Speaking at a media meet here on Wednesday, Kothari Pioneer's chief executive Vivek Reddy said that since inception of the scheme in June 1997, it had delivered an annualised return of 14.47 per cent as on May 31, 1999, which compares well with the return on other investments offering similar liquidity and safety. This was possible because IBA pays a 11 per cent tax, while investors pay 33 per cent tax when they invest in bank deposits and other fixed income securities, he said. The net asset size of the scheme has grown to Rs 100 crore.

Kothari Pioneer had also doubled growth with an asset base of Rs 550 crore for 1998-99 from Rs 270crore in the previous year. The asset base is likely to double in the next three years, he said.

Speaking about the mutual fund industry, Reddy said that investors had few options for investment and were turning back to this sector. ``Many people are now questioning the safety of their investments even in government institutional bonds, while technology has paved the way for better and more efficient services in the private sector.

Kothari Pioneer itself was going in for some innovative measures to step up services. NAVs will be posted at the company's website or will be sent to the e-mail address of the customer everyday automatically upon a requisition from the latter. The account holder will be able to access through the internet his account balances, account history and transaction details for the last two years for example. With massive cuts in lease line tariffs, the company plans to link up other centres as well. A consolidated account statement for one customer will be provided - instead ofvarious statements on different mutual funds.

Within the next nine to twelve months, the company expects 100 per cent growth. It would consider giving dividend on equity funds in August this year.