The Hindu Business Line : Korean firm Mirae gets SEBI licence to begin MF operations in India

Mr Arindam Ghosh (right), CEO, Mirae Asset Global Investment Management (India) Pvt Ltd, with Mr Hun Jun Jang, Head - Marketing and Corporate Communications, at a press conference held in Mumbai on Monday. —

Our Bureau

Mumbai, Dec. 3 Mirae Asset, a Korean independent financial service provider, has received the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) licence to start mutual fund operations in India.

It plans to begin these operations in India around January end, subject to fulfilling all formalities.

The company plans to launch its products soon across equity and fixed income categories and will start operations in 23 cities. It will infuse Rs 200 crore as seed capital.

“We are putting in place one of the largest investment teams in for both the equity and fixed income portfolios and plan to introduce six-eight equity and three-four debt related products in the next 18 months,” said Mr Arindam Ghosh, CEO, Mirae Asset Global Investment Management (India) Pvt Ltd.

“Mirae Asset has set up a large education centre in Korea, which has a capacity of training and providing residential facilities to more than 300 personnel and we plan to mirror the initiative by setting up a separate division for investment education in India, to provide unbiased investment knowledge to distributors and investors,” said Mr Ghosh.

“The sectors which we will be looking at include, banking, capital goods and infrastructure, whereas IT, pharmaceutical and textile are some sectors which we plan to stay away from,” added Mr Ghosh.

The company has assets under management of Rs 5,20,000 crore, as on October 31, 2007 and provides a broad range of financial services globally, including asset management, wealth management, life insurance, and investment banking. The company is headquartered out of Seoul, South Korea.