NFO review: Axis Emerging Opportunities Fund Series 2

Axis Mutual Fund has launched Axis Emerging Opportunities Fund Series 2, a close-ended scheme with a lock-in period of 1,400 days (3.8 years). The scheme will invest 60 per cent of the corpus in largecap stocks and rest in small and midcap stocks. The New Fund Offer (NFO) is open for subscription till February 17. The scheme will be jointly managed by Anupam Tiwari and Jinesh Gopani.

According to the fund house, the lock-in period is deliberately kept longer for the benefit of investors. “When you invest in equities, two to three years is not a long period of investment. You need to stay invested for long,” said Jinesh Gopani, Fund Manager, Axis Emerging Opportunities Fund Series 2. “2019 is the election year and we are expecting a lot of volatility if the election results are not favourable. We don’t want redemptions to come around that time,” added Jinesh Gopani.

When asked about the reason of investing mostly in largecap stocks, Gopani said that the valuations of largecap stocks are attractive and these stocks are likely to perform better this year. He also believes that equities have the potential to perform better in the next two to three years.


Should you invest?
“It sure is a good time to invest in equity mutual funds but why go for a new scheme that restricts the liquidity of your money and has no past performance to rely on,” said Deepali Sen, Certified Financial Planner based in Kolkata. “The lock-in period of 1,400 days is unnecessary. When investors put their money in equity mutual funds, they have a long-term goal in mind. But, with this lock-in, the investors won’t have access to their money in an emergency,” added Sen.

Scheme at a glance:
Fund House: Axis Mutual Fund
Issue Open: Feb 03, 2017
Issue Close: Feb 17, 2017
Category: Multi cap
Type: Closed-end
Tenure: 1,400 days
Benchmark: S&P BSE Mid Cap