Armed with a Rs 3,000-crore bail-out from a consortium of banks, financial institutions and insurance companies, Unit Trust of India has decided to lift the suspension of sale and repurchase of US-64 units for all small investors.
The bail-out package was conveyed by finance minister Yashwant Sinha to Prime Minister A B Vajpayee after a series of meetings of top ministry officials with the chiefs of banks, FIs and UTI senior executive directors.
According to sources, Life Insurance Corporation and Industrial Development Bank of India will take a major portion of the Rs 3,000-crore loan.
The loan would be given by LIC, IDBI and a dozen other public sector banks against the shares held by UTI in the US-64 portfolio.
About 75 per cent of the US-64 equity portfolio will be taken as collateral, they added.
Sources said that the rate at which banks would lend UTI would be negotiable.
