``We're working out details of the new schemes. We will seek the SEBI approval at the appropriate time,'' said K V Hegde, managing director, Canbank Investment Management Services. The mutual fund -- the first mutual fund to be floated in the late '80s after the UTI -- currently manages 15 schemes with a corpus of Rs 1450 crore.

Hegde said the mutual fund has already cleaned up its books and restructured the portfolios under various schemes. The fund has an investor base of 8 lakh in various parts of the country.

Meanwhile, the mutual fund has reopened two of its schemes -- Cangilt and Cancigo -- for public subscription. It has plans to mobilise around Rs 42 crore through these schemes. Cangilt has a minimum assured return of 12.25 per cent payablehalf yearly. As the face value of the unit is Rs one lakh, Cangilt is being targeted at institutional investors.

On the other hand, Cancigo has a minimum assured return of 12.50 per cent payable half yearly. ``This unit is eligible for encashment after one year from the date of investment,'' Hegde said.

``We undertook a major restructuring exercise of our portfolio since 1997 with the aim of reducing exposure to B group stocks and targeting the high growth sectors. The top 100 scrips of the fund account for over 95 per cent of the market value of the equities,'' Hegde said.

Hegde said the net asset value of most of the schemes of the mutual fund had far exceeded the growth in the Sensex of the Bombay Stock Exchange. Canexpo NAV rose by 57.94 per cent, Canpep93 NAV by 31.35 per cent, Canpep91 by 23.51 per cent and Canstock by 12.89 per cent in a year. However, Sensex showed only a growth of 2.13 per cent during the year.

It is also planning to convert one of the tax-saving schemes into an open-endedone in line with the recent policy changes announced by the CBDT. It is also converting Canbonus into and open ended scheme by May 1999.