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"Maybe, we missed a step by 2-3 years," admitted Narayan Ramchandran, the managing director and country head of Morgan Stanley.
The fund will be benchmarked against the BSE-200 and will be managed by Jayesh Gandhi, formerly with Birla Sun life Asset Management Company.
"In the decade of the 1990s, both the Indian markets and the marketplace had not evolved sufficiently. In this decade, particularly in the last seven years or so, many of our competitors have come to India," said Ramchandran.
"We wanted to grow the asset management business along with other businesses, but they couldn't grow because of joint venture reasons, though this business was not a part of the JV," said Ramchandran.
In February 2007, Morgan Stanley parted ways with its decade-long partner, JM Financial, after the New York-headquartered firm decided to start business on its own.
Few know that Morgan Stanley first entered India in 1989 through a joint venture with State Bank of India Mutual Fund, launching funds under the name Magnum. The India Magnum Fund, an offshore fund set up in 1989, marked the entry of Morgan Stanley in the Indian market.
Morgan Stanley's Growth Fund was launched in January 1994 and mobilised an initial corpus of Rs 981 crore (Rs 9.81 billion). The fund was a close-ended one due for redemption in 2009. But the fund house has announced that it will turn the fund into an open-ended, subject to regulatory approvals.
"The units of the fund are listed on 6 to 7 exchanges. We may have to de-list these units in at least 2 to 3 months," said Sridhar Sivaram, executive director, Morgan Stanley.
At the end of January 2008, the fund had assets to the tune of Rs 3,670.23 crore (Rs 36.70 billion).
The fund house has already filed for the Sebi approval for a liquid fund. "We will bring some of our international fund offerings in due course," said Ramachandran.