``The trustees of the fund have recently approved the proposal to offer stock lending facility in the wake of the Sebi decision to start rolling settlement from next year,'' said Kothari Pioneer Mutual Fund chief executive Vivek Reddy. Under the stock lending facility, the mutual fund will lend shares from its portfolio to investors who have sold the short-sold securities. Stock lending has gained importance following the Sebi decision to introduce mandatory rolling settlement in select scrips. Reddy said by offering the stock lending facility, the fund will make extra money.

He, however, said the norms by the fund for lending the securities will be much more stringent than those stipulated by the Sebi. Currently, the fund has total assets of over Rs 1,000 crore, out of which Rs 800 crore is in equity funds. He said the fund is also considering to launch a new gilt fund for investment in government securities. ``Except for a gilt fund, we have all kind of funds.

There are investors who want their investment in government securities only and to cater to them the fund is considering to launch a gilt fund,'' he said. On the funds' plans to launch more schemes, Reddy said, ``Currently we find that there are funds for varied kinds of investors and there is no further requirement in the near future''.