Shanghai’s Industrial Fund Management Co Ltd is planning to launch a fund investing in shares of "socially responsible" Chinese listed firms. The company, which earlier this month received regulatory approval to launch the fund, has not published a prospectus. But analysts expect it to target companies engaged in environmentally friendly projects. A statement issues
by the company indicated that it would invest in companies with a good record on environmental protection, social responsibility and operating in the public interest. "The main difference between this fund and other funds is that it will invest in listed companies that have demonstrated impressive social responsibility," the company said in the statement.

With fund managers in China increasingly looking to differentiate their funds in an increasingly competitive and active mutual fund market, it is possible that other fund managers may follow suit in the near term.

See SCMP
http://www.scmp.com/portal/site/SCMP/menuitem

And Reuters article at:
http://www.enn.com/business/article/32661

This is the second known SRI related fund to be launched in China, after the BOC International Investment Managers launched the Sustainable Growth Equity Fund in May 2006.

See ASrIA
http://www.asria.org/portal/SRI_Fund/China