In 2017, continuing with its divestment programme, the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management, Ministry of Finance, appointed ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co. Ltd as the fund manager for an exchange traded fund (ETF) that would hold shares divested from selected companies. The Bharat 22 ETF got its own benchmark, S&P BSE Bharat 22 Index, and was designed as a portfolio of shares of 22 public and private sector companies from which the government was selling some of its stake. The new fund offer in November 2017 was a success and an allotment of Rs 14,500 crore was made to investors against an initial issue size of Rs 8,000 crore. The fund currently has assets under management of Rs 5,500 crore (31 May 2018), which suggests that its initial popularity waned with some investors redeeming within six months.
A follow-on fund offer for the ETF has been launched to divest another Rs 6,000 crore in these companies.
