LIC Mutual Fund in new avatar, eyes top-three slot

Mid-sized fund house LIC Mutual Fund, which was known as LIC Nomura AMC prior to the exit of its Japanese partner early this year, is now aiming to be among the top three fund houses in the next three years.
With an AUM of Rs 14,000 crore, LIC Mutual Fund is ranked 18th in the industry and it will have to cross the magical figure of Rs 1 trillion to be among the top three fund houses in the country.
The re-branding exercise has been done post the exit of Nomura, which had 35 per cent stake in the firm since its inception five years ago.

GIC Housing Finance and Corporation Bank are the two new partners in the joint venture, whereas LIC Housing Finance will continue with the partnership by enhancing its stake in the company.
The current shareholders of LIC Mutual Fund are LIC (45 per cent stake), LIC Housing Finance (39.3 per cent), GIC Housing Finance (11.7 per cent) and Corporation Bank (4 per cent).
"I'm happy to note that LIC Mutual Fund aspires to be among top three players in the MF industry," LIC chairman S K Roy said while unveiling the re-branding of the fund house here today.

"We are confident that this re-invention of such an iconic brand will leverage its experienced and credible ethos, while still being relevant to present times for the smart young investors of today," he added.

LIC Mutual Fund has emerged as one of the fastest growing mutual fund companies in terms of AUM by witnessing a significant 41.26 per cent growth in the January-March quarter from the year-ago period.
"At LIC MF, we have set a target to achieve AUM of Rs 25,000 crore by March 2017 and Rs 1 trillion over next three years," LIC MF Whole-time Director and Chief Executive Sarojini Dikhale told PTI.
"We aspire to be among top three players over next three years either by way of inorganic growth or in an organic way," she said.
Moreover, the company is planning to aggressively

enhance its network by partnering with national distributors and banks.
As of now, LIC MF has tie-ups with seven national distributors and two banks.
"By March, 2017, we are planning to have tie-ups with 10 national distributors and 5-6 banks," she said.
The fund house also plans to launch some equity and debt products like arbitrage and small-cap funds.
"We are looking at launching some equity and debt products to fill the gap in our product offering," Dikhale said, adding that it would like to leverage its digital platform.