Emerging Markets : Fund Focuses On India’s Yuppies

S.V. Prasad

Mumbai-based Birla Mutual Fund is launching the Birla India GenNext Fund, which will invest in equities of companies that are expected to gain from the free-spending habits of India’s young urban professionals, or Yuppies.

The company says more young people in India are buying houses and cars, using cell phones and taking vacations. “This is a fund driven by the lives and aspirations of India’s youth,” says S.V. Prasad, chief executive of Birla Mutual Fund. “The fund intends to take advantage of the large opportunity created by the emergence of GenNext—the young generation—as the largest population cohort in the country and its lavish spending habits,” Prasad says.

The initial offering of the fund, which will invest in companies that cater directly to consumers, closes on July 12, 2005. Birla Sun Life Asset Management, the investment manager for the fund, is a joint venture of the Aditya Birla Group and Canada-based Sun Life Financials. The Aditya Birla Group is one of the largest conglomerates in India.

Gordon Platt