Franklin Templeton to launch new Capital Safety Fund

Mumbai, Oct 19 (UNI) Franklin Templeton Investments (India), eying on the increasing population of the individuals with voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) or retirement proceeds, has launched a capital protection opriented scheme called ''Franbklin Templeton Capital Safety Fund''.

Making a formal announcement in this connection before the mediapersons here today, Franklin Templeton India President Vivek Kudva said, ''The new fund will enable investors to benefit from the upside potential of equity investments without subjecting their capital to market-related volatility.'' ''Though a good product for first time mutual fund investors, we believe that this fund has a place in the portfolio of all investors,'' he hoped.

Priced at Rs 10 per unit, the new fund offer which has already been rated as AAA by Crisil, will begin on October 31 and end on November 30.

Franklin Templeton's CIO (Fixed Income) Santosh Kamath said the debt investment in the fund would be conservatively managed to reduce both credit and interest rate risk, while the equity portion would be managed by FT's equity team.

Minimum investment required for the fund is Rs 10,000 and the date of allotment fixed for it is December 29. Apart from the retirees, the fund would also be useful for all the investors allocating part of their savings to 'safe' investment, he added.

Crisil Head (Financial Ratings) Krishnan Sitaraman informed that the new fund by Franklin Templeton India was only one of the 10 such funds that were being launched by six Assets Management Companies (AMC) which include Reliance, HDFC, Sundaram and others.

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