Undeterred by a plunging sensex and the general apathy of investors towards equities, these equity schemes from mutual funds were launched by four asset management companies, including some specialised ones, since the beginning of the current fiscal. Besides, three equity funds have been lined up by IL&FS, Kotak and Prudential-ICICI AMCs, subject to approval by the Securities and Exchange Board of India.

``Collection by equity funds is a healthy sign and the numbers are pretty good although UTI has a good mix of institutional response in itsschemes. Besides, AMCs are now beginning to focus on specialised schemes like our information technology fund,'' says Vivek Reddy, Chief Investment Officer at Kothari Pioneer.

``Even mobilisation by the UTI is good considering that both the funds launched were specialised - one to invest in scrips comprising the sensex and the other to invest in B group companies,'' adds a fund manager.

Of the Rs 262 crore collected by equity IPOs, banks have contributed a whopping Rs 216 crore. In 1994-95, when the equity markets were booming, as much as Rs 13,312 crore was raised through equity. On the other hand, the last fiscal was the worst for equity funds in terms of number of schemes launched and the money mobilised.

During 1997-98, only four equity schemes (excluding equity-linked savings schemes) were launched which collected a mere Rs 118 crore. In fact, the number of equity fund launches has been on a decline since 1994-95 when 14 schemes entered the market. This dropped to 9 in 1995-96 and further to 6 in1996-97 which collected Rs 580 crore. This includes Rs 426 crore by JM Basic, the petrochemicals fund from JM Mutual Fund.

In 1997-98, the four funds included DSP-Merrill Lynch Equity Fund which collected Rs 82 crore, Index Equity Funds from UTI which mobilised Rs 31 crore and Sun F&C Value Fund with an initial subscription of Rs 3.5 crore. The fourth equity fund was from the Tata Twin Option Fund which offered equity and balanced schemes.

The six equity funds launched in the current fiscal include three from UTI and one each from Alliance, Kothari Pioneer and Prudential-ICICI. While the three equity funds from UTI collected Rs 380 crore, the Prudential growth plan managed Rs 60 crore. Another Rs 22 crore flowed into the kitty of Alliance equity and Kothari Pioneer IT fund.

On the other hand, bank issues kept the primary market ticking with the three IPOs from City Union Bank, UTI Bank and J&K Bank mobilising as much as Rs 130 crore of the total of Rs 145 crore. The fourth biggest issue of Rs 8 crorewas from Energy Development Corporation.

``This year, since the market was somewhat up in Q1, funds launched their equity schemes which had been postponed last year. Besides, people have been launching equity funds on the basis of their past performance,'' says Ajay Srinivasan at Prudential-ICICI.

``It is mainly driven by the rise in market in Q1 when the sensex crossed the 4200-level and management companies found it opportune to launch funds to complete their fund families. On the other hand, we have seen the launch of some specialised funds like the index and IT funds which are more targeted and focussed. Such funds do not have a mass appeal but can grow over a period of time on the basis of their performance,'' says an analyst.