ING Vysya Mutual to set up 100 touchpoints

Having beefed up its presence considerably in the past one month "" from eight to 65 touchpoints "" ING Vysya Mutual Fund has chalked out plans to have about 100 touchpoints across the country in the next few months.

The company is now moving into smaller towns in a bid to spread its reach.

From just eight touchpoints about two months ago, ING Vysya has reached as many as 65 touchpoints as of date.

"We plan to have as many as 100 touchpoints across the country in the next few months. Most of the new offices that we will open will be in smaller towns, where tremendous interest in being generated for mutual funds," said an ING Vysya official.

"Having the bank as a platform definitely helps a lot. But we are in the process of opening our own branches as well. In fact, most of our branches opened in the past one month are in relatively smaller towns of the country," said Suhas Naik, director, equity markets, ING Vysya Mutual Fund.

The company on Monday announced the launch of two new products, ING Vysya Domestic Opportunities Fund and ING Vysya Select Debt Fund, in Gujarat. The initial offer, which opened on July 30, will close on August 23, 2004 and during this period, units are available at Rs 10 per unit for cash at par.

Commenting on the ING Vysya Select Debt Fund, whose initial offer is presently open, Santosh Kamat, Director, Debt Market for ING Vysya Mutual Fund, said that the company will invest proceeds in AA rated securities and those which have prospects of their ratings being upgraded to AAA.

He named Mahindra and Mahindra, IPCL, Gujarat Ambuja Ashok Leyland, Tata Motors and ACC as securities where ING Vysya will invest money. "These securities have a strong change of their ratings being upgraded," Kamat said.

Suhas Naik, Director, Equity Markets, said that the demographic profile and investment appetite will work in such a way that India is geared up for a default phase of growth in the next decade.

"The market expansion will mainly take place through infrastructure investment, corporate investment and a thrust on the rural economy. "Money collected under the ING Vysya Domestic Opportunities Fund will basically be invested into emerging and strong sectors like telecom, retailing, automobiles, cement, oil, banking ," said Naik.

ING Vysya has three businesses in India - ING Vysya Mutual Fund, ING Vysya Bank and ING Vysya Life Insurance. ING Vysya Mutual Fund began operations in 1999 and currently has a presence in 65 cities with assets under management of Rs 2000 crore.