Bank of India, the state-owned banking group, has signed a joint venture agreement with AXA Investment Management. 

The new JV marks BOI's re-entry into the mutual fund industry five years after it shut down its business to focus on core operations. BOI-AXA Investment Managers, the new company, will be 51 per cent owned by Bank of India while the remaining 49 per cent will be under AXA IM. AXA is an affiliate of French asset manager AXA Group. 

To get the majority holding, BOI purchased a 25 per cent stake from Bharti Enterprises and a 26 per cent stake from AXA Investment Management Asia Holdings. The financial terms of the deals were not disclosed. It is known that by selling its interest, Bharti effectively gives up its entire asset management business.

Bank of India had a mutual fund business with six schemes in 1990. It redeemed four and transferred two to Taurus Mutual Fund after offering an option for investors to exit in 2004.