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US-64 portfolio includes 81 non-existing cos

Ambarish Mukherjee

NEW DELHI, Sept. 25

THE portfolio of the UTI's US-64 scheme consists of shares of 81 companies which have become `non-existing companies' in which the trust's investment have depreciated by Rs 127.67 crore.

This revelation has come from the UTI itself in a reply to the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) set up for probing the March 2001 securities scam and later given the additional responsibility of looking into the situation which led to the suspension o f sale and redemption of US-64 units on July 2 this year.

According to the `List of non-existing companies on BSE under US 64 as on May 31, 2001' submitted to the JPC by the UTI, this includes two main companies of the Vinay Rai group, namely Malvika Steel and Usha India, which are now facing a CBI probe for si phoning off institutional funds through a series of shell companies.

Out of the 81 companies in the US-64 portfolio which are no longer being traded on BSE, the top 10 account for 54.18 per cent. According to a JPC member, who did not want to be named, ``It couldn't have been beyond the scope of UTI's market intelligence to make out that these companies were headed for the list of non-existing companies on the BSE. The question now is why didn't the trust exit from these investments earlier?''