Bringing it to Indian investors, is none other than the Unit Trust of India (UTI). The facility will be available from October 1, 1998, when the trust makes its Master Index Fund an open ended scheme.

The fund will allow investors to take a position on the Sensex, based on their own perception and reap the commensurate benefits or losses. ``An investor can enter the scheme upto 12:00 pm of the particular day and his investment will be made by UTI on the same day. He will enter at the previous day's close of the Sensex. The Sensex's position at the end of the day in which he entered will be the benchmark for deciding whether he has gained orlost,'' said UTI executive director, B G Daga, while speaking to The Financial Express.

For example, if an investor enters on Tuesday at Monday's closing of 3,000 points and the Sensex closes on Tuesday at 3,200, leading to a rise in the net asset value (NAV) of the scheme, then his benefit which would be reflected in the NAV would be his gain for the day. If the index falls, then it will translate into a loss.

Investors can also make investments on an hourly basis at slightly later point of time, the modalities for which are being worked out. In this case, if an investor decides to exit within an hour of taking the position on Tuesday, then the position of the Sensex at the time of exit would be taken into account to determine the gain or loss. Eight branch offices of UTI, four in the metros and four in other cities, have been identified from where an investor would be able to place his order.

``If an investor wants to enter the Sensex on his own, then he has to shell out at least Rs 9 lakh andeven then he will not be able to get the right weightage of the stocks for his portfolio. When we go open-ended the investor will be able to enter at as small a price as Rs 5000,'' said Daga indicating the convenience and ease with which an investor would be able to bet on the Sensex.

The scheme will be sold at the NAV and repurchase would be at a discount of around 3 per cent to the NAV. The NAV of the scheme as on September 16 is Rs 9.84 as compared to an NAV of Rs 10 when the scheme was initially invested.

``We invested when the index was at 3,230-level. The Sensex has since declined by 2.85 per cent compared to 1.6 per cent fall in Master Index Fund. Thus, we provide a cushion to our investors, as well,'' said Daga.

``We have invested in the Sensex in the same weightage as the weightages that the companies have in the Sensex. We are invested in all the 30 scrips and investments were made on the very first day itself,'' said Daga.

UTI was the first mutual fund to launch an index fund in thecountry in June this year. The scheme had initially garnered Rs 176 crore. Since the launch of UTI index fund, a number of mutual funds have shown their inclination towards launching index funds like JM Mutual Fund, Canbank Mutual Fund and IDBI Mutual Fund.