SEBI Appoints Former CEC As Observer For Franklin Templeton E-Voting

• SEBI has appointed former chief election commissioner (CEC) Taruvai Subayya Krishnamurthy as an observer for the e-voting process.
• The e-voting process will be held to wind-up the six Franklin Templeton mutual funds schemes.
• Taruvai Subayya Krishnamurthy has served as the 13th Chief Election Commissioner of India.

As per the direction from the Supreme Court of India, The Security Exchange Board of India (SEBI), On December 26, appointed Taruvai Subayya Krishnamurthy as an observer for the e-voting process on winding-up six Franklin Templeton mutual funds schemes.

Taruvai Subayya Krishnamurthy is a former Indian revenue service officer who has served as the 13th Chief Election Commissioner of India.

The stock regulator has also onboarded the technical team to assist Taruvai Subayya Krishnamurthy. The technical team includes --- N Sahoo, Chief General Manager, SEBI; Nayana Ovalekar, Chief Operating Officer of Central Depository Services Limited; K Sriram, Practising Company Secretary, & Scrutiniser; and M Krishna and Ch E Sai Prasad, and Assistant Directors of Central Forensic Science Laboratory, Hyderabad.

The e-voting process has begun from 26 December 2020 to 28 December 2020, where the unitholders will be able to vote on whether the funds should be wind-up or not.

The unitholders’ voting started from 9 am on December 26, 2020 and will go on till 6 pm on December 28, 2020.

Meanwhile, A meeting is scheduled on December 29, where the unitholders will get a chance to question trustees on their decision to wind-up the schemes. The results of the voting will be announced immediately.

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"The Hon'ble Supreme Court has also directed that the result of the e-voting would not be announced and would be produced before the Hon'ble Supreme Court in a sealed cover along with the report of the Observer appointed by the SEBI," SEBI said in a statement.

The six Franklin Templeton schemes are Franklin India Low Duration Fund, Franklin India Ultra Short Bond Fund, Franklin India Short Term Income Plan, Franklin India Credit Risk Fund, Franklin India Dynamic Accrual Fund, and Franklin India Income Opportunities Fund.

In April 2020, Franklin Templeton closed these six mutual debt fund schemes due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the bond market.

Till December 15, 2020, the six funds have received total cash flows of Rs 11,907 crore from maturities, pre-payments, and coupon payments since these schemes were shut for the winding-up process.

While from November 28 to December 15, The scheme received Rs 330 crore which includes Rs 118 crore as pre-payments, the company said in the statement.

Franklin India Low Duration Fund (49%), Franklin India Ultra Short Bond Fund (48%), Franklin India Dynamic Accrual Fund (34%), Franklin India Credit Risk Fund (16%) of their assets are in cash.

Franklin Templeton (Franklin Resources Inc.) is San Mateo-based global investment firm

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