The Hindu Business Line : Hubli turns hotspot for UTI's PMS

Hubli has contributed a chunk of the Rs 180 crore or so now handled by the PMS run by the country's No 1 asset management company. Investors in Hubli have handed over Rs 25 crore to UTI MF, a development that Mr U.K. Sinha, CEO, feels will speak of the marked but largely untapped potential of small Indian towns.

"This did not come from a single individual but from multiple clients," he said, adding that the MF will now try to extend the service, which is so far restricted to only big-ticket investors, to a wider audience.

Axel: Wealth management, a relatively new business taken up by UTI MF, is currently marketed under the brand name `Axel'. It has started off by offering discretionary services to clients, keeping in view their requirements and risk profiles.

The products that have been worked out are named Axel FF (a fixed-fee scheme) and Axel VF (a fixed and performance linked scheme). Under the latter, management fees are charged on a fixed and variable basis.

The amount per se (that is, Rs 25 crore) may be small by contemporary standards, reiterates the CEO, indicating that like in the rest of the country, the local economy too has provided good opportunities for wealth creation. For the record, a section of Hubli's investors are known to have gained from the plantations sector.

UTI MF has now set an ambitious target of Rs 1,000 crore, for the PMS to be attained over the next few years. This, it feels, will be possible if more people see value in the service - especially those in the Rs 20-50 lakh category.

"While the Rs 5-crore ticket may not materialise in a hurry, today we have more infrastructure to market the concept of portfolio management," Mr Sinha pointed out while referring to the MF's network of 60-plus branches and about 350 district representatives.