Axis Asset Management Company, which is the seventh-largest fund house in the country with assets under management of over Rs 2.6 lakh crore, has sacked its chief trader Viresh Joshi who was earlier suspended even as the fund house was probing alleged wrongdoings by the fund manager.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, the mutual fund entity said that Joshi, who has been with the fund house since 2009 has been terminated with immediate effect.
“Further to our ongoing investigation, his conduct and following the decision to suspend him, the employment of Mr Viresh Joshi (Chief Trader & Fund Manager) with Axis AMC has been terminated with effect from May 18, 2022 and he will no longer have any association whatsoever with Axis AMC and Axis Mutual Fund. Accordingly, Mr Viresh Joshi ceases to be a Key person of Axis AMC,” said the statement.
This assumes significance as earlier Joshi along with assistant fund manager Deepak Agrawal – who joined Axis AMC in 2015 as an equity research analyst – were suspended as the fund house said that it had initiated a suo moto investigation in February.
Joshi was the fund manager of five schemes, including Axis Arbitrage Fund, Axis Banking ETF, Axis Consumption ETF, Axis Nifty ETF and Axis Technology ETF. Meanwhile, Agarwal managed Axis Consumption ETF, Axis Quant Fund and Axis Value Fund, as per data available with Value Research, a mutual fund tracking firm.
The funds have been allocated to other fund managers, including Jinesh Gopani, Head – Equity and Ashish Naik, Fund Manager – Equity.
While the statement only added that the fund house has a zero-tolerance policy towards any kind of non-compliance, it did not elaborate on the wrongdoings or violations that led to the sacking of its chief trader.
Ever since the issue came out in public, various allegations including those related to front-running and kickbacks against its chief trader have been doing the rounds in the market.
Also read: Axis MF changes fund managers amid alleged violations
Also read: Axis MF says probe on since Feb, two fund managers suspended