``These funds are expected to be launched in the next couple of months and the draft prospectus will be filed with Sebi shortly,'' Dundee Mutual Fund President Sunil Joseph said.

He said under the American/global depository receipts fund, Dundee will invest only in those companies which have raised money in the international market. Under this fund, Dundee will raise money in the domestic market and invest only in GDRs/ADRs of Indian companies. Dundee is the first fund which would come out with this kind of a scheme in the country. The move follows Sebi guidelines to allow domestic mutual funds to invest in Indian stocks listed abroad.

Joseph said the fund is expected to be launched in January, next year. On the balanced fund, he said out of the total corpusin the fund, 60 per cent would be invested in equities and the rest in debt.

For the first time, the Canada-based Dundee MF would be launching funds for investment in equities in the country. Currently, it has three schemes which are dedicated for investment in debt. These are a gilt fund and a short-term debt fund while the initial offer of the bond fund is currently open for subscription. The bond fund has two separate plans for investments in corporate debt and debt paper of public sector companies.

On Dundee's overall plans in the country, Joseph said the fund plans to increase its portfolio size from the current level of Rs 35 crore to Rs 100 crore by March 2000. ``We are hopeful of getting a good response from these two new schemes which would increase our total portfolio,'' he said.

Joseph said the fund is also looking for innovative schemes for the domestic market. These new planned funds include real estate fund and bullion fund. These funds would be launched after getting the necessaryapproval from the various regulators including RBI for heading in metals.

In order to expand its distribution network, the fund has tied-up with Stock Holding Corporation of India (SHCIL) for distribution of its mutual fund schemes through the latter's network of 70 branches across India. Initially, the Canada-based mutual fund will offer its schemes through nine centres of SHCIL, namely, Ahmedabad, Delhi, Mumbai, Calcutta, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Jaipur and Chandigarh.

The tie-up is part of Dundee's long-term goal to increase its distribution throughout India and provide investors with high quality services locally. Investors will also be able to redeem their units through SHCIL centres. Currently, distributors only sell mutual fund schemes while for redemption for units, the investor has to approach the mutual fund. u