Mutual fund companies file papers with Sebi for 25 new offerings

NEW DELHI: Mutual fund companies have lined up as many as 25 New Fund Offers (NFO) and have filed draft documents for them with market regulator Sebi, mainly on account of sharp rally in the equity markets.

The documents for these New Fund Offers (NFOs) have been submitted with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) since the beginning of the year and the schemes will be opened for subscription soon after the necessary clearances.

Of these, 12 draft offers have been filed in this month so far, while the other 13 were filed in January.

Some of these NFOs have already been launched after getting regulatory clearances.

ICICI Prudential MF, Reliance MF, SBI MF, DSP BlackRock MF, are among the fund houses that are offering NFOs to investors.

A large number of these schemes are aimed at investment in equity and equity-related securities.

Manufacturing, retirement, economic recovery, resurgence of the business cycle and e-commerce are some of the themes that are attracting mutual fund houses.

A number of fund houses are expected to come up with more schemes that will invest in equity and equity-related securities to take benefit from the rising stock market.

According to market participants, MF houses are rushing towards Sebi to launch new schemes on account of good response received from investors in the recent fund launches.

Also, they said that the NFO market has picked up as the investors' confidence about equity markets is back and participation from retail investors is also on the upswing.

The BSE's benchmark Sensex has grown by more than six per cent so far this year.