Bangalore, July 19: The Unit Trust of India (UTI) has garnered funds to the tune of Rs 180 crore through its Information Technology Fund, an offshore fund which closed for subscription recently.

The five-year close-ended fund which has a three-year lock-in period will invest around 70 per cent of the funds in IT sector scrips and the remaining 30 per cent in telecom and other industry stocks.

Disclosing this PJ Nayak, executive trustee, UTI, said that the Trust will draw the money in two tranches. After the first tranche is collected the second tranche will be availed as and when the Trust need so and secondly after it has secured all the first tranches, he added.

Elucidating the performance of the two other offshore funds, India Access Fund and India Debt Fund, Nayak said that the former collected around Rs 185 crore while the latter got around Rs 120 crore.

According to him the India Debt Fund did not get the response it was expected to get because it was offered at a time when interest rates were falling.

In the next few months the Trust will set up a counter in the city to promote its money market mutual fund. The scheme was initially launched in Mumbai and Delhi and had garnered funds to the tune of Rs 50 crore in two months.

``The scheme which has a corpus of around Rs 45 crore is an ideal alternative to bank deposits. It will be offered in association with the UTI Bank,'' said Nayak.

However, the Trust will spend less money by way of advertisements for this scheme as it is still in a nascent stage, he added.

The Trust has upgraded software at its branches and achieved nearly full computerisation thereby speeding up investor services, he added.

Apart from this UTI has also interconnected the Trust offices with registrars for speedy service. It has also widened its service network by setting up franchise offices in 17 more centres.

The ideal parking place for an investor in the present scenario is the US-64 scheme as it is a balanced fund, said Nayak.

The present composition of US-64 is 60 per cent equity and 40 per cent debt thereby offering more returns for the investors. The Trust has offered a sale price of Rs 14 and a repurchase price of Rs 13.70 for the scheme in July, added Nayak.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.