Alliance Cap MF hit by Rs 346-cr H1 loss

Jai Kumar NR

New Delhi, Oct 31: Alliance Capital Mutual Fund has suffered a staggering loss of almost Rs 346 crore on investments during the first-half period ended September 30, 2001. The fund has suffered the loss mainly on account of sale of its equity investments and redemption pressures. The huge loss is attributed to seven of its schemes, and of this, six are equity-related schemes, according to the unaudited half-yearly results.

The six equity schemes which booked losses in investments include Alliance New Millennium (Rs 157 crore), Alliance Equity Fund (Rs 106.1 crore), balanced scheme Alliance ’95 Fund (loss Rs 61.43 crore), Alliance Capital Tax Relief ’96 (Rs 4.52 crore), Alliance Basic Industries (Rs 2.01 crore) and Alliance Buy India Fund (Rs 7.41 crore). Also, its monthly income scheme, Alliance Monthly Income, has booked a loss of Rs 6.91 crore. Thanks to the depressed equity markets and redemption pressures during the first-half, seven schemes have witnessed a combined erosion in their net assets to the tune of Rs 512 crore. The total net assets of Rs 1,746.49 crore under these equity-related schemes at the beginning of the half-year period have dipped to Rs 1,234.34 crore as on September 30, 2001.

Alliance Capital has seen heavy redemptions in the seven schemes as their combined unit capital has plunged by Rs 204.16 crore during the six-month period. The unit capital of the seven schemes as on March 31, 2001 aggregated Rs 1,627.58 crore, which fell to Rs 1,423.42 crore during the period. The mutual fund’s monthly income scheme and the three sector-specific funds are also running a negative reserve. The performance of the six pure equity funds has been lacklustre during the past one year as they have given a negative return in the range of 12-70 per cent.