'Heartening that people have understood importance of SIPs'

An investor fills out a repurchase form at the office of India's largest mutual fund manager, the Unit Trust of India, August 1, 2001, after the fund resumed redemptions in its flagship scheme, US-64. UTI stunned investors last month when it suspended withdrawals from US-64, following a steep fall in its value and heavy withdrawals in the preceding two months. The UTI crisis has also acquired political colour, with opposition parties calling for the resignation of Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha over his ministry's handling of the state-run fund. GV/RCS - RTRL9O9

Swati Kulkarni, Executive Vice-President of UTI Mutual Fund, said on Wednesday that it was heartening to see that people have understood the need for Systematic Investment Plans (SIPs).

Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Kulkarni said that the SIP route for investments was not very popular earlier, but now the mutual fund industry is now clocking an SIP book of nearly Rs 4,500 crore a month, which she said had been a structural change.

He said the overall asset allocation for growth-oriented equities was quite small and that it needs to go up for wealth creation to take place.

Kulkarni said that UTI had just launched the Smart Woman Savings Plan, a rebranding of the UTI Mahila Unit scheme. It is an open-ended debt-oriented plan with 30 percent equity allocation, and is available to women above 18 years of age. The scheme has given a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.5 percent over the past three years.

She said that more plans would be launched under this umbrella for different age groups and investment preferences.

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