Int. J. Mgmt Res. & Bus. Strat.

2013 R Padmaja, 2013

ISSN 2319-345X www.ijmrbs.com

Vol. 2, No. 2, April 2013
2013 IJMRBS. All Rights Reserved

A STUDY OF CONSUMER BEHAVIOR TOWARDS

MUTUAL FUNDS WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO
ICICI PRUDENTIAL MUTUAL FUNDS, VIJAYAWADA
R Padmaja1*

*Corresponding Author: R Padmaja, padmajapeddireddi@rediffmail.com

A mutual fund is a type of professionally-managed collective investment vehicle that pools money
from many investors to purchase securities. As there is no legal definition of mutual fund, the
term is frequently applied only to those collective investments that are regulated, available to the
general public and open-ended in nature. Mutual funds have both advantages and disadvantages
compared to direct investing in individual securities. Today they play an important role in household
finances. So the present study aims at consumer behavior towards mutual funds with special
reference to ICICI Prudential Mutual Funds Limited, Vijayawada. Data was collected through
primary and secondary sources. Primary data was collected through structured questionnaire.
Convenience sampling method was used to collect the data and entire study was conducted in
Vijayawada City. The study explains about investors awareness towards mutual funds, investor
perceptions, their preferences and the extent of satisfaction towards mutual funds. Some
suggestions were also made to increase the awareness towards mutual funds and measures
to select appropriate mutual funds to maximize the returns.

Keywords: Mutual funds, Customer perception, Consumer behavior

INTRODUCTION operations in 1964 with the issue of units under

A mutual fund is a type of professionally-managed
collective investment vehicle that pools money
from many investors to purchase securities. As
there is no legal definition of mutual fund, the term
is frequently applied only to those collective
investments that are regulated, available to the
general public and open-ended in nature. Unit
Trust of India is the first mutual fund set up under
a separate act, UTI Act in 1963, and started its
the scheme US-64. In India, mutual funds must
be registered with Securities Exchange Board of
India (SEBI) is the regulatory body for all the
mutual funds. The only exception is the UTI, since
it is a corporation formed under a separate Act of
Parliament. Mutual funds have both advantages
and disadvantages compared to direct investing
in individual securities. Today they play an impor-
tant role in household finances. The first mutual

1
Department of Business Management, Krishna University, Machilipatnam-521 001, Krishna District, AP.

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Int. J. Mgmt Res. & Bus. Strat. 2013
funds were established in Europe in 1774. The
first mutual fund outside the Netherlands was the
Foreign & Colonial Government Trust, which was
established in London in 1868. Mutual funds were
introduced into the United States in the 1890s.
They became popular during the 1920s. These
early funds were generally of the closed-end type
with a fixed number of shares which often traded
at prices above the value of the portfolio. The first
open-end mutual fund with redeemable shares
was established on March 21, 1924.
MUTUAL FUNDS IN INDIA
In India mutual funds are divided in to balanced
funds, Income fund, Growth funds, Sector funds,
etc. Equity funds mainly consist of common
shares and stocks of companies listed in the
stock exchanges. They are considered risky but
are likely to give higher return in the longer run.
Fixed income funds: Also known as low risk
funds, these funds mainly invest in government
and corporate securities (debentures) with fixed
amount of returns, which are generally moderate.
Balanced funds are basically a combination of
both bonds and stocks, which involves moderate
to little risk. Hybrid funds include other investment
classes in their portfolio like gold apart from equity
and debt. Since April 2011, the mutual fund
industry clocked a 3% growth in its average Assets
Under Management (AUM) to touch Rs. 7.53 lakh
cr in August (month-on-month) on the back of
higher inflows into liquid and income funds. (Crisil
Report-September 2012). Mutual funds have
advantages compared to direct investing in
individual securities. These include increased
diversification, daily liquidity, professional invest-
ment management, ability to participate in invest-
ments that may be available only to larger
investors, service and convenience, government
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R Padmaja, 2013
oversight and ease of comparison. Mutual funds
have disadvantages as well, which include fees,
less control over timing of recognition of gains,
less predictable income and no opportunity to
customize. Top 10 mutual funds in India are ICICI
Prudential Top 100, Escorts Income Plan- Gro,
Reliance RSF Balanced, DSP Black Rock MIP
Fund, Escorts Liquid Plan Gr, Reliance Equity
Linked S, MOSt Shares NASDAQ 100, Baroda
Pioneer Gilt Fund, IDFC Nifty Fund Growth.
SEBI Guidelines Pertaining to Mutual Funds:
SEBI is the regulatory authority of MFs. SEBI has
the following broad guidelines pertaining to mutual
funds: They are MFs should be formed as a Trust
under Indian Trust Act and should be operated by
Asset Management Companies (AMCs). MFs
need to set up a Board of Trustees and Trustee
Companies. They should also have their Board
of Directors. The net worth of the AMCs should
be at least Rs. 5 cr.
AMCs and Trustees of a MF should be two
separate and distinct legal entities.
The AMC or any of its companies cannot act
as managers for any other fund.
AMCs have to get the approval of SEBI for its
Articles and Memorandum of Association.
All MF schemes should be registered with
SEBI. MFs should distribute minimum of 90% of
their profits among the investors. There are other
guidelines also that govern investment strategy,
disclosure norms and advertising code for mutual
funds.
NEED FOR STUDY
For retail investor who does not have the time
and expertise to analyze and invest in stocks and
bonds, mutual funds offer a viable investment
alternative. This is because mutual funds provide
Int. J. Mgmt Res. & Bus. Strat. 2013
the benefit of cheap access to expensive stocks.
Mutual funds diversify the risk of the investor by
investing in a basket of assets. A team of
professional fund managers manages them with
in-depth research inputs from investment
analysts. Being institutions with good bargaining
power in markets, mutual funds have access to
crucial corporate information which individual
investors cannot access. So the present study
has taken up to know the extent of awareness
about mutual funds and to analyze the investors
perception towards mutual funds.
OBJECTIVES
1. To know about the extent of awareness about
mutual funds with special reference to ICICI
Prudential Mutual Funds, Vijayawada.
2. To know about the preferences of investors
towards mutual funds with special reference
to ICICI Prudential Mutual Funds, Vijayawada.
3. To know about the perceptions of investors
towards mutual funds with special reference
to ICICI Prudential Mutual Funds, Vijayawada.
4. To know about the extent of satisfaction of
investors towards mutual funds with special
reference to ICICI Prudential Mutual Funds,
Vijayawada.
METHODOLOGY
Research Design selected for this research is
descriptive design and the Universe is Vijayawada
City. Data was collected in two ways, i.e., Primary
data and Secondary data. The data collection
method used for collection of primary data was
survey method and the data collection instrument
used is structured questionnaire. The sampling
technique used is non probability convenience
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R Padmaja, 2013
sampling. Sample size is 100 respondents and
sampling units include businessmen, Govern-
ment servants, professional and retired Indivi-
duals. The secondary data was collected through
journals, magazines, books, company manuals,
websites, etc.
LIMITATIONS
1. Sample size was limited to 100 because of
limited time which is small to represent the
whole population.
2. The research was limited to Vijayawada city
only and if the same research would have been
carried in another city, the results may vary.
3. Sometimes the respondents because of their
business didnt able to concentrate while filling
up the questions. However the researcher
tried her level best to overcome the limitation
by explaining the importance of research.
DATA ANALYSIS AND
INTERPRETATION
From Table 1, it is observed that 25% of all the
respondents fall under income group of less than
1,00,000, 65% of our total respondents fall under
income group of 1,00,001-2,00,000 and 10% of
our respondents fall under income group of
2,00,001-3,00,000.
From Table 2, it is observed that out of the total
respondents, 76 respondents are aware of
mutual funds and 24 respondents are not aware
of mutual funds.
From Table 3, it is observed that 68% of the
respondents invest in mutual fund and 32% of
total respondents were not invested in any mutual
fund.
Int. J. Mgmt Res. & Bus. Strat. 2013 R Padmaja, 2013

Table 1: Classification of Respondents Based on Income

S. No. Income (In rupees)/Month Number of Respondents Percentage

1. Less than 1,00,000/- 25 25

2. 1,00,001/-to 2,00,000/- 65 65

3. 2,00,001/- to 3,00,000/- 10 10

4. 3,00,001/- and Above 00 00

Total 100

Table 2: Classification of Mutual Funds Basing on the Awareness Towards Mutual Funds

S. No. Aware/Not Aware Number of Respondents Percentage

1. Yes 76 76

2. No 24 24

Total 100 100

Table 3: Classification of Respondents Basing on Whether

they Invest/or Not Invest in Mutual Funds

S. No. Investment Number of Respondents Percentage

1. Yes 68 68

2. No 32 32

Total 100 100

From Table 4, it is observed that 89% of the
respondents are interested in getting good
deduction from tax and 11% of respondents are
not interested in getting deduction from tax.
From Table 5, it is observed that 76% of all the
respondents know mutual fund is a good instru-
ment of tax saving and 24% of total respondents
did not that mutual fund is a good instrument of
tax saving.
From Table 6, it is observed that majority of
the responders prefer mutual funds as an
investment rather than other type of investment.
From the Table 7, it is observed that 20% of
the respondents invest for the purpose of high
return, 18% invest for the purpose of tax benefit,
45% invest for the purpose of saving, 10% invest
for the purpose of wealth creation and 7% invest
for the purpose of risk diversification.
From the Table 8, it is observed that 3% of the
respondents get less than 5%, 65% of the
respondents get between 5%-10% returns. So
majority of the respondents get 5-10% returns.
From the Table 9, it is observed that 65% of all
the respondents prefer investment in equity fund,
11% of all the respondents prefer investment in Debt
fund, and remaining 24% of the respondents prefer
investment in balanced fund. So it can be concluded
that majority of the respondents are interested to
invest in equity funds.
From Table 10, it is observed that SBI magnum

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Int. J. Mgmt Res. & Bus. Strat. 2013 R Padmaja, 2013

Table 4: Classification of Respondents Basing on Their Interest to get Deduction from Tax

S. No. Interest Number of Respondents Percentage

1. Yes 89 89

2. No 11 11

Total 100 100

Table 5: Respondents Classification Basing on Whether They

Know/Not Know That Mutual Fund is a Good Instrument of Tax Saving

S. No. Investment Number of Respondents Percentage

1. Yes 76 76

2. No 24 24

Total 100 100

Table 6: Classification of the Respondents Basing on the

Type of the Investments They Hold at Present

S. No. Investment Number of Respondents Percentage

1. Equity market 20 20

2. Mutual fund 54 54

3. Government bond 00 00

4. Real estate 09 09

5. Bank FD 48 48

6. Post office 26 26

7. Insurance 45 45

Total 202 202

Note: Respondent invest in more than one instrument of saving.

Table 7: Classification of Respondents Basing on the Purpose they Invested in Mutual Funds

S. No. Investment Purpose Number of Respondents Percentage

1. High return 20 20

2. Tax benefit 18 18

3. Saving 45 45

4. Wealth creation 10 10

5. Risk diversification 7 7

Total 100 100

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Int. J. Mgmt Res. & Bus. Strat. 2013 R Padmaja, 2013

Table 8: Classification of the Respondents Basing

on the Returns Receive From all their Investments

S. No. Investment Returns (%) Number of respondents Percentage

1. <5 03 03

2. 5-10 65 65

3. 10-15 20 20

4. 15-20 07 07

5. >20 05 05

Total 100 100

Table 9: Classification of the Respondents Basing

on Their Preference Towards Different Types Of Mutual Funds

S. No. Investment preference Number of respondents Percentage

1. Equity fund 65 65

2. Debt fund 11 11

3. Balanced fund 24 24

Total 100 100

tax gain scheme gained more points when
compared with other plans.
From the Table 11, it is observed that majority of
the respondents preferred to invest in three year period
mutual funds. It means majority of the respondents
preferred SBI magnum tax gain scheme.
From the Table 12, it is observed that wealth
maximization benefit is most preferred benefit by
the investors.
From Table 13, it is observed that investor
prefer ICICI tax plan.

Table 10: Preference for the SIP Tax Plan of Various Companies
(Where 1 Point is For Most Preferred and 6 For Least Preferred)

S. No. Investment in Various Company Tax Plan Number of Points Percentage

1. SBI magnum tax gain scheme 545 26.0

2. Kotak tax saver 198 09.4

3. ICICI prudential tax plan 498 23.7

4. Fidelity tax advantage fund 275 13.1

5. Reliance tax saver fund 345 16.4

6. HDFC tax saver 239 11.4

Total 2100 100.0

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Int. J. Mgmt Res. & Bus. Strat. 2013 R Padmaja, 2013

Table 11: Preference for the Period of Investment of Systematic Investment Plan (SIP)
for your tax Saving (Where 1 is for Most Preferred and 4 is for Least Preferred)

S. No. Investment time period Number of points Percentage

1. Three year 316 31.6

2. Five year 286 28.6

3. Six year 275 27.5

4. Seven year 123 12.3

Total 1000 100.0

Table 12: Preference for Benefits Offered Among Various AMC Tax Plan
of Mutual Funds (Where 1 is for Most Preferred and 5 is Least Preferred)

S. No. Investment Benefits Number of Points Percentage

1. Flexibility to investors 256 17.1

2. Capital appreciation 323 21.5

3. Tax free return 387 25.8

4. Wealth maximization 389 25.9

5. Small amount of investment 145 09.7

Total 1500 100.0

From the Table 14, it is observed that the people
in the age group of 20-30 years are more open to
mutual fund holding and equity market. The share
of mutual fund shows a decreasing trend as the
age increases. It is observed that in the latter age
groups, Life Insurance policies and Government
Securities and Bonds have an increasingly
preferred. Overall, Mutual Fund, Stock Market,
Bank Fixed Deposits and Life Insurance policies
are the most preferred holdings amongst all age
groups in the service category
From the Table 15, it is observed that maximum
investment is made in 30-40 age group investors.
Also they are holding a diversified portfolio which
includes PPF, Postal Schemes, Fixed Deposit,
as well as Equity Schemes (Mut-ual fund, Stock
Market). Age group 25-40 holds investments in
Equity Market, Bank FD, and some also hold their
Money in Real Estate. Business class people
focus more on high return with moderate security
of return. So majority of their investment is made
in Mutual Investment. Also comparing the options
the maximum is in Mutual Fund then come Equity
Market and at the third Position there are three
types of holding with similar preferences. They
are Post Office, Real Estate and Bank FD.
From the Table 16, it is observed that people
in the age category of 30-40 and 40-50 years have
a certain preference for equity holdings, mutual
fund, real estate. However these people are very
conscious for the assured return and security.
This category mostly consisting of retired
people and housewives and from Table 17, it has
been observed that preference for mutual fund is
low in this category. However Bank Fixed Depo-

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Int. J. Mgmt Res. & Bus. Strat. 2013 R Padmaja, 2013

Table 13: Classification of Respondents Basing on the Preference

for Tax Saving Plan of ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund

S. No. Investment Preference Number of Respondents Percentage

1. Most preferred 12 12

2. Favorably preferred 16 16

3. Preferred 44 44

4. Least preferred 11 11

5. Not preferred 17 17

Total 100 100

Table 14: Age Wise Classification of Respondents Basing on Their Preference of Investment

S. No. Service Class 20-30 30-40 40-50 50-60 > 65 Total

1. Equity Market 5 6 1 0 0 12

2. Mutual Fund 12 8 2 0 0 22

3. Govt. Bonds 1 2 1 0 0 04

4. Real Estate 0 1 0 0 0 01

5. Bank F.D. 3 1 0 0 0 04

6. Post office 0 1 0 0 0 01

7. Life Ins. 4 1 1 0 0 06

Total 25 20 5 0 0 50

Table 15: Age Wise Break up of Business Class Respondents

S. No. Business Class 20-30 30-40 40-50 50-60 > 65 Total

1 Equity Market 1 3 0 1 0 5

2 Mutual Fund 0 6 0 0 0 6

3 Govt. Bonds 0 0 0 0 0 0

4 Real Estate 1 4 0 0 0 5

5 Bank F.D. 1 2 1 0 0 4

6 Post office 0 2 0 0 0 2

7 Life Ins. 0 0 0 0 0 0

Total 3 17 1 1 0 22

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Table 16: Age Wise Break up of Professional Class Respondents

S. No. Professional 20-30 30-40 40-50 50-60 > 65 Total

1. Equity Market 0 2 2 0 0 4

2. Mutual Fund 3 4 0 0 0 7

3. Govt. Bonds 0 1 0 0 0 1

4. Real Estate 0 0 5 0 0 5

5. Bank F.D. 0 0 1 1 0 2

6. Post office 0 0 0 0 0 0

7. Life Ins. 0 1 0 0 0 1

Total 3 8 8 1 0 20

Table 17: Age Wise Break Up of Retired Class Respondents

S. No. Retired 20-30 30-40 40-50 50-60 >65 Total

1. Equity Market 0 0 0 0 0 0

2. Mutual Fund 0 0 0 0 0 0

3. Govt. Bonds 0 0 0 0 0 0

4. Real Estate 0 0 0 1 0 1

5. Bank F.D. 0 0 0 1 0 1

6. Post office 0 0 0 2 1 3

7. Life Ins. 0 0 0 0 3 3

Total 0 0 0 4 4 8

sits, Post Schemes, Life Insurance have the
greatest preference amongst people in this
category.
From the Table 18, it is observed that
investment in mutual funds is by all age groups
but investors between the age of 20-30 and 30-
40 years mostly prefer to invest in Mutual Fund.
From the Table 19, it is observed that investor
whose income is between 100001/- to 200000/- highly
prefer to invest in tax saving plan of Mutual Fund.

Table 18: Age Wise Break Up of Investment in Mutual Funds

S. No. Attribute 20-30 30-40 40-50 50-60 > 65 Total

1. Yes 18 36 15 5 2 76

2. No 2 1 1 5 15 24

Total 20 37 16 10 17 100

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Int. J. Mgmt Res. & Bus. Strat. 2013 R Padmaja, 2013

Table 19: Income Wise Break Up Of Investment

S. No. >100,000 100001-200000 200001-300000 300001 and More Total

1. Yes 19 42 7 0 68

2. No 6 23 3 0 32

Total 25 65 10 0 100

Table 20: Occupation Wise Break Up For Investment in Different Funds

S. No. Service Class Business Class Professional Retired Total

1. Equity Fund 35 11 17 02 65

2. Debt Fund 01 07 01 02 11

3. Balanced Fund 14 04 02 04 24

Total 50 22 20 8 100

Table 21: Occupation Wise Preference for ICICI Mutual Funds

S. No. Service Class Business Class Professional Retired Total

1. Most Preferred 3 5 1 3 12

2. Favorably Preferred 4 5 5 2 16

3. Preferred 32 4 7 1 44

4. Least Preferred 3 3 4 1 11

5. Not Preferred 8 5 3 1 17

Total 50 22 20 8 100

From the Table 20, it is observed that investors
in business class and professionals like to invest
in equity fund and balanced fund.
From the Table 21, it is observed that investors
of service class, business and professional like
to invest in ICICI Tax saving plan, while retired
class are less likely to invest.
SUGGESTIONS
Even though the mutual funds are good source
of income, the people lack awareness and
information towards mutual funds. So the
following suggestions were made in order to
increase the awareness among the people
especially the rural people.
1. Increase awareness among investors: Many
investors are still restricting their choices to
the non-governmental options like gold and
fixed deposits even the market is flooded with
countless investment opportunities. This is
because of lack of awareness about mutual
funds which makes many investors restrict
their choice to traditional options like gold and
fixed deposits. So awareness relating to

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Int. J. Mgmt Res. & Bus. Strat. 2013
mutual funds must be increased among the
investors to encourage them to invest in
mutual funds.
2. Provide complete information relating to
mutual funds: Even among the investors who
invest in mutual funds are unclear about how
they function and how to manage them. So
proper information must be provided to the
investors in order to increase the loyalty among
the investors.
3. Investors fee must be reduced by reducing
paper work: Investors fee includes manage-
ment fee, distribution fee, distribution fee, and
administrative costs, etc., which are generally
deducted from the asset value. This can be
possible if the investment is made without
agent and if the paper work is reduced.
4. Better commission should be paid to Asset
Management Companies: From the past 4-5
years the trust of investors on mutual funds is
reduced because of the poor performance of
mutual funds in these years. So if better
commission is paid to Asset Management
Companies which are highly knowledgeable
and by motivating them we can improve the
distribution system of mutual funds.
5. Subsidized Investments to rural investors:
Because of the issue of commercial viability,
mutual funds were limited to major cities only.
So if mutual funds are offered to rural and semi
urban investors at subsidized rates like
agricultural loans, the demand for mutual funds
increases in rural and semi urban areas also.
6. Advertising campaigns must be conducted in
rural areas to increase awareness among rural
investors.
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R Padmaja, 2013
CONCLUSION
Mutual funds are good source of returns for
majority of households and it is particularly useful
for the people who are at the age of retirement.
However, average investors are still restricting
their choices to conventional options like gold and
fixed deposits when the market is flooded with
countless investment opportunities, with mutual
funds. This is because of lack of information about
how mutual funds work, which makes many
investors hesitant towards mutual fund invest-
ments. In fact, many a times, people investing in
mutual funds too are unclear about how they
function and how one can manage them. So the
organizations which are offering mutual funds
have to provide complete information to the
prospective investors relating to mutual funds.
The government also has to take some measures
to encourage people to invest in mutual funds
even though it is offering schemes like Rajiv
Gandhi Equity Savings Scheme to the investors.
It is believed that some of these measures could
lift the morale of the mutual fund industry which
has been crippled for the last three years.
REFERENCES
1. Investment Company Institute (2011), as
cited in Ignites, December 30.
2. Fink Matthew P (2008), The Rise of Mutual
Funds, Oxford University Press, p. 9.
3. Pozen Robert and Hamacher Theresa
(2011), The Fund Industry: How Your Money
is Managed, John Wiley & Sons. pp. 5-7.
4. Pozen and Hamacher (2011), pp. 7-9.
5. Pozen and Hamacher (2011), pp. 11-15.
Int. J. Mgmt Res. & Bus. Strat. 2013 R Padmaja, 2013

6. Rouwenhorst K Geert (2004), The Origins 7. 2011 Investment Company Fact Book,
of Mutual Funds, Yale ICF Working Paper Investment Company Institute. Retrieved
No. 04-48, December 12, 2004), p. 5. 2011-08-02.

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