Birla Sun Life to tap rural areas in north

Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund will strengthen its presence in Tier-II and Tier-III cities as well as the rural areas of the northern region, which are one of the lucrative markets for the company.

The northern region contributes 20-23 per cent of the company's total assets under management (AUM), and comes next to the western region.

The western region contributes 40-45 per cent of total assets under management. The total asset under management by the company is Rs 17,600 crore.

Talking to Business Standard, the national head, sales and distribution, Ravi Sharma, said, "After the western region, the northern region is a big market for us, because it contributes 20-23 per cent of assets under management. So we are targeting the region in a big way, particularly the younger generation."

In Punjab the company has two offices. When asked if there was a plan to open offices, he said, "Our distributor is present even in smaller towns like Hoshiarpur, Pathankot, Jalandhar and Amritsar. Moreover, opening offices ultimately leads to input costs. So, we would like to strengthen our presence in the rural market sof Punjab, Haryana as well as Himachal Pradesh by appointing distributors."

Currently, the company has 8,000 active distributors across the country.

Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund today announced the launch of Birla Long Term Advantage Fund, a closed end diversified equity scheme, in Chandigarh.

The fund aims at providing long term capital appreciation by investing predominantly in a diversified portfolio of equity and equity related securities, a portfolio of reasonably priced stocks that are expected to post attractive growth in three to five years.

He added, " This five year closed ended equity fund is particularly aimed at those investors who want to maximise returns without being worried over volatile stock markets."