Reliance Cap, HSBC, ICICI join SBI to manage EPFO fund

New Delhi, July 29 In a move that may have far-reaching impact on the future income of the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), the largest provident fund in the country on Tuesday decided to induct three private sector fund managers — the Anil Ambani-led Reliance Capital AMC, HSBC AMC and ICICI Prudential AMC — as its new fund managers.
SBI monopoly ends 

This ends the age-old monopoly of State Bank of India, which will, however, continue as the sole public sector fund manager.

The organisation has a corpus of about Rs 1,55,561 crore (at face value) as on March 2007 and around four crore subscribers.

The inclusion of Reliance came as a last minute surprise as the company did not figure in the recommendations placed before the Central Board of Trustees (CBT) by its Finance and Investment Committee (FIC).

The FIC had recommended only two private sector players. The Labour Secretary, Ms Sudha Pillai, told reporters after the meeting that “the CBT has decided to allow Reliance Capital, ICICI Prudential, HSBC and SBI to manage provident fund of employees.”
Same score.

Officials said that SBI and Reliance had the same score in the financial bid, but SBI had a better technical bid evaluation with 81 points out of 100 while Reliance had scored 77 out of 100. The CBT took the decision based on the financial bid, they said.

The CBT Member and Secretary of the Hind Mazdoor Sabha, Mr A.D. Nagpal, who is also a member of the FIC, told Business Line after the meeting that “The FIC had not recommended Reliance. We have put our dissent on record,” he said.
Management fee.

According to the bids approved on Tuesday, Reliance and SBI will get an investment management fee of 10 paisa for every Rs 1,000 managed (0.01 per cent). ICICI Prudential and HSBC AMC will receive 7.5 paisa and 6.3 paisa, respectively, for every Rs 1,000 managed by them.

Source: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/

HDFC Equity's Stock Selection Strategy

HDFC Equity Fund, one of the top performers in the Indian market has been around for 13 years now. [Originally from ITC Threadneedle then to Zurich and then into HDFC AMC] The silent and soft-spoken Sr. Fund Manager, Prashant Jain who rarely comments in the media has released a note celebrating 13 years of HDFC Equity Fund.

One thing that is worth noticing in the note is the stock selection procedure adopted by the company sticking to its internal process of "Avoiding the Big Mistakes" [ Real Estate, Brokerage Houses etc]. He further said,
Owning strong businesses, that are likely to grow earnings at above market rates. Focusing on long term prospects and valuations and ignoring short to medium term market aberrations i.e ignoring momentum stocks / stocks with excessive valuations if not justified by fundamentals. Remain diversified with exposure to mid-caps varying between a third to fourth of portfolio.

ABN Amro appoints two new key personnel

ABN Amro Mutual Fund has two new key personnel joined AMC, Ms Aparna Karmase and Ms Monaz Elavia with effect from 9th July, 2008. Ms Aparna Karmase is designated as Compliance Officer, Risk Manager and Company Secretary at the age of 30. She is LLB and has done ACS from Institute of Company Secretaries of India. She worked as Company Secretarial & Legal Department - KJMC Global Market (India) Ltd till October 2002; Ms Monaz Elavia is designated as Head of Client Service department at the age of 32 and has done studies in Bachelor of Arts. She worked with Vodafone as Customer Service Executive till Aug 1999.

Benchmark MF Files Offer Document With Sebi

Benchmark Mutual Fund filed offer document with Sebi to launch Shariah BeES. The Benchmark Mutual Fund has filed the offer document with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) for launching a dedicated scheme of Shariah Benchmark Exchange Traded Scheme (Shariah BeES). It's an open-ended exchange listed index scheme. The minimum application amount under the scheme is Rs. 10000 and in multiple of Re 1 thereafter. ach unit of the scheme being offered will have a face value of Rs.10 each and will be issued at a premium approximately equal to the difference between face value and 1/10th of the value of the S&P CNX Nifty Shariah Index.