Mahindra AMC looks to focus on rural, semi-urban markets

 New Delhi: Mahindra Asset Management Company (AMC), which has received an approval from capital markets regulator Sebi to set up mutual fund business on Saturday said ,it will focus on rural and semi-urban markets.

The company is also in the process of setting up its products and marketing.

Mahindra AMC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Mahindra and Mahindra Financial Services, is the latest Indian conglomerate to enter the mutual fund segment.

At present, there are over 40 mutual fund houses operating in the country.

The company will focus on rural and semi-urban markets where its non-bank lender parent Mahindra Finance has a strong presence.

"We are committed to reaching out to semi-urban and rural markets. We believe that many of the investors from these markets are new to mutual funds," Mahindra AMC Managing Director and Chief Executive Ashutosh Bishnoi said.

Interestingly, smaller towns have contributed 44 percent of total inflows in the past fiscal.

"Our primary focus is to meet the investment needs of semi-urban and rural investors. Mahindra Finance has been serving the borrowing needs of such customers for two decades, and now we are aligning ourselves to the investment needs of the same customers," he said.

Mahindra AMC has filed papers with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) for launching at least four schemes.

These schemes are Mahindra MF Bachat Yojana, Mahindra MF Kar Bachat Yojana, Mahindra MF Bal Vikas Yojana and Mahindra Liquid Fund, as per information available with Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi).

"Our idea is to explain the investment opportunities to customers in our priority markets in their own language starting with the product names. Among our prospects there are both, the service class as well as self employed occupational groups. We have created a product for each customer profile.

"We believe that helping each such group of customers to understand the role of a specific mutual fund product in his or her life will be the key to our success," he added.

Earlier in February, Mahindra AMC had received an approval from Sebi to set up mutual fund business.