Mumbai, Feb. 2: HSBC Mutual Fund plans to launch a portfolio management scheme to draw synergy with its existing asset management operations, brand name and its parent’s affluent customer base.

“We have plans to launch the portfolio management scheme by the second quarter of this calendar year,” said HSBC Asset Management (India) Private Ltd chief executive officer Sanjay Prakash. Franklin Templeton and ICICI Prudential are two leading mutual funds that have portfolio management system as a product, while more recently UTI Mutual Fund, the country’s largest mutual fund has announced similar plans.

HSBC Mutual Fund is also targeting small investors with two new funds — HSBC Opportunities Fund, an open-ended growth scheme, and HSBC MIP, an open-ended income scheme.

Portfolio management schemes are usually targeted at affluent investors. Bulge bracket broking outfits have already taken a lead in offering such products to their clients.

Prakash said while it will not be a strictly custom-built portfolio for investors, they will offer three types of portfolios for prospective clients. These include the aggressive portfolio for investors willing to take a huge slice of equity, a balanced portfolio with debt and equity and a conservative portfolio.

It is believed that the minimum portfolio size for aspiring investors would be around Rs 50 lakh.

HSBC Mutual Fund started its operations in November 2002 and has achieved one of the fastest build-up of investment corpus among mutual funds. The total assets under management is around Rs 4,000 crore under four schemes.

HSBC Mutual Fund was launched at a time when the market was at a low. Industry analysts tout this as the prime reason for the mutual fund to do so well. Sanjay Prakash terms the current valuations in the stock markets as “fair but not cheap”.