked against CRISIL Composite Bond Fund Index and will be managed by Mahendra Jajoo.
Fundamental changes in schemes
Canara Robeco Mutual Fund has decided to merge Canara Robeco Multicap into Canara Robeco Equity Diversified from February 3, 2012. Investors in the former scheme, who do not intend to continue with their investment can redeem or switch out without paying any exit load from January 4 to February 2, 2012.
Edelweiss Mutual Fund renamed Edelweiss Nifty Enhancer to Edelweiss Equity Enhancer from January 1, 2012.
IDFC Mutual Fund revised the minimum investment amount under IDFC Money Manager Treasury Plan B & Plan C from January 4, 2012. Under Plan B, the minimum investment amount would now be Rs 1 crore from Rs 5 crore earlier. Under Plan C, the minimum investment amount would be Rs 5 crore from Rs 10 crore earlier.
HDFC Mutual Fund has reduced the minimum investment amount from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 10,000 for initial purchase and Rs 5,000 for additional purchase in the following schemes: HDFC Floating Rate Income Fund - Short Term Plan Retail - Daily Dividend, HDFC Cash Management Fund – Treasury Advantage Plan Retail - Daily Dividend, HDFC Cash Management Savings Plan – Dividend and HDFC Cash Management Call Plan - Dividend from January 12, 2012. It has also reduced the minimum redemption amount for these schemes from Rs 50,000 or 5,000 units to Rs 5,000 or 500 units. For HDFC Cash Management Call Plan – Growth option and HDFC Liquid Fund, the additional investment amount has been reduced from Rs 10,000 to Rs 5,000.
Reliance Mutual Fund changed the minimum application amount under Reliance Liquidity Fund to Rs 5 crore and in multiples of Re 1 thereafter from January 13, 2012.
Reliance Mutual Fund has changed the Specified Transaction Period of Reliance Quarterly Interval Fund-Series I. The new period will be from April 9 to April 10, 2012 from the earlier announced period of April 3 to April 4, 2012.
Tata Treasury Manager Fund - Retail Investment Plan will introduce daily dividend option from January 9, 2012; this will give the plan another option apart from the existing monthly dividend option. The minimum investment amount under this option will be Rs 10,000 and in multiples of Re 1 thereafter.
Changes in exit load
JM Income Fund will charge an exit load of 1% on all investment (including fresh registration under SIP/STP/SWP) if units are redeemed/switched within 365 days of allotment under transactions or allotment of respective installments in SIP/STP/SWP transactions. This load is applicable from January 2, 2012.
UTI Mutual Fund has revised the exit load structure under UTI Bond Fund and UTI Short Term Income Fund from January 2, 2012. For UTI Bond Fund, an exit load of 1.50% will be charged if units are redeemed or switched out before 180 days; post 180 days but before 1-year an exit load of 1.25% will be charged; and after 365 days but before 456 days, an exit load of 1% will be charged.
Also, the revised exit load for Tata Income Fund will be 1.25% if units are redeemed or switched out before 90 days of allotment; post 90 days but before 180 days, an exit load of 1% will be charged; post 180 days but before 365 days, the exit load will be 0.75%.
ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund has begun charging an exit load of 2% under ICICI Prudential Regular Gold Savings Fund from January 5, 2011, if units are redeemed or switched out within 15 months from the date of allotment. Till then, a load of 2% was applicable if units were redeemed or switched out within 12 months from allotment.
Dividend declared
IDFC Mutual Fund has declared dividend under IDFC Arbitrage Plus Fund - Plan A and Plan B. The quantum of dividend is Rs 0.02 per unit with January 9, 2012 set as the record date.