Damani urges Unit Trust to float more schemes to boost sentiment
Our Bureau
PUNE, January 18: Financial institutions like UTI should introduce mutual fund schemes aimed at investments in turnaround scrips, urged BSE President MG Damani.He said the revival of investors' confidence in the capital market depended on how efficiently these surplus funds are channelised into the market. Speaking on "How to make the market attractive for investors" at `Invesfest'98', Damani said many B1 and B2 group scrips promised an excellent investment opportunity for a medium term perspective (3 years). Inspite of having maintained an excellent track record, many of these scrips were being quoted at very low P/Es," he said. Expressing optimism he said in addition to the channelisation of surplus funds via mutual funds, a large chunk of VDIS money is also expected to make its way into the stock markets. However, the investor confidence, which had taken a severe nosedive during 1997, was a matter of serious concern. "Scrips of 867 companies were traded regularly in January, while only 414 of
them had witnessed regular trading in December. Though many of these companies (predominantly B group scrips) had consistently shown a good performance and a steady dividend declaration record, investors had neglected a majority of these scrips," regretted Damani. He also said the ban on renewals (B group scrips) should be removed immediately. The role of SEBI drew severe criticism from Damani. He lamented, "the SEBI has totally failed in its duty to act as a protector of investor's interests. The secondary market advisory committee of the SEBI, which owes the investors an explanation for erosion of Rs 1,80,000 crore of market capitalisation, has not even met for the past 15 months."He urged investor associations to demand from SEBI, an action plan and remedies intended to prevent similar situations in future.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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