LIC MF woos India’s wealthy with new equity PMS

LIC Mutual Fund has recently launched an equity Portfolio Management Service (PMS), targeting High Net-Worth Individuals (HNIs) in India. The asset manager has hired Azeem Ahmad, a financial markets veteran from ICICI Securities, as its principal officer. The PMS division of LIC AMC already manages around Rs. 1,600 crore of assets.

The bulk of this money comes from institutions such as the National Skill Development Fund and the Insurance Institute of India, and is earmarked for debt rather than equity.

According to Ahmad, the new PMS, called Factor PMS, will be built around rules-based filters tracking a model evolved by global index provider MSCI. The filtered universe of stocks will then be analysed by the fund manager and his team, bringing in an element of active management.

The fund, which will invest in large and mid-cap stocks with a target portfolio of 18-25 shares, will have a management fee of 1.5% (under direct plan) and no performance fee.