National Investment Trust Limited (NITL) is the premier, oldest and largest Asset Management Company of Pakistan. 12th November has a special significance for this National Financial Institution as it signifies the starting point of NIT's Golden Jubilee.
This long journey of NIT spread over half a century is the beacon of maturity and excellence in the field of the Mutual Fund industry of Pakistan. It would be no exaggeration to say that up till 12th November 1962, when NIT was established, there were perhaps not more than a few people in Pakistan who knew what a "UNIT TRUST" is and how it works.
In historical perspective, 144 years ago, the first"unit trust" was established in UK in 1868. Within a short span of two years, the idea crossed the Atlantic to reach USA with a new name called "Mutual Fund". This American Version of Britain's 'unit trust' played an imperative role in the industrial development of USA.
It was after the Second World War that the 'unit trust' acquired unusual significance and made phenomenal contribution in the regenerations of war ravaged Germany and Japan. The concept of investment trust was an off spring of the industrial revolution in Great Britain; and so is NIT -a corollary of the Pakistan Revolution.
In the early stages of industrial development of Pakistan, most of the large enterprises were family owned/family managed. This centralisation of economic power posed a challenge to the cohesion of our social structure. A successful and un confrontingmechanismwas needed to face the challenge of diffusing share ownership and broadening of its base on as wide a front as possible, in order to give the investors in general and middle/lower middle class in particular, an opportunity to participate in the economic development of Pakistan.
The best course for the medium and small investors in the existing situation was, to combine them together in a knot, pool their resources and invest their savings jointly through the medium of an institution which by virtue of expert advise(s) and large volume of investible funds, available at its disposal, could effectively look after the interests of the small investors. This was the genesis of NIT.
In view of these considerations, Government of Pakistan established the National Investment (Unit) Trust- NI(U)T on 12th November 1962, through and ordinance. National Bank of Pakistan was designated to act as its TRUSTEE to hold the funds. NIT branches were opened in Karachi, Decca, Lahore, Rawalpindi and Chittagong.
Bearer/Registered certificates were sold to the public in the denomination of 1,5,10,50,100,1000 and 10,000 units. This new product took its time to gain public acceptance and popularity through publicity campaigns with the modest disseminating tools available at that time.
On 31st January 1968 (after 5 years of NI(U)T launch) NIT had succeeded in selling more than Rs 10.7 million NI(U)T units with a client base of 25,875 unit holders.
The post 1965 Indo-Pak war period of Pakistan was full of turmoil and economic depression. Its effects on the economy were evident. The Post 1971 democratic Pakistan succeeded in giving Pakistan a constitution of national consensus and a democratic approach to fight back with the economicchallenges confronting us.
Pakistan's derailed economy started getting back on the track of recovery but theteeter-totter game of democracy and dictatorship resulted in a fragile business environment. However,NIT remained resilient despite the difficult time. NIT's steady growth through all these decades remained satisfactory, as the people at the helm of affairs of NIT were professional and patriotic.
Today NIT is standing on a very strong footing in the contemporary Mutual Fund industry of Pakistan. To review the performance of an asset management company (AMC) analysts have drawn a checklist. The checklist corroborates that:
1. NIT is the first, oldest and largest asset management company of Pakistan.
2. NIT is holding 18% of Open End and 86% of Equity Funds of the entire money currently circulating in the Mutual Fund industry of Pakistan.*
3. NIT has the singular honour ofremaining the only Open End Fund of the Mutual fund industry of Pakistan for more than three decades.
4. NIT's retail customer base of more than 57,000 unit holders is larger than any other AMC, operating in Pakistan.*
5. NIT maintains portfolio of more than 300 listed companies in its fold having no match in contemporary Mutual fund industry.
6. NIT never missed paying dividends to its esteemed shareholders.
7. NIT pays back redemptions within its stipulated time.
8. NIT never plunged in its net asset value (NAV) even in hard times in the Mutual fund industry.
9. NIT, responding to the mandate of IPO's, had offered GBF and IF in recent past and planning to offer EMOF & SEF funds to public very soon.
-- As on 30thJune, 2012.
There are some more distinctions that distinguish NIT from other contemporary Mutual fundsin Pakistan.
The prime Focus of NIT is to look after its unit holders by all possible means so that they can "INVEST IN TRUST" as we claim in our official slogan thereby,
Following initiatives have been taken for the benefit of our valued unit holders taking full advantage of sate of the art technology.
Introduction of NIT-Summit Co-Branded ATM cards in January 2012 for paperless redemptions of the electronic units of NIT enabling NIT unit holders to redeem their units from the nearest summit bank and Link ATM facilities anywhere in Pakistan.
Establishment of Investor facilitation centre (IFC) in the heart of Karachi city to facilitate our valued unit holders for assistance in all NIT related issues on toll free phone services from all over Pakistan and on PTCL lines from abroad.
Introduced SMS alert service to subscribers for receiving daily NAV's.
With the aforementioned services made available and already in use of our unit holders NIT is working actively on following future projects:
Opening of NIT branches in major cities of Pakistan to enhance the NIT branches network to present 23.
Opening of call centers in Karachi and Lahore to further facilitate NIT unit holders and prospective investors.
As leaders in Mutual Fund Industry we are focusing at the grass root level to educate general public on mutual fund business. To pursue this goal, NIT has engaged itself in organising informational KIOSK in different cities of Pakistan to create an understanding and awareness onMutual Funds at mass level. It is an ongoing exercise in NIT's yearly calendar.
NIT is also discharging its corporate social responsibility (CSR) by working closely for the promotion of sports, arts and literature at the national level. People always find NIT standing shoulder to shoulder whether it is any natural disaster or a humanistic cause of special children/people. NIT also backup social welfare organisations.
The human resource is considered the backbone of any organisation. NIT is fully aware of the immense potential and contribution of its employees in every department of NIT. We also take pride in looking after our employees.
In recent years:
Hajj scheme was introduced and this year six NIT employees along with their spouse performed hajj baitullah on NIT's expense.
Annual medical allowance has been doubled and other welfare schemes are also under consideration.
NIT is an equal opportunity organisation. Many young female employees are added to the fold recently to let them play their role in career development and development of the organisation.
The above achievement of NIT portrays its real strength and track record having no match in the contemporary Mutual Fund industry. In NIT we focus on small investors to disseminate benefits of investment in NI(U)T. Small unit holders enjoy all benefits from security of investments to the regular flow of dividend and regular increase in NAV along with enjoying the easy entry and exit mechanism in the fund.
The key reason of the outstanding performance of NIT inover the years has been long-term investment perspective and abstaining from day trading.
The NIT management is determined to increase its small investor base further and safe guard their interests being the sincere custodian of their savings and not to enter into any "adventurism". This is the key of NIT's successful innings which still goes on. There is no limit on making new records and sky is our limit.
Comments
Comments are closed.