Setting 'Benchmark' via oil, silver funds

At A time when most asset management companies repackage their old funds to peddle old wine in new bottle, one AMC, Benchmark Mutual is planning to bring some novel products to Indian investors. The two partners at the firm, Rajan Mehta and Sanjeev Shah, who were the first to introduce gold mutual funds in the country, plan to launch new funds that track oil and silver prices, Shariah funds, and one that invests in covered call options.

���There is too much choice available for investors on the active management front, but very little on the passive front,��� says Mr Shah, executive director at the firm. ���We want to bring more choice to the Indian investor,��� he told ET. Technically called Exchange Traded Funds (or ETFs), these schemes will buy into units overseas whose values are based on oil and silver prices. However, these funds are still in the pipeline and are yet to receive approval from Sebi. Whether there will actually be appetite for such products among Indian investors remains to be seen.