In its drive to give better returns to investors, SBI Mutual Fund will soon be merging two of its schemes as it has received market ‘ regulator, the Securities ' and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), approval, a top company official has said.

“We have received one merger approval for two schemes from the market regulator recently, for which, we have applied for quite some time,” SBI MF, managing director, Deepak Chatterjee said.

He, however, declined to name the schemes saying the fund house has to follow some processes like informing the investors after the approval. SEBI chairman UK Sinha last week said it would allow merger of schemes to avoid overlapping and ensuring better returns to investors. Concerned over non - performance of some schemes over a long period of time, Sinha had said fund houses need to look into the matter and consider the merger of some schemes. “Management (of mutual funds) should look into the areas of non performance,” Sinha had said, adding he was in favour of merger of schemes on case by case basis.

According to industry insiders, a trend has started with one of the largest fund houses of the country getting approval for the merger of schemes. Mr. Chatterjee also said usually a merger of schemes will be beneficial to investors. “When a merger is done, it is usually between a non-performing fund with a performing one, which is beneficial for investors.”