The Unit Trust of India sub-group, which was set up to chalk out an action plan on the Joint Parliamentary Committee recommendations, may submit its report on January 15.

The day will also mark the formal bifurcation of UTI into UTI-I and UTI-II. The four sponsors of the trust -- Life Insurance Corporation, Bank of Baroda, Punjab National Bank and State Bank of India -- will sign the formal sponsorship agreement on that day.

This will also set the stage for the appointed date for the split.

The four sponsors will hold equal stakes of 25 per cent each in the sponsor company of UTI-II. The signing ceremony is expected to be attended by a host of finance ministry officials, the chiefs of these sponsor banks, UTI chairman M Damodaran and Finance Minister Jaswant Singh.

"Subsequent to signing of the agreement, a date will be set on which the two entities become separate," a source close to the development said.