Post offices to sell new UTI mutual fund

Coimbatore: The Postmaster General, Western Region, K.V. Sundar Rajan, launched the sale of UTI India Lifestyle Fund through post offices here on Wednesday.

The fund opened on July 2 and closes on July 25. The minimum investment is Rs. 5,000 and in multiples of Re. 1. The allotment date is August 16, this year and the maturity date is August 17, 2010.

The fund will be a three-year, close-ended equity scheme with automatic conversion into an open ended scheme on maturity. Investors have the growth option and dividend option.

The fund will be invested in equity and equity-related securities of companies, including those in the derivatives segment.

‘The fund will seek to benefit by investing in those companies and sectors which will profit from the domestic consumption led boom,’ according to a brochure on the fund.

Individuals, institutions, non-resident Indians and Foreign Institutional Investors are the eligible investors.

Mr. Sundar Rajan urged the postal staff to educate investors on the security available in investing in mutual funds.

‘Today, mutual fund is a vibrant, growing market. A customer should be informed that mutual funds are a relatively safe investment,’ he said.

Unlike earlier days, when not many options were available to investors, now they had several products to invest their money.

The Postal Department had a huge network and was able to mobilise a lot of investments through this network. This was why several companies preferred to launch the sale of their products through post offices, Mr. Sundar Rajan added.