After a gap of 12 years, Morgan Stanley Mutual Fund is planning to reopen its Indian chapter.
The firm is among the final bidders for Standard Chartered's mutual fund business, and is in the process of staffing up. It is also in talks with leading distributors for reviving its operations.
Sources said Singapore-based Narayan Ramachandran would be re-locating to India to head Morgan Stanley Investment Management.
Ramachandran was co-head of global emerging markets (equity) and is an old hand at Morgan Stanley, with 10 years in the firm.
An official spokesperson confirmed the appointment, though he declined to comment on the firm's bid for Standard Chartered Mutual.
Morgan was among the first private-sector entrants into the mutual fund business in the country.
Its first and the only fund scheme, Morgan Stanley Growth Fund, launched in June 1994, raised close to Rs 1,000 crore (Rs 10 billion), a big sum at that time, on account of its "first come, first served" clause.
But the fund house failed to keep the performance even in line with the indices in the initial years.
Subsequently, the fund restructured its operations and improved its performance, but it has refrained from launching any fresh products.
The Nimesh Kampani-owned JM Financial and Morgan Stanley have been running their asset management operations independently, though they have joint ventures for all other financial services.
A close-ended scheme traded on the bourses, MSGF is due for redemption in February 2009, though speculation is rife that the fund will switch to open-end ahead of its maturity.
Morgan Stanley is a global financial services firm, and a market leader in securities, investment management, and credit services.
Morgan Stanley Investment Management manages $421 billion in assets for institutional and individual clients around the world.