| |
Poor market conditions hit JM Liquid (G)
Value Research
JM Basic, the petrochemical sector specific fund, mobilised an initial corpus of Rs 426 crore earlier this year with almost negligible marketing. In sharp contrast, the six equity funds floated by other AMCs (including UTI) could mobilise only Rs 68 crore. After coming up with the surprise of the year, JM Mutual Fund has done what was expected from it for a long time. It has launched its second open-end income fund.JM Mutual Fund has launched a new open-end fund -- JM Debt Fund -- after a gap of three years. JM Mutual Fund, in December 1994, launched three open-end funds -- JM Equity, JM Balanced and JM Liquid. Unlike the earlier open-end launches, JM Debt fund launch is a low key affair. The fund is open for subscription between December 23 and 29. JM was one of the first funds to launch its open-end debt fund. Being one of the two open-end debt funds, it attracted huge inflows between March 1996 and March, 1997. The corpus went up from Rs 25.2 crore to Rs 113 crore in March, 1997. Yet something was
amiss. Unlike Birla Income Plus which had, more or less, a consistent growth record, the performance of the two plans of JM Liquid fund was very volatile. Moreover, the growth plan of JM Liquid was not growing as fast as the regular income plan and the two plans of Birla Income Plus. Since their launch in October '95, the two plans of Birla have appreciated by an annualised 14.26 and 14.29 per cent and JM Liquid (regular income) has appreciated by an annualised 14.84 per cent. In comparison, the JM Liquid (growth plan) has appreciated by an annualised 6.98 per cent. Unlike Birla Income, the two JM funds were managed separately. JM Liquid (growth plan) had a substantial equity exposure (13 per cent as on March 31, 1996). On a day-to-day basis, the fund was affected by the gyration of the equity markets. Though the fund subsequently moved out of equities, it was too late. The first-half of 1997 has witnessed heavy inflows into the open-end income segment (Rs 700 crore). While the unit capital of Birla Income
Plus rose from Rs 185.5 crore to over Rs 500 crore, JM Liquid could only manage a net inflow of Rs 2.63 crore. A pure income fund from the JM Mutual Fund or a portfolio restructuring of JM Liquid fund was on the cards for a long time. In fact, following the launch of Chola triple Ace, JM had announced its plans to launch a rated open-end pure income fund. The latest JM Debt fund would invest only in debt and money market instruments. With so many income funds already in the market, under normal circumstances, the JM Debt fund should attract a substantial inflow. However, with JM Mutual fund you never know!
Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
|
 |
