The Hindu Business Line : `We will focus on simple and secure options'

ING Vysya Mutual Fund is still a relatively small player in the country's Rs 1 lakh crore-plus asset management industry. It has, however, gone through significant modifications in recent times, ones that are expected to support its expansion programmes.

The MF, which currently manages a few basic schemes, has proposed to introduce a couple of others in the near future. Ms Kavita Hurry, MD & CEO, shares her plans with Business Line.

What sort of changes have you passed through recently?

One, the ING group has increased its equity stake in Vysya Bank to 43.99 per cent from the 20 per cent it held earlier. The bank has been renamed as ING Vysya Bank subsequently. The group now operates as ING Vysya in India through over 500 branches spread across the country.

Two, there has been an infusion of fresh capital in ING Investment Management (I) Pvt Ltd, which is our asset management company. This has been done to strengthen its presence.

The fresh infusion came with ING Vysya Bank acquiring a stake of about 26 per cent in the AMC. This reflects the nature of ING's long-term commitment to the Indian market.

Having experienced these changes, what are your targets now?

In future all our strategies would focus on offering simple and secure options to customers. The broad idea is to devise the most practical investment solutions for them. These should be able to deliver healthy returns combined with a high degree of safety.

We hope to emerge as one of the top funds in the coming years. Let me add here that we bring to the table the vast international experience gathered by the Amsterdam-based ING in banking, insurance and asset management. The group, in fact, happens to be among the world's largest integrated financial services providers.

Where do you see the MF in the days ahead?

Well, at the moment we are present in eight cities with more than Rs 1,100 crore of assets under our management. We believe that our inherent strengths can be leveraged to formulate more schemes with a view to create better value.

Our liquid and short-term products are already among the top-rated names in their categories.

The future looks bright for the asset management industry and only those players with strong corporate backing would be the likely survivors. Small and individual fund houses could well be absorbed by the bigger ones. This would make competition even more aggressive.

Any new schemes in the pipeline? What prompted you to devise them?

Yes... we propose to come out with a monthly income plan and an index-linked product.

These would be in line with our attempt to cater to the ever-increasing needs of investors.

The MIP, which would be launched immediately, is aimed at high net worth individuals, retired people and pensioners, among others. To be armed with certain additional services, which would set it apart from other simple MIPs, it would enable them to secure a steady, regular stream of income.

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