UTI Petro Fund declares dividend of 20%

The record date for the dividend is December 1, 2006. All unitholders registered under the dividend option of UTI Petro Fund as on December 1, 2006 will be eligible for this dividend. Also investors who join the dividend option of the scheme on or before the record date will be eligible for the dividend. The NAV per unit as on November 27, 2006 was Rs.20.21 under the dividend option.

UTI Petro Fund was launched in May 1999 as an open-ended equity scheme. Investment objective of the scheme is to provide investors the benefits of capital appreciation and income distribution through investments in equities and equity related instruments of companies engaged in the area of oil and gas exploration & drilling, refining, petrochemicals, constructing and managing pipelines etc.

Gautami Desai, Fund Manager of the scheme said, "Petroleum sector is a good investment opportunity since the longer term trends as well as developments in the sector are favourable. While it is difficult to forecast the short-term movement in crude prices, long term fundamentals point to lower crude prices. The oil marketing companies are clear beneficiaries of falling crude prices.  Also the   increasing   market  share of  private  players in oil marketing is likely to drive deregulation in the sector. The upstream companies are focussing on increased exploration and production activities in Oil &Gas and hence are expected to benefit from increased volumes going forward. The Fund also has exposure to Gas transmission & distribution companies which are expected to have a high growth potential."

The last dividend declare by the scheme was 50% in December 2005. Over the last one year, UTI Petro Fund has yielded 21.43% as compared to 21.37% given by its benchmark Petro Index as on November 22, 2006.

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