The Supreme Court has directed Franklin Templeton to make the next round of payment of Rs 684 crore to the unitholders of its six debt schemes that were closed in April 2020. The six debt schemes wound up by the fund house are: Franklin India Low Duration, Franklin India Dynamic Accrual, Franklin India Credit Risk, Franklin India Short Term Income Plan, Franklin India Ultra Short Bond Fund and Franklin India Income Opportunities Fund.

The fund house has so far returned more than Rs 26,098 crore to the unitholders in multiple instalments. In April, the apex court asked SBI Mutual Fund, which was appointed to liquidate the assets of these schemes and sell the proceeds to unitholders, to temporarily halt the next tranche of payments after a non-profit organisation filed an application demanding the payment of distributor commissions.

On Wednesday, the top court ordered the next round of payment to the unitholders. Recently, the fund house said it is not exiting India and will be investing to rebuild the brand in the country.

“I can say categorically that we are not leaving India. It would be silly to leave India,” president for India Avinash Satwalekar said. Satwalekar, who took charge as the head of Franklin’s operations three months ago, added that Franklin will re-engage with distributors. employees and investors.

Following the decision to close the schemes, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) had issued a show cause notice to the company. It was asked to pay Rs 5 crore as penalty, return over Rs 450 crore collected as 22- month investment management and advisory fees and was banned from launching debt schemes for alleged irregularities in running six of its debt schemes. The company has challenged the decision in tribunals and courts.