The Specified Undertaker of Unit Trust of India (SUUTI) is ready to pay the Rs 8,000 crore due to the 1.2 million investors in Unit Scheme 1964 (US-64), many of whom have been associated with India's oldest mutual fund scheme for 44 years.
US-64, the 6.75 per cent five-year fixed-tenure tax-free bonds, will come up for maturity by the end of next month.
SUUTI, the successor to Unit Trust of India's assured return schemes, informed sources said, will clear its liabilities without having to sell the family silver its substantial holdings in blue-chips.
It holds 9.11 per cent equity in L&T, nearly 12 per cent in ITC and 27 per cent in Axis Bank. SUUTI will meet the redemption requirements out of its investments in government securities, debentures, oil bonds and fixed deposits which will mature on May 31.
This year, the government has budgeted for Rs 9,000 crore from the sale of SUUTI assets. "We have created enough liquidity and funds are available with us to meet the redemption on May 31, 2008. We have already informed our unit holders," said a senior official with SUUTI.
It has also garnered around Rs 600 crore by selling real estate properties over the past few years. According to industry estimates, UTI's headquarters in Mumbai's Bandra-Kurla Complex, which was under SUUTI, was sold to UTI AMC for well above Rs 200 crore.
Apart from US-64 bonds, UTI had also issued 6.6 per cent tax free bonds against the assured return schemes that it used to manage.These bonds will mature on March 31, 2009.
