UTI Mutual Fund through with a year establishing prestige
Mumbai: UTI Mutual Fund was created one year ago virtually from the rib of Unit Trust of India, a once-glorious institution that was mired in public scandal by private interests, says a report. When Finance Ministry sent M Damodaran, then banking secretary, as chairman to the 37-year-old UTI in July 2001, its entire top brass was in the dock facing a corruption enquiry and assets, including those of the flagship US-64, had lost more than half their value. Trust had literally vanished from Unit Trust of India.

On February 1, 2003, the Government divided the mutual fund into two - Specified Undertaking of UTI (UTI-I) and UTI MF (UTI-II). It assumed ownership of UTI-I by paying off investors in cash and tax-free bonds and migrating others to UTI-II. Technically, UTI MF was a new asset manager with new sponsors. However, for a new fund it was unique in that it was the largest in the industry with nearly Rs 14,000 crore of assets belonging to about 25 lakh investors under management.
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