Axis Mutual Fund launches

 Axis Mutual Fund launches ‘Axis Special Situations Fund’

 

The Indian equity market has witnessed some of the most dramatic swings since the beginning of the pandemic, hitting unprecedented highs and lows. The pandemic has also been notable for how it has forced all of us to embrace significant change in our daily lives and caused innovation from companies responding to the stay at home/ work from home economy. As business models reconfigure themselves, there is also an increasing acceptance of technology and the transformative role that it is playing across multiple sectors.

The changes wrought by the pandemic have only accelerated the disruptive trends that have been around us both in India and globally and we fully expect these trends to sustain in the post pandemic economy as well. A combination of government push, global investments and domestic ingenuity and focus on low cost, wide adoption models have already seen us coming up with unique transformative solutions in India such as Aaadhar, UPI etc.

So while disruption and the resulting innovation itself is not new and we have seen multiple waves of it through history - right from the industrial revolution – what is different this time is the pace of change and the presence of well-funded disruptors in every sector that are up-ending the traditional ways of doing business.

 

What does this mean for investors?

At one glance all this change around us can seem unsettling, however there is also a significant opportunity for us as investors to benefit from these changes. Financial markets are usually slow to recognize disruptive innovation and the impact of unanticipated change is often overlooked by investors. This can lead to a significant gap between market expectations and the actual growth potential of the disruptive change.

 

Axis Special Situations Fund is a unique attempt by Axis AMC to create a dedicated equity fund that focuses and invests in these opportunities both across India and global markets.

 

Axis Special Situations Fund

Axis AMC has been at the forefront of product innovation and creating a robust investment process that has the potential to deliver long term performance for its investors. While Axis has a number of large successful traditional equity strategies, good quality thematic funds can complement these from an investor’s perspective.

 

Thematic funds target specific themes or segments of the market and allow investors greater ability to access those themes (such as sustainability or disruption) that they strongly believe in or which can complement their traditional equity allocations.

 

Axis AMC is thus excited to announce the launch of the Axis Special Situations Fund, an open ended equity scheme that follows a special situations theme focusing on investing in disruptive growth opportunities. The fund will allow investors to capture opportunities across the entire disruption value chain. Further the fund will be investing across both domestic and global markets as well as across the market cap spectrum – thus allowing the investors to participate in relevant opportunities in any of the segments of the market. Overseas investments will be advised by Schroder* (which is around 25% shareholder in Axis AMC).

 

Salient Features of Axis Special Situations Fund

·         The fund offers Indian investors an opportunity to invest in stocks that are participating in or enabling disruption

·         Its multi-sector and multi-cap asset allocation strategy along with exposure to global equities ensures that it is beneficiary to not only the disruptor but also companies which are adapter or enablers of disruption

·         Overseas investments will be advised by Schroder Investment Management Limited based on their disruption philosophy

Mr. Chandresh Kumar Nigam, MD & CEO, Axis AMC said, ‘Axis AMC has always tried to bring innovative new fund ideas for our investors that we believe can help in long term wealth generation. Our product development is backed by our unique and time tested philosophy of responsible investing with an unflinching focus on quality. The introduction of the Axis Special Situations Fund also continues our journey towards creating an industry leading asset management platform that can service needs for all our investors. As the world transforms around us led by ever accelerating technological change and innovation, investors need to be able to allocate to and benefit from this theme – whether in Indian or global markets’.

 

The new fund offers (NFO) opens for subscription from December 4^th to 18^th 2020.

YES BANK launches ‘Yuva Pay’, a unique

YES BANK launches ‘Yuva Pay’, a unique digital wallet for smart phone and feature phone users in partnership with UDMA Technologies

YES BANK announced the launch of ‘Yuva Pay’, a unique digital wallet in partnership with UDMA Technologies to enable contactless payments. This collaboration is in line with YES BANK’s fast-track innovation efforts of enabling communities to experience the convenience of digital banking services – as the nation slowly begins to unlock after the COVID-19 lockdown.  This innovation is a digital wallet issued under minimum KYC regulations, combined with bill payments via Bharat Bill Pay and Unified Payments Interface (UPI).

Through the app, utility bills like municipal, house, water tax, electricity, LPG, DTH, Mobile bill, license fees, Windmill & Solar park fees, building sanction fees and billboard taxes can be paid along with insurance renewal, fastag recharge, EMI payment, school fees and use at retail outlets. The first live program of the solution will be implemented by State Rural Development & Panchayat Raj Department, Karnataka and the first phase will cover 158 gram panchayats with 238 villages. Subsequently, this program will be rolled out to 6200 gram panchayats covering 12 million households across 29,000 villages in the second phase.

Speaking on the launch, Anita Pai, Chief Operating Officer, YES BANK, said, “This unique endeavour is yet another step taken by YES BANK towards achieving the Government’s vision of Digital India by converting all paper transactions into paperless digital transactions. The program also aims to make the low income groups transition to digital and contactless transactions by enabling wider access to secure electronic payment services.”

Prashanth Naik, CEO, UDMA Technologies, said “We envisage a long lasting business relationship. YES BANK is one of India’s leading digital payments facilitator and we intend to replicate this solution across the country, specifically in the rural segment where internet connections maybe an issue and feature phone is prevalent. Together, we now offer India’s strongest offline wallet solution that not only brings the world’s best payments experience to Indian Citizens, but is an important step towards eventually having cashless transformation in India.”

To activate the unique feature, customers need to follow a simple process:

Feature Phone Users

Users to visit the nearest ‘Yuva Mitra’ associate to complete minimum or full KYC verification process. Once the verification is complete, the wallet is activated and users can start using their services through Interactive Voice Response Services (IVRS) wherein all transactions are processed securely via OTP & T-PIN authentication.

Smart phone Users

Users can download the ‘Yuva Pay’ mobile application from Android play store, complete the minimum KYC requirements and add money to their wallet. As per RBI guidelines, the user will need to complete biometric based KYC process within 24 months after wallet activation. If internet connection is available, users can start using the services online while in case of no internet connection, the payment and collection request is converted into an encrypted SMS and the transaction is completed in offline mode.

The app ensures contactless payments as it works on a unique algorithm based protocol. It sends data securely to the Bank on real time basis, resulting in a seamless transaction for the user without depending on internet. Yuva Pay also doubles up as a banking app for funds transfer, account balance check, recharges or top ups, bill payments and rewards platform. It allows contactless as well as payments between users in proximity, while maintaining adequate social distancing norms.