The finance ministry has asked the Unit Trust of India to foreclose about a dozen assured return schemes including monthy income plans (MIPs). Presently, UTI has about 20 assured return schemes which have a total corpus of about Rs 18,000 crore.
The foreclosure of MIPs was discussed at the group of ministers' meeting held last week. Some of these schemes offer returns as high as 16 per cent a year. According to finance ministry sources, it does not make sense for UTI or any institution to continue with schemes offering such unsustainable returns.
The finance ministry is of the opinion that funds which are due for redemption during UTI's current financial year could be spared from foreclosure.
The funds maturing after July 2003