Edelweiss Mutual Fund to Launch Third Tranche of ‘BHARAT Bond ETF’

MUMBAI:
Edelweiss Asset Management today announced the launch of the third tranche of BHARAT Bond ETF starting from 3 rd December, after the successful launch of 4 ETFs in last 2 years. The BHARAT Bond ETF program is an initiative of the Government of India, from the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management and the latter has given the mandate to Edelweiss Mutual Fund to design, launch and manage the product.

This new BHARAT Bond ETF and BHARAT Bond Fund of Fund (FOF) series will mature on 15 th April 2032. NFO will start from 3 rd December 2021 and end on 9 th December 2021. Through the launch of this new series in third tranche, Edelweiss Mutual Fund proposes to raise an initial amount of Rs. 1,000 crores with an open green shoe option. 

Tuhin Kanta Pandey, Secretary, DIPAM, Ministry of Finance said, “BHARAT Bond ETF program has achieved some important objectives that were envisioned while creating the blueprint of this program. It has provided aggregate savings in borrowing cost for participating CPSEs/CPSUs/CPFIs. It has provided easy access to investors into bond markets, especially retail investors who are looking alternative to Fixed Deposit. Further, adequate Liquidity on the exchange is encouraging investor participation and helping in deepening the bond markets. BHARAT Bond ETF program has led to promising impact on the overall Debt Passives landscape in India with many other AMCs also launching similar target maturity ETFs and Index Funds in the recent times. The organic increase in
AUM of existing BHARAT Bond ETFs in the last 2 years resembles investor’s confidence in the product and we are very happy with its overall impact on the market.”

Radhika Gupta, CEO, Edelweiss Mutual Fund said, “We are excited to see the growth of Passive Debt category in India, post the launch of Edelweiss MF Bharat Bond ETFs. Around 20 new passive debt funds have been filed and 9 passive debt funds have been already launched by different AMCs post the launch of BHARAT Bond ETF in Dec 2019. The total AUM of this category has reached around Rs. 50,000 cr. as on October 2021 and Edelweiss AMC is a leader in this space with more than 80% market share. With this new launch of BHARAT Bond ETF, we now have five maturities on the yield curve – 2023, 2025, 2030, 2031 and 2032 which will help investors to choose the right maturity according to their needs. We are happy to see a healthy demand from investors for these ETFs in the current environment where safety is paramount.”

The ETF will invest in constituents of the NIFTY BHARAT Bond Indices, consisting of AAA rated public sector companies. BHARAT Bond Fund of Funds (FOF) with similar maturities will also be launched for investors, who do not have Demat accounts. The BHARAT Bond ETF AUM stood at Rs 36,359 Cr.
in the end of October 2021.