The fund is in final stages of negotiations for investing in two to three telecom projects. "We are looking at the basic telephony, cellular telephony and telecom equipments sectors seriously," said Mr Basu.

The fund, which was launched in association with AMP Insurance, the largest insurance company in Australia in December 1999, with an initial commitment of $50 million which has already come in, has disbursed $20 million. It has funded two infrastructure projects - Hughes Telecom and Indraprastha Gas - in India.

"By the end of August-September 2001, we plan to disburse the total amount of the $50 million," said Mr Basu. At present, the fund does not have any plans to get itself listed. "However, if new investors who come insist on listing we might consider it," said Mr Basu. UTI had recently approved investments of $8-10 million in Gujarat Pipavav Port to be invested for the port's construction and expansions plans through its India Infrastructure Fund.

Besides telecom, airports is the other area where Mr Basu sees opportunity. He said, "In the near future, airports would require a lot of investments.

Toll roads and toll bridges would be the areas in the infrastructure requiring a lot of investments." According to him, a lot of companies are looking to invest in India with interest but only microscopic money has to come to India since the investment process is very cumbersome. "As soon as the government policy is clear, they would take interest," said Mr Basu.

...plans to increase tenure of its new economy offshore
Unit Trust of India (UTI) will take a decision to either increase the tenure of its offshore fund - India Media, Internet and Communication Fund or convert it into an open-ended fund when its board meets during the month of June 2001. The fund, launched in April 2000, is a close-ended fund till June 2001.Speaking to The Financial Express, UTI executive director SK Basu said, "Since a majority of our investments in the fund are in unlisted companies, we are looking at increasing the tenure of the fund so that we could give the investors the benefit of investing in these companies when these companies get listed." At present, two-thirds of the fund's investments is in unlisted companies. The fund could also be converted to an open-ended fund. Mr Basu said, "Ultimately, the fund would be converted into an open-ended one so as to give our investors a better exit route."

The fund has invested around 50 per cent of the $54 million raised from Europe, US and Middle East. The close-ended fund is listed at Dublin.