How does HDFC MF view Sebi's new norms?

Excerpts from Markets Midday on CNBC-TV18 Watch the full show » RELATED NEWS SEBI extends ASBA to MFs, reduces NFO period to 15 days

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has brought in sweeping changes for the mutual fund industry. These include, for starters, a cut in the new fund offer period to 15 days and tighter corporate governance norms.

In an exclusive interview with CNBC-TV18, Milind Barve of HDFC Mutual Fund, analyses the new norms and gives his outlook going forward.

Here is a verbatim transcript of the exclusive interview with Milind Barve on CNBC-TV18. Also watch the accompanying video.

Q: First this NFO issue that is a relatively minor announcement, do you think the reduction of the period of offer is going to make any difference at all to the kind of response that you might be getting?

A: Not really. Everybody knows that most of the money really comes from last few days and sometimes mostly the last two days of the offer, so in that sense keeping an offer open for something like 30-45 days serves no real purpose. I think Sebi is very correct in what it has done because there is no benefit for an investor who comes in say on the day when the issue opens. So there is no reason why an AMC should really take that money as early as 35-45 days before the issue closes. Also because most money can be put to use over a period of time, so this is very fair. I don't think it impacts ability to raise money in an NFO in any manner and I think it's just fair to all the investors.