The Hindu Business Line : HSBC AMC launches Advantage India Fund

HSBC Mutual Fund on Monday announced the launch of its new fund offer, HSBC Advantage India Fund, an open-ended equity scheme that will invest in equities - primarily in sectors, areas and themes that play an important role in or benefit from India's socio-economic progress.

HSBC Investments, the trading name of HSBC Asset Management (India) Pvt Ltd, also plans to launch portfolio management services (PMS) during next year, said Mr Sanjay Prakash, CEO.

He added that the new fund was different from the existing schemes in the market in that it will not have any capitalisation bias (like mid-cap, large-cap, etc) or style-bias (like IT or auto). "The fund seeks to identify key themes that are important for India's growth."

The fund, which is the first new fund offer by HSBC Mutual Fund in 11 months, is aimed at the long-term investors, he said.

"The new fund will use a flexi-theme approach to invest in diverse sectors considered to be attractive in the prevailing economic context."

Mr Anup Maheshwari, Chief Investment Officer, said equities offered good prospect for returns for the investors as the rise in the BSE-30 index was accompanied by similar growth in corporate sales and the economy. For instance, while the Sensex rose by 7.2 times in the last 14 years, the GDP has grown by 5.5 times and corporate earnings by 10 times, he said.

For future launches, Mr Prakash said, "exciting times" were ahead as HSBC AMC is planning to launch PMS for high net worth individuals next year. Other services are also in the pipeline, he said, without elaborating.

The HSBC Advantage India Fund will be launched on December 30 and will close on January 27.