LIC Mutual Fund on Friday launched its Multi Asset Allocation Fund, an open-ended scheme that invests in equity, debt, and gold to achieve long-term capital appreciation. The New Fund Offer (NFO) opened on January 24 and will conclude on February 7. The scheme will reopen for continuous sale and repurchase on February 18, the company said in a statement. The scheme's benchmark is a combination of 65 per cent Nifty 500 TRI, 25 per cent Nifty Composite Debt Index, and 10 per cent domestic gold prices, it added. "Hybrid mutual funds saw a 27 per cent surge in assets under management in 2024, increasing from Rs 6.90 lakh crore in January to Rs 8.77 lakh crore in December according to data published by Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI). "The multi-asset allocation funds saw significant growth in the AUM under hybrid category. Currently, this reflects a clear investor inclination towards hybrid funds and our new fund is ideally suited to cater to their interests," R K Jha, ...