India's Quant Mutual Fund says responding to regulator queries

MUMBAI (Reuters) -India’s Quant Mutual Fund said in a statement to its investors it is responding to queries received from the country's market regulator, without specifying the nature of the enquiries.

Local news website Money Control had reported on Sunday evening that the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) was investigating allegations of "front running" - or dealing on price-sensitive information before its general release - at the mutual fund.

“We will provide all necessary support and continue to furnish data to SEBI on a regular and as-needed basis,” the fund said in its statement, a copy of which was seen by Reuters.

With assets under management (AUM) of 930 billion Indian rupees ($11 billion), Quant Mutual Fund is the fastest-growing fund house in India. It ranks at number 18 in terms of AUM out of 44 asset managers in India.

It is an active investor in small cap and mid cap stocks, whose benchmark indexes have soared 69.48% and 59.28% respectively over the past 12 months.

A spokesperson for SEBI did not respond to an email from Reuters on Sunday. Quant Mutual Fund did not respond to queries from Reuters but confirmed a statement had been issued to investors.

($1 = 83.5580 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Jayshree P Upadhyay; Editing by David Holmes)