Thursday, February 15, 2007

JP Morgan, AIG to launch mutual funds in India

JP Morgan Asset Management, a manager of over $1.013 trn assets across the world, and the AIG group that manages $670 bn will be launching their mutual funds for local investors in India. Both have received the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) approval for opening shops in India. Fidelity Investment in early 2005 was the last big global player that entered the Indian mutual fund space. Aegon Global, Dawnay Day, Nikko Asset Management, a JV between Ambit Capital and Nikko AMC of Japan, Bharti-AXA, another JV between Bharti Enterprises and asset management firm AXA of France are some of the other players wanting to float funds in India. Currently, the domestic mutual fund industry has 30 players managing Rs. 339,000 crores of assets. JP Morgan plans to start the domestic business with an initial net worth of Rs. 45 crores, AIG has earmarked $20 mn. The Indian regulator requires asset management companies to have a minimum net worth of Rs. 10 crores.

JP Morgan is headed by Krishnamurthy Vijayan, who was heading the JM Financial Mutual Fund for five years. Nandkumar Surti, also of JM Financial, will be heading JP Morgan’s fixed income business in India. Similarly, Saurabh Sonthalia, who heads AIG Global Investment Group, was earlier with DSP Merrill Lynch Mutual Fund. On the investment management side, Tushar Pradhan, who was earlier with HDFC Mutual Fund, will be the Chief Investment Officer, Equities at AIG.

Read the article on livemint.com.

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