Exchange Traded Funds

Tushar Mathur — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 16:00:00 +0000

An exchange traded fund (ETF) is essentially an index fund that trades like a stock and is listed on the exchange. Although popular abroad, it’s still a new concept in India. Currently, India has 16 ETFs, with total assets under management of Rs 4,182 crore as of September 2008. In the US, by contrast, there are 707 ETFs, with combined assets of $585.9 billion or Rs 27.5 lakh crore.

An ETF is a single security representing a basket of stocks that corresponds to a particular index, say, the S&P CNX Nifty or Sensex. The ETFs trading value is based on the net asset value of the underlying stocks that it represents . Much like an index fund, an ETF offers built-in diversification . But because ETFs can be bought or sold within the trding day, they offer the flexibility of a stock. Like individual equity securities, ETFs are traded on a stock exchange and can be bought and sold throughout the day through a broker-dealer , just like Infosys or Reliance Industries shares.

Types of ETFs

ETFs can be broadly classified into index, commodity, and bond funds.

Most ETFs are index funds that hold securities and attempt to replicate the performance of a stock market index. An index fund seeks to track the index’s performance by holding either the contents of the index, or a representative sample of securities in the index.

Commodity ETFs invest in commodities such as precious metals and futures. In India, we only have gold ETFs.

As for bond ETFs, there is currently only one available in India, namely Liquid BeES.

There are other types of ETFs, such as currency ETFs and actively managed ETFs but they are not yet available in India.

No investment is perfect, but ETFs offer a broad range of benefits. They’re easy to trade, they offer diversification and depending on your situation, they might just be an attractive alternative to mutual funds and other investments.

Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) are quickly becoming an alternative to mutual funds.

UTI Mutual Fund launches UTI-Wealth Builder Fund-Series II

Tushar Mathur — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 07:37:00 +0000

UTI Mutual Fund announces the launch of a unique scheme “UTI Wealth Builder Fund-Series II” which combines the benefits of both equity and gold. The New Fund Offer opens on October 21, 2008 and closes on November 19, 2008.

The scheme will re-open for purchase and redemption not later than 30 days from the closure of the NFO period. (View - New Fund Offers open NOW)

UTI Wealth Builder Fund-Series II is an open ended equity oriented scheme. The investment objective of the Fund is to achieve long-term capital appreciation by investing predominantly in a diversified portfolio of equity and equity related instruments alongwith investments in Gold ETFs and Debt and Money Market instruments.

Jaideep Bhattacharya, Chief Marketing Officer, UTI AMC said, “UTI Wealth Builder Fund-Series II is the First of its Kind in the mutual fund industry to offer an asset allocation which combines traditional as well as non traditional asset class i.e. Equity and Gold. It is important to have an alternative asset in one’s portfolio and to build a portfolio around assets that have low correlation. Gold has proved to be “counter cyclical” or low correlated asset class as compared to equity investments and has generally been considered as a safe haven during times of economic upheavals and volatile equity markets."

“Also first time Investors will have the convenience of investing through SIP that will have exposure to Gold ETF” he added.

Harsha Upadhyaya, Fund Manager of the scheme said, “The scheme aims to build and maintain a diversified portfolio of equity stocks that has potential to appreciate in the long run. The scheme will take exposure across capitalisations with a tilt towards large caps and will also use derivatives to hedge and manage volatility. The investment in Gold ETFs will diversify portfolio risk and reduce overall volatility of returns.”

Salient Features of UTI- Wealth Builder Fund-Series II

* Eligible Investors: The plan is open to resident individuals, institutions as well as to NRIs and FIIs.
* New Fund Offer Price: During the NFO, the units will be sold at face value of Rs.10/- plus applicable load.
* Redemption: The scheme will offer redemption of units at NAV based prices on every business day on an on-going basis not later than 30 days from the date of closure of the NFO period.
* Plans: Retail and Institutional Plan
* Options: Growth and Dividend option with payout and reinvestment facilities
* Minimum Application Amount: Retail Plan: Rs.5000/- and in multiples of Rs.1/- thereafter, Institutional Plan: Rs.1 crore and in multiples of Rs.1/- thereafter
* Benchmark Index: BSE 100 for Equity part of the portfolio, CRISIL Bond Fund Index for that part of the portfolio relating to investments in debt and money market instruments and the price of Gold as per SEBI regulations for Gold ETFs
* Waiver of Load for Direct Application: No entry load shall be charged for direct applications received by the AMC
* Load Structure during the NFO period.

Invest In India » Gold Etfs

Exchange Traded Funds

UTI Mutual Fund launches UTI-Wealth Builder Fund-Series II