Essel Finance targets Rs 1 lakh crore AUM for mutual fund biz

Essel Finance Management (EFM), one of India's leading private financial services firms from the $10 billion conglomerate Essel Group, is all set to launch its mutual fund business on Friday. It is targeting a significant pie of the growing mutual fund industry in India.

Amitabh Chaturvedi, managing director, Essel Finance, said, "We feel that the mutual fund industry will double its assets under management (AUM) in the next five to six years. At Essel Finance, our aim is to get a large pie of this growth with Rs 1 lakh crore AUM for Essel Mutual Fund in the next seven to eight years."

Earlier in August, EFM subsidiary Essel Finance Wealthzone Pvt Ltd, received the nod from the stock market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) to acquire the entire shareholding of the Peerless General Finance and Investment Company Ltd and others in Peerless Funds Management Co Ltd and Peerless Trust Management Co Ltd. The assets under management of Peerless General Finance stood at Rs 9,554 crore as on March 31.

At present, EFM is offering a range of financial services and products such as SME business loans through its non-banking financial company (NBFC), housing finance, forex, private equity, investment banking & distribution businesses.

This acquisition, Chaturvedi had said then, will strengthen Essel Finance's presence in financial services industry and establish Essel Finance as a large financial services conglomerate. "We will also strengthen our fund management team and distribution network," he had said.