Search the Internet          Tips  Sites: Finance, Investment

UTI sells Rs 2 billion shares to LIC

Cash-strapped mutual fund manager, the Unit Trust of India, sold a little over Rs 2 billion worth of shares from its portfolio to the Life Insurance Corporation, a top UTI official said on Monday.

The transaction between the two state-owned institutions was part of UTI's normal secondary market operations, B G Daga, UTI's executive director said.

"We sold some shares through spot deals," he said. "Around Rs 2 billion worth were sold about a week ago."

UTI, which is India's largest mutual fund manager, has been battling a stock market slump and redemptions.

Daga declined to comment on what shares were sold.

But the Business Standard newspaper said the sales included shares in power utility BSES Ltd.

UTI manages about Rs 575 billion or two-thirds of the total assets of the mutual fund industry.

It rattled investors and the nation's financial markets by freezing redemptions at its flagship US-64 fund in July after an upsurge in redemptions triggered by a sharp decline in Indian share prices.

It re-opened its window for small investors from August 1, accepting redemption requests for up to 3,000 units per investor.

Tell us what you think of this report