UP Mutual Fund market worth Rs 4,800 cr

Lucknow, Mar 7 (UNI) To harness the potential of the burgeoning Mutual Fund market in Uttar Pradesh -- currently estimated at Rs 4,800 crore, leading fund managers DSP Merrill Lynch today opened its Lucknow branch.

Addressing a news conference on the occasion, Vinay Shukla, DSP Merrill Lynch Vice President and Joint Head (Channel Sales), said the local branch would cater to the growing investor base in the region.

Earlier, the company was operating through its channel partners and distributors in UP.

''The mutual fund market in the UP capital itself is worth about Rs 2,000 crore,'' he informed.

On the current melt-down in the Indian stock exchanges, Mr Shukla said the investor should have a long term perspective ranging from 3-5 years for capitalising on the Indian growth story.

''The market capitalisation of the Indian companies will double from their current level in the next five years,'' he forecast.

DSP Merrill Lynch Mutual Fund is a wholly owned subsidiary of DSP Merrill Lynch Ltd, one of India's premier financial services companies and Merrll Lynch's joint venture in the country.

''The retail interest in the capital market is growing substantially from smaller cities like Lucknow. We are very keen to expand our network to cater to the growing investor base and offer them financial products, which would suit their needs,'' he added.

DSP Merrill Lynch has operations in 17 Indian cities, while the network would be further strengthened in the northern part of the country, he said.

The company has Asset Under Management (AUM) worth Rs 13,638 crore spread over 18 schemes in the country.

DSP Merrill Lynch's top performing funds have won several awards from organisations like CRISIL, ICRA and other prestigious institutions.

Merrill Lynch is one of the world's leading capital-raising and advisory companies and owns just under half of BlackRock, one of the world's largest public traded investment management companies with about one trillion dollars in AUM.

UNI