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MUMBAI, Feb. 4

THE first course of action for the US-based Alliance Capital Management, which has reiterated its commitment to the Indian market, will be to recover lost ground, according to Mr Samir Arora, Chief Investment Officer, Indian operation and Head, Asian emerging market equities, Alliance Capital.

Speaking to Business Line from Singapore, a day after an official statement from Alliance Capital that it plans to stay put in India, Mr Arora said, "The first thing to do now is to focus on recovering the ground that we have lost in the past couple of months. Only then can we think about long-term strategies for the Indian market as a whole."

Asked what these short-term plans include, Mr Arora said, "We are still in the process of figuring out particular strategies and it will take at least another 10 to 15 days to chalk out an exact plan. The overall objective, though, remains the same - to service investors better by giving them good returns."

In an official statement on Monday, Alliance has reinstated its plan to stay on in India, saying that the company had completed a review of strategic alternatives for Alliance Capital Asset Management (India), which manages over Rs 3,300 crore of assets, and that it would retain its ownership interest in the firm and continue to manage and support it as an ongoing asset manager in the Indian marketplace.

Alliance Capital will also continue to invest in India through the India Liberalisation Fund and the purchase of Indian securities for other Alliance's FII sub-accounts.

There have been reports in the recent past that HDFC Mutual Fund and Mr Arora, who had reportedly launched a management buyout, had been shortlisted for buying out Alliance's stake in the mutual fund. Following these reports, Alliance mutual fund has witnessed significant redemptions, primarily by corporates.

Questioned about his reported buyout plans, Mr Arora declined to offer any comment.

Meanwhile, Alliance Capital has said that Mr Arora will continue to be the CIO for Indian operations and head of the Asian emerging markets equities for Alliance Capital globally. "I will continue to handle these two positions as I have for the past five years. Nothing has changed on this front."

As on December 31, 2002, Alliance Capital (India) manages assets worth Rs 3,371 crore in over 18 schemes.

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Alliance to recover lost ground: Arora

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