Calcutta, Aug. 26: Peerless General Finance Company is planning to get into the mutual fund business from early next year.

The company, which will stop taking public deposits from 2011 onwards, has applied for a licence to start an asset management business, and the asset management company may be launched early next year, according to a senior official of the Peerless group.

Before launching its own mutual fund schemes, Peerless is distributing schemes of other fund houses.

Peerless Smart Money, the group’s financial products distribution arm, has signed a distribution tie-up with ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund and is in talks with 10 other fund houses.

Peerless Smart Money also plans to launch a co-branded credit card with ICICI Bank from September 2. “The ICICI-Peerless co-branded credit card will offer special discounts to cardholders on dining, boarding and lodging at Peerless Inn hotels, for treatments at Peerless Hospitals and so on,” the official said.