Mirae Asset Management, one of South Korea's biggest investment companies, hopes to launch its first mutual fund in India early in the new year after the country's regulators last week gave it a licence to operate.

"India is on the cusp of a multi-decade growth phase," said Arindam Ghosh, chief executive of Mirae Asset Global Investment Management (India).

"We are eager to become a significant player in the Indian mutual fund industry." Indian stock markets have rallied by up to 50 per cent this year, stimulating interest in mutual funds.

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Foreign involvement is growing.

Mirae joins international money managers like Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, Prudential Financial and Morgan Stanley in managing India's Rs5,300bn (�66bn, Euro92bn, $134bn) of assets invested in mutual funds.

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"We are putting in place one of the largest investment teams in India for both the equity and fixed income portfolio," said Mr Ghosh, who formerly worked for Fidelity.

Mirae says it will launch equity and fixed income funds through offices and representatives in 23 cities.

It plans to have six to eight equity funds, including a globally invested fund, and three or four debt schemes within 18 months.

The company is in the process of submitting its plans to the regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India, which last week licensed Mirae to start mutual fund operations in the country.

The first equity fund could debut as early as the third week of January.

The South Korean parent said it was investing $50m in seed capital for its Indian operations.

Educating investors has been part of Mirae's strategy in South Korea.

"We plan to mirror this initiative by setting up a separate division for investment education in India and ensure that we provide unbiased investment knowledge to distributors and investors," Mr Ghosh said.

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