Mahindra Manulife Mutual Fund ( MMMF) wants to be in the top ten rankings among the mutual funds industry league in terms of "net flow" in next three years, Ashutosh Bishnoi, MD & CEO has said.
This fund house, which started its journey in 2016, also aspires to have the largest number of customers from the B30 markets (Beyond top 30 cities) in the next ten years.
"Investors in smaller markets are far savvier about risk than investor in urban markets", Bishnoi told BusinessLine here.
A higher "net flow" -- gross assets minus the redemptions--reflects the level of trust that customers repose on the fund house,
It is currently placed at 15th or 16th rank, an improvement over the level of 28th rank three years back, according to Bishnoi. "We have closed a lot of rank. But we are competing with good players. Lot of people in this business do damn good job and it is not easy to increase rank from here", he noted.
MMMF, which has an assets under management of about ₹ 8,000 crore, is eyeing break even by 2028, Bishnoi added. While it's retail AUM stood at ₹ 6,200 crore, as much as 28 per cent of such assets came from B30 cities.
This fund house is now launching a 'Balanced Advantage Yojana' from Dec 9 and is aiming to raise ₹ 500 crore through the New Fund Offer.
Bishnoi, who has nearly four decades of experience in the consumer marketing and financial services business, said that MMMF as a matter of strategy does not chase institutional money as it is not profitable.
"Purpose of our business is to serve the small investor. Purpose drives strategy. We want to be seen as FMCG equivalent of investment business", he said.
It maybe recalled that Manulife, a Canadian multinational insurance and financial services provider, had in April 2020 picked up a 49 per cent stake in Mahindra Mutual Fund for $ 35 million.
Bishnoi also said that discussions are on with Manulife to try and develop products on the longer side. He indicated that MMMF is looking to launch a corporate bond fund in first quarter next fiscal. It may also look at a small cap fund although nothing has been decided as yet.
Talks are on with Manulife to explore if regular income product could be introduced for the Indian market in the coming days.
"There is fantastically large market in India for regular income product. There are not adequate products now. There is a Manulife product in Asia Pacific--Global multiasset distribution of income. We may look at a similar product", he said.
In the alternative, MMMF may look at structuring a sytematic withdrawal plan (SWP), Bishnoi added.