The Indian mutual fund (MF) is set to witness the launch of a Franklin Templeton scheme from the Templeton Asset Management India Ltd. (TAMIL) stable. The second scheme by the MF is a monthly income plan - Templeton Monthly Income Plan.

Both these funds will be open for subscription between January 24, 2000 and February 2, 2000. As revealed by TAMIL CEO and country manager, Rajiv Vij, both these funds will be open-ended and have a systematic withdrawal and systematic investment plan. The investment decision of the funds will be broadly on the bottom-up approach and growth opportunities stocks rather than any specific sector investments. This was reported in a leading financial daily.

The launch of Franklin Templeton India Growth Fund is the first one from the Franklin Templeton series of funds. The Franklin Templeton funds are a big hit with investors in the US and Templeton India will be looking to duplicate that success in the domestic market. This is the first time a MF is launching an overseas brand in the country. It will make an attempt to leverage the brand in the Indian market. However, given the low awareness level among Indian MF investors, it remains to be seen how successful TAMIL will be in leveraging the Franklin Templeton brand name in India.

TAMIL's strategy of launching a general growth fund, as opposed to a sector-specific fund, marks a break from the current trend prevailing in the industry. Indian MFs today can't seem to get enough of sectoral funds (especially infotech) and to that extent TAMIL is doing something different.

The company's approach is cautious and it does not want to bet heavily on any one sector. By diversifying across sectors it will no doubt infuse a degree of stability in its performance, however it will lose out on the amazing growth that some sectoral funds (mostly infotech) have been witnessing over the past few months. But given TAMIL's investment philosophy, a general fund probably fits in better with its scheme of things than a sectoral fund. Investors who are looking for exponential growth in exchange for a little risk may decided to keep away from the fund. On the other hand, the 'safe' investor who likes TAMIL's investment philosophy will choose to invest in the general growth fund.

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