Kotak to launch Gold ETF by March

Kotak Mahindra Mutual Fund of Kotak Mahindra Asset Management Company Limited (KMAMCL) is planning to launch gold exchange traded fund (ETF) by March this year. Kotak plans to launch the fund with a minimum investment amount of Rs 5,000.

Not revealing much about the details of the fund, chief executive officer, KMAMCL, Sandesh Kirkire said,"We are not in a position to reveal much but we are definitely planning to launch our own gold ETF by March end this year."

Kirkire was in the city to launch Kotak's new scheme called Kotak Emerging Equity Scheme (KEES).

The scheme is a 3-year close-ended equity growth scheme, aimed at generating long-term capital appreciation from a portfolio of equity and equity-related securities. "We will be investing predominantly in mid and small cap companies," he added.

As a broad framework, KEES will look at themes like emerging businesses, embedded value, unlocking of Intellectual Property Rights, restructuring/turnaround stocks that are under-researched and under-owned by institutional investors and superior growth in sectors for identifying investment opportunities. The NFO period for KEES opened on February 12, 2007, and closes March 12, 2007.

On the budget expectations, Kirkire said the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) and Forward Markets Commission (FMC) should allow mutual funds to invest in commodity markets. He also stressed upon the need of them being classified as securities.

Apart from gold ETF, the company is hopeful of investing in real estate once the Sebi guidelines for real estate is out, added Kirkire.