The Hindu Business Line : UTI employees moved by Damadoran's exit

THREE years ago, he took charge on a Sunday afternoon, probably out of compulsion; and in a cosmic completion of a circle, he resigned on a Sunday, mostly out of choice.

Though employees of UTI Mutual Fund are shocked by the news of Mr M Damodaran's resignation, it is business as usual at the country's largest fund house.

Employees of UTI mutual fund have been speculating about the possibility of Mr Damodaran's exit, for over three months now, but the sudden manner in which it happened, on a Sunday, and having to read about it in the newspapers was unanticipated, said sources in the fund house.

Incidentally, Mr S.B. Mathur has been appointed as the Administrator of the Special Undertaking of the Unit Trust of India (popularly referred to as UTI 1) and Mr Ajeet Prasad, Executive Director, UTI MF, has been assigned to be in charge of the AMC until a Chairman is announced.

Expectations in the fund house are that, in keeping with tradition, Mr Mathur himself would be appointed to the post of Chairman.

Speculations inside UTI's sprawling chrome and glass office at Bandra Kurla Complex, is that the Chairman and Managing Director's file had been going back and forth between the AMC, Ministry of Finance, and RBI. News of the impending resignation was further fuelled after IDBI's bond issue mopped up nearly three times the amount intended.

The book for dollar bonds being issued by the Industrial Development Bank of India received orders of around $500 million, on an expected issue size of $200-300 million.

This raised further questions about the Chairman of IDBI not focussing completely on the financial institution.

To dedicate all his time to IDBI, Mr Damodaran stepped down from his Chairmanship at Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services and National Stock Exchange, earlier this month. Mr S.B. Mathur was appointed as the Chairman of NSE also.

Employees of UTI MF say that Mr Damodaran would be missed for his new ideas and aggressive style of management.

"He opened a lot of doors for us. He spearheaded a lot of initiatives, and even made UTI a smart and suave workplace," said a UTI MF official.

Formally, the proposal for appointing a new chairman has to be made by the sponsor of the mutual fund. This announcement is expected in a couple of days' time, said sources.

Until then, though the operations of the fund house will not be affected, whispers in its corridors will certainly get louder.