Calcutta, Oct. 9: UTI Mutual Fund has put the launch of its global funds ? UTI Global Titanic Fund and UTI Global Navigator Fund ? on the backburner as the desired relaxation in investment norms is yet to be granted by the authorities.

“Apart from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), it also requires the approval of the representatives of the finance ministry,” said A.K. Sridhar, executive director and chief investment officer of UTI Mutual Fund.

“While we can still launch the funds under the existing guidelines, we have not yet taken any final decision on the course of action. We will wait for some more time before taking any call on the matter,” said Sridhar.

Last year, the country’s largest mutual fund house had entered into an exclusive agreement with State Street Global Advisors (SsgA) for overseas investment advice and had decided to launch UTI Global Titanic Fund and UTI Global Navigator Fund. While the first one is a purely indices fund based on Dow Jones Global Titans 50 Index, the second is an actively-managed fund investing in companies that are part of the global sustainability index.

At present, mutual funds can invest up to $1 billion in stocks of global companies that have a listed entity in India. The parent should hold at least 10 per cent in the Indian subsidiary.

The argument put forward by UTI was that this guideline severely restricts them to a mere 47 foreign companies. While filing its offer document and prospectus, UTI Mutual Fund had hoped that though Sebi might not allow Indian fund houses to invest in global stocks of their choice without restrictions, the regulation might be modified to allow mutual funds to invest in global indices.

In that case, companies that constitute the indices would not have to qualify under the current prescribed limitations of Sebi.

Mutual fund houses were eager to launch global funds earlier. However, their interests weathered off. Principal Mutual Fund was the only one to have such a fund called the Global Opportunities Fund.