India's Religare Mutual Fund launches gold ETF

MUMBAI Jan 28 (Reuters) - India's Religare Asset Management launched a gold exchange traded fund (ETF) on Thursday, marking an entry into a fund category which is attracting retail clients at a heady pace as the yellow metal surges.

ETFs are listed and traded like stocks and give investors access to the underlying securities without holding them.

Religare Gold ETF will invest at least 90 percent of its assets in physical gold at all times, the money manager said in a statement. It will close for initial subscription on Feb 23.

Together, six gold funds account for less than 0.5 percent of India's 6.7 trillion rupees funds industry, but the category continues to attract clients at a time money managers witness a drop in number of investors and inflows into their equity funds.

Firms including India's biggest mutual fund, Reliance Capital Asset Management, and oldest money manager UTI Asset Management offer gold ETFs, while Tata Asset Management is seeking approval to launch the product.

For a story on rising popularity of gold ETFs in India, click on [ID:nBOM82398]

For Indian gold ETFs' collection, click on [ID:nSGE60A0DP] (Reporting by Nishant Kumar; Editing by Prem Udayabhanu)