Templeton to reduce MF schemes

Franklin Templeton Investments (India) proposes to reduce the number of mutual fund schemes from 43 to 35 by next year.

Fewer schemes would help reduce the confusion in the minds of investors, expedite the investment decision and make life easy for the distributors as well, said Franklin Templeton director and chief investor officer (fixed income) Nilesh Shah.

Lesser number of schemes improves management efficiency and reduces cost, he added.

The fund house currently has two liquid schemes, which will be reduced to one as in the case of balanced schemes. The three gilt funds will be merged into one and the two index-funds will also be merged.

Nilesh Shah was speaking on the sidelines of a press conference in Mumbai, to announce Franklin Templeton will provide investment advice to Tata AIG Life Insurance Company's unit linked insurance plan 'InvestAssure'.

Despite the group having its own mutual fund arm "" Tata Mutual Fund, the insurance outfit has decided to seek advice from Franklin Templeton.

Ian J Watts, managing director, Tata AIG Life said the choice of Franklin Templeton as its investment advisor is because it is the third largest mutual fund in the country with assets under management exceeding Rs 15,994 crore.

Watts added, unit linked option are available for corporates through Tata AIG's gratuity and superannuation plans.

InvestAssure is a flexible unit link insurance plan, it offers investors the flexibility of choosing the amount of life cover (50 per cent or 100 per cent of the premium multiple), the flexibility of choosing the investment fund in accordance to his risk appetite and also the flexibility of topping the investments at any-time during the life of the plan.