Mumbai, Nov 10: Unit Trust of India's flagship scheme US-64 has registered a 94 per cent rise in net sales during July-October 2000 compared to the corresponding period last year. The number of investors who have joined the scheme during this period increased by 78 per cent. Sales under equity schemes went up by 66 per cent, while the total net sales went up by 130 per cent from Rs 760 crore to Rs 1,760 crore.The total sales under the scheme is at Rs 2,053 crore up by 34 per cent over the corresponding period last year.
The portfolio as on September 30 has the highest number of investment in government securities accounting 17.29 per cent of the market value. This is followed by investment in Reliance Industries accounting 12.33 per cent of the market value. The other prominent scrips in the portfolio include Reliance Petro (4.71), ITC Ltd (4.58), HFCL (4.48) and Infosys (3.72).
The market value of net assets of US-64 has declined by a mere five per cent from Rs 20,593.63 crore as on June 30 to Rs 19554.84 crore as on September 30 compared to 13.86 per cent decline in the benchmark Sensex during the same period. The investment portfolio of US-64 has been marked to market and shows the market value of its debt and equity investments.
The aggregate sales under all schemes at the end of October 2000 were Rs 4,190 crore compared to Rs 3,971 crore during last year. The aggregate repurchase at Rs 2430 crore decreased by 24 per cent from Rs 3211 crore in the corresponding period last year.
The 4th All-India Household Investors Survey conducted by Society for Capital Market Research and Development has thrown up very interesting insights on the household investors' perception of US-64.
Nearly 82 per cent of the respondents surveyed considered US 64 as reasonably safe to very safe. Nearly 81 per cent of the working persons polled found US-64 to be a reasonably safe or very safe scheme, while 87 per cent of the respondents above 60 years voted in favour of US 64.
Another important finding was that in the age group below 25 years, 100 per cent of them felt US-64 to be a reasonably safe to very safe scheme.
Around 82 per cent of the respondents in the highest income bracket polled in favour of US-64 being reasonably safe or very safe.
The predominantly middle-aged respondents, mainly graduate and above, were from the middle and lower middle income groups.
US-64, the largest mutual fund scheme in terms of assets under management in India, has been in operation for 36 years. US-64 has been paying reasonable income since its inception. The scheme has voluntarily started disclosing portfolio on a monthly basis.
Copyright © 2000 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.