Principal PNB launches new product in Andhra

Principal PNB Asset Management Company, which announced the launch of its new investment solution "� Principal Junior Cap Fund "� here on Thursday, is expecting to raise over Rs 100 crore from Andhra Pradesh by the closing day of the offer period.

"Customers in Hyderabad and elsewhere in the state are very much appreciative of the overall performance of our investment solutions, which are essentially need-based and have also been lived up to the expectations of investors," Sanjay Sachdev, managing director and chief executive officer of the company, said.

Principal PNB currently has about 50,000 customers in Andhra Pradesh, and the company is looking at adding 15,000 more to its investor-base in the next couple of months. The asset base of the company is expected to go up to over Rs 350 crore from the present Rs 250 crore.

Sanjay sounded even more optimistic for the future as he said that over 2 lakh new customers are going to be added to the company's investor-base in Andhra Pradesh alone in the next couple of years. The company, at present, has a customer-base of over 3.6 lakh.

"The new fund is designed to invest in both large cap and mid cap stocks by creating a blended portfolio for itself to reduce the risk and ensuring a minimum of 12-15 per cent return on a medium to long term investment," Sanjay told Business Standard.

Traditional way of looking only at blue chip stocks for investment is not going to work in favour of investors as those stocks are stuck at some level for various reasons, he said.