The committee, which is likely to submit the report over the next few days to the UTI management, is also set to call for a government guarantee for liquidity support to the beleaguered US-64.

The panel's insistence on a standby centre guarantee for liquidity support is not surprising as finance minister Yashwant Sinha has made it clear that the Centre will back the scheme to the hilt. At the finance ministry's directive, the trust will maintain the present 20 per cent dividend on the US-64 despite the erosion in its net asset value (NAV).

It has been stepping up the sale and repurchase prices of units every month ever since the US-64 controversy rocked the financial system in September.

There is a consensus among committee members, it is learnt, that the US-64 shouldbe a fixed-return securities-oriented and NAV-driven scheme. However, the panel will not insist on declaring the NAV, sources said, as it feels that the scheme should continue to enjoy its special status and should not be subjected to Securities & Exchange Board of India regulations like other mutual funds.

Although no confirmation was available from committee members, sources in UTI said the six-member panel wants the mutual fund major to drastically reduce the dependence of fund on equities from the June 1998 level of about 66 per cent to about 20 per cent in the medium term. In other words, 80 per cent of the US-64 portfolio should comprise fixed-return securities to improve its ability to maintain dividends. The panel, however, has not fixed any time frame for a reduction in the debt portfolio, although the general feeling among members is that the complete restructuring should be over by the next two years, sources said.