Franklin Templeton Asset Management (India) on Monday said the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) has stayed Sebi's order, whereby the regulator had barred the asset management firm from launching any new debt scheme for two years. In addition, the regulator had asked Franklin Templeton to refund investment management and advisory fees to the tune of Rs 512 crore, including interest, collected with respect to its six debt schemes which are now shut. "With reference to the order issued by Whole Time Member(WTM) of Sebi on June 7, 2021, Franklin Templeton Asset Management (India) Pvt Ltd filed an appeal and an application for stay before the Hon'ble SAT. "After hearing the parties, the Hon'ble SAT has stayed the operation of the order passed by the WTM," a Franklin Templeton spokesperson said in a statement. The matter has been listed on August 30, 2021 for further directions, he added.
Sebi on Monday imposed a penalty totalling Rs 15 crore on senior officials of Franklin Templeton AMC and its trustee for violating regulatory norms in the case of winding up of six debt schemes in 2020. However, a spokesperson of Franklin Templeton said they disagree with the findings in Sebi's order and intend to file an appeal with the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT). A fine of Rs 3 crore has been levied on Franklin Templeton Trustee Services Pvt Ltd and Rs 2 crore each on Franklin Asset Management (India) Pvt Ltd President Sanjay Sapre and its chief investment officer Santosh Kamat, according to the Sebi order. In addition, the regulator imposed a penalty of Rs 1.5 crore each on fund managers -- Kunal Agarwal, Pallab Roy, Sachin Padwal Desai and Umesh Sharma -- as well as former fund manager Sumit Gupta.
Franklin Templeton Asset Management (India) on Tuesday said it strongly disagrees with the findings in Sebi's order in the case of winding of six debt schemes in 2020 and has decided to challenge the direction in Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT).
Allaying investors' fears, Franklin Templeton AMC has said Sebi's order prohibiting the company from launching new debt funds will have no bearing on existing schemes managed by it. Sebi on Monday barred Franklin Templeton Asset Management (India) from launching any new debt scheme for two years and imposed a penalty of Rs 5 crore for violating regulatory norms in the case of winding up of six debt schemes in 2020. Also, it has been asked to refund investment management and advisory fees of over Rs 512 crore (including interest) collected with respect to the six debt schemes. This amount will be used to repay unitholders, as per Sebi order.
The Securities Appellate Tribunal has stayed a Sebi order that barred Franklin Templeton's Asia Pacific head Vivek Kudva and his wife Roopa from the securities market for one year.
The Enforcement Directorate is conducting searches at some places linked to asset manager Franklin Templeton and its former and current executives as part of a money laundering investigation, officials said on Thursday. The federal agency is looking to gather more evidence as part of its investigation against the company and its promoters under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). Office and residential premises in Mumbai and Chennai are being searched, they said.
Sebi on Monday barred Franklin Templeton AMC from launching any new debt scheme for two years and fined it Rs 5 crore for violating regulatory norms in the case of winding up of six debt schemes in 2020. Also, it has been asked to refund investment management and advisory fees to the tune of Rs 512 crore, including interest, collected with respect to the six debt schemes, Sebi said in its 100-page order. In a separate order, the regulator has barred Vivek Kudva, former head of Asia Pacific (APAC) for Franklin Templeton, and his wife Roopa from the securities market for one year for redeeming units of Franklin Templeton MF schemes while in possession of non-public information.
Any speculation suggesting otherwise, or any rumours around sale of our business in India are incorrect and simply that -- rumours, says head of the US-based asset manager.
Franklin Templeton Mutual Fund, which has closed six debt schemes, has said the winding-up process will be delayed in the absence of authorisation from investors and further steps will be possible only after seeking fresh approval from them. It further said that investors who do not have an e-mail ID or mobile number registered with the fund house will not be able to participate in the voting process. The date on which the voting would start has not been disclosed yet.
With a 'yes' vote, there is a more foreseeable outcome, while a 'no' could result in greater uncertainty, for which retail investors may not have the appetite.
'Mobius made EMs investable and India his most enduring belief.'
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has directed Franklin Templeton MF to pay Rs 5 crore as penalty, return over Rs 450 crore collected as 22-month investment management and advisory fees, and imposed a two-year ban on launching new debt schemes for alleged irregularities in running six of its debt schemes that were shuttered last year.
Industry body Association of Mutual Funds in India on Friday assured investors that a majority of fixed income mutual funds assets are invested in superior credit quality securities and such schemes have appropriate liquidity to ensure normal operations. The statement by the industry body came after Franklin Templeton Mutual Fund voluntarily decided to wind up its six debt schemes citing redemption pressure and lack of liquidity in bond markets due to the coronavirus pandemic.
State-run insurer LIC and private fund house Franklin Templeton have hiked their stake in Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries by collectively buying about 23 lakh shares, currently worth an estimated Rs 200 crore (Rs 2 billion).
Schemes among the six wound up by the fund house had given a loan of Rs 518 crore against non-convertible debentures to the firm in March 2019, according to ED's chargesheet.
Elections in nine states coupled with possible geo-political tension and rise in oil prices may prove to be a dampener for high economic growth.
The SIF vertical, which allows MFs to offer complex products to relatively sophisticated investors, has managed to garner scale in just seven months of the launch of the first products.
In fact, the current market scenario provides more value investment opportunities. So, it is positive for mutual funds.
We expect the Indian equity market to continue attracting interest from local as well as foreign investors. This is because India's economy is expected to continue to record sustained economic growth.
'Investing in these funds makes sense if their net yield over better-quality funds -- corporate bond funds or banking and PSU funds -- is meaningful.'
Sensex and Nifty post steepest weekly loss in over a year, falling nearly 3 per cent.
There was no postal intimation to unitholders who didn't have a registered email address, according to a letter that Midas Touch Investors Association sent to Sebi.
Forget Starbucks coming into India. Witness the expansion of Caf Coffee Day, which is set to mushroom across the country.
Despite the toned-down estimates, Sukumar Rajah, MD and CIO -- Asian Equities, Franklin Templeton Investments, tells Business Standard that India maintains the lead in economic growth vis-a-vis most of its peers and the regulatory risk will reduce.
Citing the continuing 'cyclical turnaround' in the economy and the 'positives' in Union Budget for 2003-04, mutual fund Franklin Templeton has said the FMCG segment was in for better times.
The ED case follows the police complaint for alleged criminal conspiracy and defrauding investors.
Mark Mobius, the 71-year old investment guru and executive chairman of Franklin Templeton Investments, has a positive view on the Indian market and feels that stock valuations have become attractive after the 27 per cent cut in benchmark equity indices since late January.Stating that it was difficult to predict the end of the current phase, Mobius said he expected the decoupling to continue in the long term.
Taking credit risks in shorter-tenure funds can help jack up returns considerably, boosting sales.
'It takes time and the experience of a few market cycles to develop awareness about one's true risk appetite.'
As the stock markets scale new peaks almost every day in a pre-poll rally, a vast majority of Indian investors expect a further rise in equities in the current year, says a survey.
Five Indian-origin women executives have made it to Barron's prestigious annual '100 Most Influential Women in US Finance' list for achieving positions of prominence in the financial services industry and helping shape its future. Barron's is a sister publication of the Wall Street Journal, published by Dow Jones and Company. "The list honours established and emerging leaders in financial services, the corporate world, nonprofit organisations, and government," the magazine said in a press release.
'Investors should restrict themselves to a few category schemes with high quality portfolios apart from overnight and liquid funds.'
