The Hindu Business Line : Ramakrishna Mission may invest in pvt equity fund

THE Ramakrishna Mission, which figures among the country's top religious institutions, is set to take a new step on the investment front, courtesy a proposal that may see it dabble for the first time in private equity.

The Mission has turned its attention to the ICICI Bank-promoted India Advantage Fund V & VI, which, if negotiations bear fruit, will carry its allocations (the amount is not being revealed at this stage).

RKM, which does not wish to deal directly with stocks, finds private equity a more comfortable vehicle. The latter, which entails investment in select companies with the objective of securing higher value over time, is being seen as a means of diversifying its portfolio.

"This will be our first involvement in private equity," said Mr Jaishankar Maharaj, who handles the Mission's investments, adding that the result of the talks will be known soon.

India Advantage Fund I and II, it may be mentioned here, was earlier offered by ICICI Bank with a corpus of $250 million. The bank's Web site puts the targeted annual internal rate of return in excess of 30 per cent over a seven-year period. India Advantage Fund III & IV also had its USP. Version V & VI is expected to tap "the India growth story across various sectors through investments in privately held companies."

For the Mission, exposure to stocks has lately come by way of systematic investment plans in select equity funds. These plans, Mr Jaishankar Maharaj mentioned, help an investor in terms of rupee cost averaging, considered especially significant in a market marked by extreme volatility.

"The equity market has been moving up and down sharply. We are not comfortable with this at all. Approaching the market in a regular, even regimented, manner is what we want to do," he told Business Line in areference to the recent fluctuations - a single-day 200 point-plus drop seen last week, followed by a 200-point-plus rise on Monday. RKM will not be overly concerned even if the market declines suddenly again, he added.

The Mission, it is explained, is in favour of equity investments, provided these are done through the systematic investment route. "The state of fixed income being what it is today, equity allocations are quite necessary for investors like us," the RKM functionary maintained. Religious bodies follow a set of rigorous norms when it comes to managing their investments.

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Ramakrishna Mission may invest in pvt equity fund