This is at a premium to the sale price of Rs 14.35 for January. In other words, technically, the scheme is being sold at a discount to the NAV. However, since the sale and repurchase prices of the scheme are revised once a month, the NAV has little relevance for the investor, unless the market continues to rise to higher levels. UTI is likely to first declare the NAV once a fortnight, followed by a weekly disclosure and, eventually, switching over to daily NAVs. This will be the first step to a shift to NAV-based pricing of the scheme, based on the recommendations of the Deepak Parekh committee. The committee had set a time frame of three years for UTI to start declaring the scheme's NAV.

Initially, however, UTI's pricing policy of the scheme will be benchmarked above the NAV.

``It is likely that UTI will sell the scheme at a premium to the NAV, as it has strategic holding in many companies,'' a source said.

Over the last one year, UTI has reshuffled the equity portfolio of the scheme, to ensure that it outperforms the market by adding information-technology stocks to the basket. This, along with the Sensex surge, had helped the NAV to touch Rs 13.90, which was equal to the repurchase price. But with the 369-point rise, the NAV has shot past the sale price of Rs 14.35 (for January) to Rs 15. The scheme has generated positive reserves, which are expected to rise further. With the NAV surpassing the repurchase price (of Rs 14.05 for January), the UTI management will have much more cushioning to carry out the restructuring to its logical end, linking the pricing to NAV. u