GIC MF chief executive officer AR Prabhu said: "The financial year 1998-99 will be the turning point for the mutual fund industry. This is because the industry would have to face less competition from other mobilisers like NBFCs. "The RBI has put a definite lid on the non-banking financial sector and the current political scenario is stable. Plus, the markets are beginning to look up again. All these factors add up to a positive outlook leading to the high target that we have set for ourselves."

In order to meet this target, the fund is planning to launch some schemes this year, the nature of which could not be ascertained. "We are planning to be really active and assertive this year," he added. The performance in 1997-98 was steady.

The highlight of GIC Mutual Fund is the GIC Suraksha '96scheme. This was the only scheme in the GIC fold that declared a dividend of 13 per cent this year. The scheme, under the cumulative option, is giving annual returns of 21.70 per cent and an appreciation in net asset value (NAV) to Rs 14.19 this fiscal as against an NAV of Rs 11.66 on March 31, 1997.

GIC Rise 1991, a close-ended scheme income scheme, is giving annual returns of 1.55 per cent for the cumulative option. The NAV of the scheme has risen from Rs 10.35 in March 1997 to Rs 10.51 on March 31, 1998.GIC Rise II, another close-ended income scheme to provide for capital appreciation, is giving annual returns of 12.71 per cent. GIC Balanced Fund, a close-ended scheme, is giving annual returns of 12.10 per cent in the same period.The two pure growth schemes from GIC Mutual Fund are giving marginal annual returns. GIC Growth Plus II has given returns of 7.02 per cent and GIC Fortune 1994 at 6.05 per cent which is still below par.

This is against the returns generated by the BSE 30-share Sensex of 15.8per cent, BSE-100 (15.9 per cent) and Crisil-500 (13.3 per cent).

The three equity-linked saving schemes (ELSSs) of the fund are also are hovering below par and their NAVs are quite low compared with some of the better performing schemes in the same category last fiscal.

GIC Growth Plus, a close-ended ELSS tax saving scheme, is giving annual returns of 11.33 per cent. The NAV of this scheme is at Rs 8.06 as on March 31, 1998 as against an NAV of Rs 7.24 on March 31, 1997.

GIC Taxsavers Growth Plan, an ELSS scheme, is giving negative annual returns of 10.58 per cent. The NAV has further depreciated from Rs 5.01 over the period March 31, 1997 to March 31, 1998.

GIC Taxsaver '95, another close-ended ELSS scheme from the GIC stable, is giving negative annual returns of 11.14 per cent. The NAV has depreciated over the last year from Rs 7.45 to Rs 6.62.

One of the better performing schemes in the ELSS category, the Alliance Tax Relief '96, is giving annualised returns of 68.82 per cent with an NAV of Rs17.79 as on March 31, 1998.