Professional Documents
Culture Documents
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Meaning:
A Mutual Fund is a trust that pools the savings of a number of investors who
share a common financial goal. The money thus collected is then invested in
capital market instruments such as shares, debentures and other securities. The
income earned through these investments and the capital appreciations realized
are shared by its unit holders in proportion to the number of units owned by
them.
Thus a Mutual Fund is the most suitable investment for the common man as it
offers an opportunity to invest in a diversified, professionally managed basket
of securities at a relatively low cost.
Mutual funds are associations or trusts of public members who wish to make
investments in the financials instruments or assets of the business sector for the
mutual benefit of its members.
The fund collects the money of these members from savings and invests them
in diversified portfolio of financial assets with a view to reduce risks and to
maximize their income and capital appreciation for distribution to its members
on a pro-rata basis. They enjoy collectively the benefits of expertise in
investment by specialists in the trust, economies of scale which no single
individual by himself could enjoy.
A closed-end mutual fund has a set number of shares issued to the public
through an initial public offering. These funds have a stipulated maturity period
generally ranging from 3 to 15 years. The fund is open for subscription only
during a specified period. Investors can invest in the scheme at the time of the
initial public issue and thereafter they can buy or sell the units of the scheme on
the stock exchanges where they are listed.
An open-end mutual fund is a fund that does not have a set number of shares. It
continues to sell shares to investors and will buy back shares when investors
wish to sell. Units are bought and sold at their current net asset value.
LARGE-CAP FUNDS
Large cap funds are those mutual funds, which seek capital appreciation
by investing primarily in stocks of large blue chip companies with
above-average prospects for earnings growth. Different mutual funds
have different criteria for classifying companies as large cap.
MID-CAP FUNDS
Mid cap funds are those mutual funds, which invest in small / medium
sized companies. As there is no standard definition classifying
companies as small or medium, each mutual fund has its own
classification for small and medium sized companies.
Small / mid sized companies tend to be under researched thus they present an
opportunity to invest in a company that is yet to be identified by the market.
Such companies offer higher growth potential going forward and therefore an
opportunity to benefit from higher than average valuations.
But mid cap funds are very volatile and tend to fall like a pack of cards in bad
times. So, caution should be exercised while investing in mid cap mutual
funds.
EQUITY FUNDS
Equity mutual funds are also known as stock mutual funds. Equity mutual
funds invest pooled amounts of money in the stocks of public
companies. Stocks represent part ownership, or equity, in companies,
and the aim of stock ownership is to see the value of the companies
increase over time.
Stocks are often categorized by their market capitalization (or caps), and
can be classified in three basic sizes: small, medium, and large. Many
mutual funds invest primarily in companies of one of these sizes and
are thus classified as large-cap, mid-cap or small-cap funds.
Equity fund managers employ different styles of stock picking when they
make investment decisions for their portfolios. Some fund managers
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BALANCED FUNDS
Balanced fund is also known as hybrid fund. It is a type of mutual fund that
buys a combination of common stock, preferred stock, bonds, and short-term
bonds, to provide both income and capital appreciation while avoiding
excessive risk.
Balanced funds provide investor with an option of single mutual fund that
combines both growth and income objectives, by investing in both stocks (for
growth) and bonds (for income).
Such diversified holdings ensure that these funds will manage downturns in the
stock market without too much of a loss. But on the flip side, balanced funds
will usually increase less than an all-stock fund during a bull market.
GROWTH FUNDS
Growth funds are those mutual funds that aim to achieve capital
appreciation by investing in growth stocks. They focus on those
companies, which are experiencing significant earnings or revenue
growth, rather than companies that pay out dividends.
In general, growth funds are more volatile than other types of funds, rising
more than other funds in bull markets and falling more in bear
markets. Only aggressive investors, or those with enough time to
make up for short-term market losses, should buy these funds.
NO LOAD FUNDS
Mutual funds can be classified into two types - Load mutual funds and No-
Load mutual funds. Load funds are those funds that charge commission at the
time of purchase or redemption.
They can be further subdivided into (1) Front-end load funds and (2) Back-end
load funds. Front-end load funds charge commission at the time of purchase
and back-end load funds charge commission at the time of redemption.
On the other hand, no-load funds are those funds that can be purchased without
commission. No load funds have several advantages over load funds. Firstly,
funds with loads, on average, consistently underperform no-load funds when
the load is taken into consideration in performance calculations.
Secondly, loads understate the real commission charged because they reduce
the total amount being invested. Finally, when a load fund is held over a long
time period, the effect of the load, if paid up front, is not diminished because if
the money paid for the load had invested, as in a no-load fund, it would have
been compounding over the whole time period.
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Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) represent a basket of securities that are traded
on an exchange. An exchange traded fund is similar to an index fund in that it
will primarily invest in the securities of companies that are included in a
selected market index. An ETF will invest in either all of the securities or a
representative sample of the securities included in the index. The investment
objective of an ETF is to achieve the same return as a particular market index.
VALUE FUNDS
Value funds are those mutual funds that tend to focus on safety rather
than growth, and often choose investments providing dividends as
well as capital appreciation. They invest in companies that the market
has overlooked, and stocks that have fallen out of favor with
mainstream investors, either due to changing investor preferences, a
poor quarterly earnings report, or hard times in a particular
industry.
Value stocks are often mature companies that have stopped growing and
that use their earnings to pay dividends. Thus value funds produce
current income (from the dividends) as well as long-term growth
(from capital appreciation once the stocks become popular again).
A money market fund is a mutual fund that invests solely in money market
instruments. Money market instruments are forms of debt that
mature in less than one year and are very liquid. Treasury bills make
up the bulk of the money market instruments. Securities in the money
market are relatively risk-free.
Money market funds are generally the safest and most secure of mutual
fund investments. The goal of a money-market fund is to preserve
principal while yielding a modest return. Money-market mutual fund
is akin to a high-yield bank account but is not entirely risk free. When
investing in a money-market fund, attention should be paid to the
interest rate that is being offered.
Regional funds select securities that pass geographical criteria. For the
investor, the primary benefit of a regional fund is that he/she
increases his/her diversification by being exposed to a specific foreign
geographical area.
SECTOR FUNDS
Sector mutual funds are those mutual funds that restrict their investments
to a particular segment or sector of the economy. These funds
concentrate on one industry such as infrastructure, heath care,
utilities, pharmaceuticals etc. The idea is to allow investors to place
bets on specific industries or sectors, which have strong growth
potential.
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INDEX FUNDS
An index fund is a type of mutual fund that builds its portfolio by buying
stock in all the companies of a particular index and thereby
reproducing the performance of an entire section of the market.
The most popular index of stock index funds is the Standard & Poor's 500.
An S&P 500 stock index fund owns 500 stocks-all the companies that
are included in the index.
FUND OF FUNDS
Fund of funds is a type of mutual fund that invests in other mutual funds.
Just as a mutual fund invests in a number of different securities, a
fund of funds holds shares of many different mutual funds.
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Also, since a fund of funds buys many different funds which themselves
invest in many different stocks, it is possible for the fund of funds to
own the same stock through several different funds and it can be
difficult to keep track of the overall holdings.
Diversification
Using mutual funds can help an investor diversify their portfolio with a
minimum investment. When investing in a single fund, an investor is actually
investing in numerous securities. Spreading your investment across a range of
securities can help to reduce risk. A stock mutual fund, for example, invests in
many stocks - hundreds or even thousands.
Professional Management:
This eliminates the investor of the difficult task of trying to time the market.
Furthermore, mutual funds can eliminate the cost an investor would incur when
proper due diligence is given to researching securities.
This cost of managing numerous securities is dispersed among all the investors
according to the amount of shares they own with a fraction of each dollar
invested used to cover the expenses of the fund. What does this mean? Fund
managers have more money to research more securities more in depth than the
average investor.
Convenience:
With most mutual funds, buying and selling shares, changing distribution
options, and obtaining information can be accomplished conveniently by
telephone, by mail, or online.
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Liquidity:
Mutual fund shares are liquid and orders to buy or sell are placed during market
hours. However, orders are not executed until the close of business when the
NAV (Net Average Value) of the fund can be determined. Fees or
commissions may or may not be applicable. Fees and commissions are
determined by the specific fund and the institution that executes the order.
No Insurance:
Mutual funds, although regulated by the government, are not insured against
losses. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) only insures against
certain losses at banks, credit unions, and savings and loans, not mutual funds.
Dilution:
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Most mutual funds charge management and operating fees that pay for the
fund's management expenses (usually around 1.0% to 1.5% per year). In
addition, some mutual funds charge high sales commissions, 12b-1 fees, and
redemption fees. And some funds buy and trade shares so often that the
transaction costs add up significantly.
Poor Performance:
Trading Limitations:
Although mutual funds are highly liquid in general, most mutual funds (called
open-ended funds) cannot be bought or sold in the middle of the trading day.
You can only buy and sell them at the end of the day, after they've calculated
the current value of their holdings.
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Some mutual funds are too big to find enough good investments. This is
especially true of funds that focus on small companies, given that there are
strict rules about how much of a single company a fund may own.
If a mutual fund has $5 billion to invest and is only able to invest an average of
$50 million in each, then it needs to find at least 100 such companies to invest
in; as a result, the fund might be forced to lower its standards when selecting
companies to invest in.
Mutual funds usually maintain large cash reserves as protection against a large
number of simultaneous withdrawals. Although this provides investors with
liquidity, it means that some of the fund's money is invested in cash instead of
assets, which tends to lower the investor's potential return.
The origin of mutual fund industry in India is with the introduction of the
concept of mutual fund by UTI in the year 1963. Though the growth
was slow, but it accelerated from the year 1987 when non-UTI players
entered the industry.
In the past decade, Indian mutual fund industry had seen dramatic
improvements, both quality wise as well as quantity wise. Before, the
monopoly of the market had seen an ending phase, the Assets Under
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The main reason of its poor growth is that the mutual fund industry
in India is new in the country. Large sections of Indian investors are
yet to be intellectuated with the concept. Hence, it is the prime
responsibility of all mutual fund companies, to market the product
correctly abreast of selling.
The mutual fund industry can be broadly put into four phases
according to the development of the sector. Each phase is briefly
described as under.
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Entry of non-UTI mutual funds. SBI Mutual Fund was the first
followed by Canara bank Mutual Fund (Dec 87), Punjab National
Bank Mutual Fund (Aug 89), Indian Bank Mutual Fund (Nov 89),
Bank of India (Jun 90), Bank of Baroda Mutual Fund (Oct 92). LIC
in 1989 and GIC in 1990. The end of 1993 marked Rs.47,004 as assets
under management.
With the entry of private sector funds in 1993, a new era started in
the Indian mutual fund industry, giving the Indian investors a wider
choice of fund families. Also, 1993 was the year in which the first
Mutual Fund Regulations came into being, under which all mutual
funds, except UTI were to be registered and governed.
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As at the end of January 2003, there were 33 mutual funds with total assets
of Rs. 121805 crores. The Unit Trust of India with Rs.44541 crores of
assets under management was way ahead of other mutual funds.
This phase had bitter experience for UTI. It was bifurcated into two
separate entities. One is the Specified Undertaking of the Unit Trust
of India with AUM of Rs.29,835 crores (as on January 2003). The
Specified Undertaking of Unit Trust of India, functioning under an
administrator and under the rules framed by Government of India
and does not come under the purview of the Mutual Fund
Regulations.
The second is the UTI Mutual Fund Ltd, sponsored by SBI, PNB,
BOB and LIC. It is registered with SEBI and functions under the
Mutual Fund Regulations.
With the bifurcation of the erstwhile UTI which had in March 2000 more
than Rs.76,000 crores of AUM and with the setting up of a UTI
Mutual Fund, conforming to the SEBI Mutual Fund Regulations, and
with recent mergers taking place among different private sector
funds, the mutual fund industry has entered its current phase of
consolidation and growth. As at the end of September, 2004, there
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Indian mutual funds (MFs) have rewarded their investors better than any other
funds in world. According to a report by Lipper, a leading market research
agency, Indian funds have grabbed eight of the top 10 ranks over a 10-year
period.
If one takes the last five years, they account for seven of the top 10 and over a
3-year period, six of the 10 best performing mutual funds are from India.
However this is in the medium and long term segments. If one takes a short-
term view, there is no Indian fund among the top 10 global performers over last
year (November 1, 2005 to October 31, 2006) under preview.
This is despite the fact that the last twelve months have been among the best
periods ever for Indian markets, with the Bombay Index (sensex) rising by
64.2%.
As of today the size of the asset under management (AUM) in India is $68
billion against the country's GDP of $ 780 billion. In some developed
economies AUM size is close to the GDP figure. This clearly shows the further
scope for growth. If you take the last four year period (January 2003-007) the
AUM of the mutual fund industry has risen substantially about 277%.
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Thirty-eight new equity schemes were launched in 2006 and garnered around
$6.3 billion. New categories of funds, like capital protection-oriented funds and
equity derivative funds were launched.
In calendar year 2006, the total AUM of mutual funds grew 6.47 percent to
cross the $68 billion. The MF industry had achieved this landmark first in
August 2006 according to the data released by Association of Mutual Funds in
India (AMFI).
While, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has already made
few amendments for launch of gold exchange-traded funds, whereby investors
can trade in gold as any other instrument, it is likely to take a final call on realty
funds as well.
The MF industry has been seeing few consolidations. With the Indian MF
industry witnessing sustained high growth, it is natural that the foreign players
are eyeing the huge Indian opportunity.
It is likely to get further boost with major players like AIG, Japanese Shinsai
Bank and Nikko AMC planning to set shops in the country. Indian MF market
is expected to witness the entry of more global mutual funds in 2007.
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Existing foreign funds like Franklin Templeton, Merrill Lynch, Fidelity and
HSBC made good returns in 2006. Out of 30 AMCs in the country now, nine
are predominantly controlled by global players.
The non-resident Indians (NRIs) have also increased their exposure in the
Indian mutual fund industry by 30 times in the past four years. While the NRI
share in total AUM in January 2003 stood at $102 million, in January 2007, the
figure rose to $3.1 billion, according to industry estimates. In percentage terms,
the NRI share has risen from 0.5% to more than 4%.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has recently hiked the investment limit of
mutual funds in foreign equity and debt instruments from the current US$ 2
billion to US$ 3 billion. This is a reform step. Domestic mutual funds are yet to
even come near the existing limit of $ 2 billion as the Indian markets currently
look to be more attractive.
The mutual fund (MF) industry is seeking to get tax relief on debt schemes and
a solution to the issue of treating Fund of Funds (FoF) schemes on par with
equity schemes from this Budget. The decisions, it expects, will boost retail
participation in these schemes.
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The industry in its wish list, which it submitted to the finance ministry, sought
nullification or reduction of this tax. The industry expects the government to
take a call on this issue. If the tax limit is brought down, the industry will be
able to attract far more retail investments that, at present, go to conventional
investment sources.
If the market remains subdued in 2007, returns from the equity schemes may
narrow down, but it still will be nearly 20 percent, predicts market analysts.
With new products, as many as 54,000 distributors (including 80 banks), retail
investors are clearly swarming in large numbers to invest in mutual funds.
AMFI believes this trend will reinforce itself as innovative products woven
around commodities, and even real estate, make their entry in the coming days.
A total of 13 new fund houses are either waiting for SEBI's approval or have
plans to enter the Indian mutual fund market. According to Lipper the best
performer over the five and ten-year period is Reliance Growth Fund, which
has given a compounded annual return of 71.38% and 35.21% respectively
against the sensex's improvement of 34.10% and 15.14% respectively.
According to observers, the growth in MF has been spectacular so far and the
bottom line and top line of the industry is attractive. With more players entering
the market, the industry is expected to grow 23% to 24% a year. The yields are
good. The AUM will witness tremendous growth.
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Many mutual funds offer more than one class of shares. For example, you may
have seen a fund that offers "Class A" and "Class B" shares. Each class will
invest in the same "pool" (or investment portfolio) of securities and will have
the same investment objectives and policies.
But each class will have different shareholder services and/or distribution
arrangements with different fees and expenses. As a result, each class will
likely have different performance results.
A multi-class structure offers investors the ability to select a fee and expense
structure that is most appropriate for their investment goals (including the time
that they expect to remain invested in the fund). Here are some key
characteristics of the most common mutual fund share classes offered to
individual investors:
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• Class C Shares — Class C shares might have a 12b-1 fee, other annual
expenses, and either a front- or back-end sales load. But the front- or
back-end load for Class C shares tends to be lower than for Class A or
Class B shares, respectively. Unlike Class B shares, Class C shares
generally do not convert to another class. Class C shares tend to have
higher annual expenses than either Class A or Class B shares.
RECENT trends in mutual fund flows suggest that the Indian investor is
regaining his appetite for equities. But is he willing to make them a part of his
regular diet? The evidence on this is not conclusive. For this, the robust inflows
into equity funds since 2003 will have to be sustained through the ups and
downs of the stock market.
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With new investments steadily building up the corpus and rising equity values
lending a helping hand, equity funds have doubled their asset base over the past
year.
Sales numbers have also been more consistent than they have been at any time
in the past. Since August 2003, the monthly sales have consistently remained
above the Rs 1,800-crore mark, except in one month. This is a healthy sign, as
inflows into equity funds in the period before 2003, tended to yo-yo month to
month.
With fund sales keeping up a steady tempo the last 18 months, market watchers
are drawing a parallel with the American experience of the 1980s. Then, rising
household incomes and a steady acceleration in fund sales saw the household
penetration of American mutual funds climb from 5 per cent to over 20 per cent
in just six years.
But an analysis of trends in Indian mutual fund flows over a five-year period
shows that it may be early days yet to expect such a jump. It is only in the 22
months since August 2003 that equity fund flows accelerated sharply, and this
has been a particularly buoyant period for the stock market.
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Robust monthly inflows into equity funds usually follow a month or two of
good stock market returns. In this respect, the period since August 2003 has
been quite conducive to equity fund sales.
The stock market has either notched up positive monthly returns or has stayed
flat in 18 of the 22 months between May 2003 and February 2005. With the
market marching predictably upwards and the returns on equity funds
outpacing the market by a big margin, recent investors have tasted the rewards
of equity investing, without experiencing its risks.
So, while investors are now allocating a larger portion of their savings to
equities, it is not clear if this represents a sustainable trend. The recent pace of
inflows into equity funds will be tested if the market witnesses a sharp reversal.
Over the past year and a half, there was just one month when the stock market
suffered a significant reversal.
In May 2004, the Nifty lost 17 per cent in value, on post-election jitters. Sure
enough, the following month was the only one in recent history when equity
fund sales plummeted below the Rs 1,800-crore mark. They were at Rs 912
crore.
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If equity fund sales slumped in June 2004, so did the pace of redemptions.
Pullouts from equity funds, which hovered between Rs 1,500 and Rs 2,500
crore a month over the preceding 12 months, shrank to Rs 906 crore in June
2004 following the stock market rout in May.
But investors do seem to use a buoyant phase in the stock market to cash in on
their fund investments. As the market climbed, monthly pullouts from equity
funds also picked up pace over the past year and half, though they remained at
much lower levels than the inflows.
This is probably healthy for the mutual fund industry over the long term.
Traditionally, the bulk of inflows into equity funds have come in at, or close to,
peaks in the stock market. As a result, investors who entered equity funds in
1994, end-1999 or early 2000 have probably had to wait several years to earn a
reasonable return.
The steady pace of pullouts from equity funds in recent months signals that a
good number of these investors may be trying to exit from their investment.
This trend could help mitigate the poor experience that many Indian investors
seem to have with investing in equity funds, despite the latter's good return
numbers.
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After rising steadily through 2003, monthly inflows and outflows taken
together accounted for as much as 33 per cent of the average equity fund assets
in December 2003.
Such a high proportion of inflows and outflows from an equity fund may not be
healthy from the investors' perspective. It could force the fund manager to
replace a large proportion of the stocks in his portfolio at a time when market
conditions are less than ideal.
But with the assets managed by equity funds swelling sharply over the past
year, inflows and outflows, as a proportion of the fund size, have been waning.
By February 2005, the churn rates for the inflows and pullouts taken together
added up to just 20 per cent of the average assets. This shows that fund
managers probably have to contend with lower volatility on the corpus they
manage now, than was the case a year ago.
However, the one disconcerting feature of the recent inflows is that new funds
garnered a significant portion of the money flowing into equity funds. Over the
past year, about 16 per cent of all inflows into equity funds (or Rs 5,168 crore)
poured into initial public offerings from fund houses. Though old funds with an
established record have garnered much more (Rs 27,000 crore), investments
routed through an IPO suffer from a couple of disadvantages.
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Should the market enter a corrective phase, these investors may be vulnerable
to sharp erosion in the value of their entire investment.
Two, many investors who prefer a new fund over an established one do so
under the mistaken notion that entering a fund at an NAV of Rs 10 reduces the
downside risk associated with an equity investment.
These investors may be less prepared (than those who invest in established
funds) for a blip in the value of their investments, in the event of a market
correction.
Instead of rolling out new funds, fund houses need to put greater effort into
persuading investors to place faith in established funds that have a good track
record. Regular monthly investments in mutual funds also need to encouraged,
rather than one-off investments prompted by a booming stock market.
If the fund industry, through its distributors, does manage to convince a larger
proportion of investors to make systematic investments in equity funds, one can
look forward to fund flows that are not too influenced by the ebb and flow of
the stock market.
First, by pooling the savings of many investors, mutual funds can afford to
employ professional asset managers and analysts with investment expertise
exceeding that of the typical small investor.
Finally, mutual funds offer investors a greater degree of liquidity than would be
available through direct investments in the capital markets. For example,
mutual funds offer a variety of convenient means for purchasing and redeeming
shares, such as making fund investments and portfolio adjustments over the
phone and (for money market funds and some bond funds) making redemptions
by writing checks.
Shareowners assume all the market risk and credit risk of the fund's assets and
share proportionally in all the gains and losses of the fund.
Mutual funds actively compete with banks and thrift institutions for the
balances of households and in supplying funds to borrowers. Such competition
is limited, however, to those households that are willing to take on additional
risk for higher expected returns and to those borrowers capable of financing
their needs directly through the securities markets.
Open-end mutual funds, however, soon overshadowed them, and between 1940
and 1970 their assets grew more than a hundredfold, to about $48 billion.
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In the early 1970s, when volatile stock market conditions along with persistent
inflation reduced the attractiveness of bond and equity funds, the industry
created money market mutual funds.
These funds met the desire of investors to benefit from money market rates,
which were then above the level that federal regulation allowed depository
institutions to offer on retail accounts, and the success of these funds spurred
the development of other funds investing in fixed-income securities: Municipal
bond funds were introduced in the mid-1970s, and mortgage-backed and
government bond funds were started in the mid- 1980s.
Mutual funds have continued to play an active role in equity markets, with
holdings of equity funds growing from about $40 billion in 1970 to about $580
billion in the first half of 1993. Bond and money funds grew faster over this
period.
As a result, the assets of stock funds declined from about 80 percent of
industry assets to 34 percent between year-end 1970 and mid-1993, by which
time bond funds accounted for about 40 percent of industry assets and money
funds about 26 percent.
It seems strange to compare mutual funds to stocks since mutual funds are
primarily composed of stocks, but it is important to distinguish the two because
there are some notable advantages to using mutual funds.
Get Focused
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Diversification
Professional Management
Even if some of us are better at picking stocks than a professional and their
support staff, most of us would not want to spend the amount of time it takes to
watch, research and trade the market on a daily basis.
Efficiency
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Ease of Use
Liquidity
If you find yourself in need of money in a short amount of time, mutual funds
are highly liquid. Simply put in your order during the day and when the market
closes a check will be sent to you or you can have it wired to a bank account.
Stocks can be much more difficult depending on what kinds of stocks you are
invested in. CD's offer no liquidity (not without a hefty fee) and bonds can be
difficult, too. Some mutual funds also carry check writing privileges, which
means you can actually write checks from the account, similar to your checking
account at the bank.
Cost
Mutual funds are excellent for the new investors because you can invest small
amounts of money and you can invest at regular intervals with no trading costs.
Stock investing, however, carries high transaction fees making it difficult for
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Wealthy stock investors get special treatment from brokers and wealthy bank
account holders get special treatment from the banks, but mutual funds are non-
discriminatory. It doesn't matter whether you have $50 or $500,000, you are
getting the exact same manager, the same account access and the same
investment.
Risk
In general, mutual funds carry much lower risk than stocks. This is primarily
due to diversification (as mentioned above). Certain mutual funds can be riskier
than individual stocks, but you have to go out of your way to find them.
With stocks, one worry is that the company you are investing in goes bankrupt.
With mutual funds, that chance is next to nil. Since mutual funds typically hold
anywhere from 25-5000 companies, all of the companies that it holds would
have to go bankrupt.
12b-1 Fees — fees paid by the fund out of fund assets to cover the costs of
marketing and selling fund shares and sometimes to cover the costs of
providing shareholder services. "Distribution fees" include fees to compensate
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Account Fee — a fee that some funds separately impose on investors for the
maintenance of their accounts. For example, accounts below a specified dollar
amount may have to pay an account fee.
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Distribution Fees — fees paid out of fund assets to cover expenses for
marketing and selling fund shares, including advertising costs, compensation
for brokers and others who sell fund shares, and payments for printing and
mailing prospectuses to new investors and sales literature prospective investors.
Sometimes referred to as "12b-1 fees."
Index Fund — describes a type of mutual fund or Unit Investment Trust (UIT)
whose investment objective typically is to achieve the same return as a
particular market index, such as the S&P 500 Composite Stock Price Index, the
Russell 2000 Index, or the Wilshire 5000 Total Market Index.
Management Fee — fee paid out of fund assets to the fund's investment
adviser or its affiliates for managing the fund's portfolio, any other management
fee payable to the fund's investment adviser or its affiliates, and any
administrative fee payable to the investment adviser that are not included in the
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NAV (Net Asset Value) — the value of the fund's assets minus its liabilities.
SEC rules require funds to calculate the NAV at least once daily. To calculate
the NAV per share, simply subtract the fund's liabilities from its assets and then
divide the result by the number of shares outstanding.
No-load Fund — a fund that does not charge any type of sales load. But not
every type of shareholder fee is a "sales load," and a no-load fund may charge
fees that are not sales loads. No-load funds also charge operating expenses.
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Purchase Fee — a shareholder fee that some funds charge when investors
purchase mutual fund shares. Not the same as (and may be in addition to) a
front-end load.
Redemption Fee — a shareholder fee that some funds charge when investors
redeem (or sell) mutual fund shares. Redemption fees (which must be paid to
the fund) are not the same as (and may be in addition to) a back-end load
(which is typically paid to a broker). The SEC generally limits redemption fees
to 2%.
Sales Charge (or "Load") — the amount that investors pay when they
purchase (front-end load) or redeem (back-end load) shares in a mutual fund,
similar to a commission. The SEC's rules do not limit the size of sales load a
fund may charge, but NASD rules state that mutual fund sales loads cannot
41
Total Annual Fund Operating Expense — the total of a fund's annual fund
operating expenses, expressed as a percentage of the fund's average net assets.
You'll find the total in the fund's fee table in the prospectus.
42
Meaning
43
All types of Equity funds, Debt funds and Balanced funds offer a SIP.
Liquid funds, Cash funds and Floating rate Debt funds do not offer a SIP
because these are funds that invest in very short-term fixed-return
investments.
Load in SIP:
Load is a fee investor pay to the fund when investor sell the units, just like
the entry load is a fee investor pay when investor buy the units.
Initially funds charged entry load as well as exit load for SIP’s but now most
of the funds have removed both the load and the conditions vary between
Mutual funds.
44
45
If market lows give you the jitters and make you wish you had never
invested in equity markets, then SIPs can help you blunt that depression.
Most retail investors are not experts on stocks and are even more out-of-
sorts with stock market oscillations. But that does not necessarily make
stocks a loss-making investment proposition. Studies have repeatedly
highlighted the ability of stocks to outperform other asset classes (debt, gold,
property) over the long-term (at least 5 years) as also to effectively counter
inflation. So if stocks are such a great thing, why are so many investors
complaining? Its because they either got the stock wrong or the timing
46
4. Compounds returns:
The early bird gets the worm is not just a part of the jungle folklore. Even
the ‘early’ investor gets a lion’s share of the investment booty vis-à-vis the
investor who comes in later. This is mainly due to a thumb rule of finance
called ‘compounding’. According to a study by Principal Mutual Fund if
Investor Early and Investor Late begin investing Rs 1,000 monthly in a
balanced fund (50:50 – equity:debt) at 25 years and 30 years of age
respectively, Investor Early will build a corpus of Rs 8 m (Rs 80 lakhs) at 60
years, which is twice the corpus of Rs 4 m that Investor Late will
accumulate. A gap of 5 only years results in a doubling of the investment
corpus! That is why SIPs should become an investment habit. SIPs run over
a period of time (decided by you) and help you avail of compounding.
Title
Introduction:
48
This optional tool will benefit the customer during different market
situation or will only under particular Market conditions is the fact to be
known and to be cleared with.
Hence the problem has been selected as my study which would help the
investors in deciding to opt or not to opt for this tool.
49
Methodology:
50
Secondary Data: The study has used secondary data for background
chapter. The study examined books, articles, reports and other sources.
Plan of analysis:
The collected data have been analyzed with the help of statistical tools
and techniques like averages, percentages and the like. And wherever
necessary tables, charts, graphs have been used to make the data in a
presentable way.
51
Chapter 1 : Introduction
In this chapter the general introduction of mutual funds like definitions,
Types of mutual funds, advantages, disadvantages, mutual fund in India, the
role of mutual funds in the financial system, the development of mutual
funds. The introduction to Systematic Investment Planning options like
meaning, load in SIP’s, need for Systematic Investment planning option.
52
This chapter states the various results and findings of the study, which are
derived from the analysis of the questionnaire and various suggestions and
conclusions are made.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
ANNEXURE – QUESTIONNAIRE
This chapter deals with the analysis and interpretation of data collected
from, the respondents sample size of respondent is 50. The primary data
collected from them is tabulated and interference is drawn from it. The
53
The data collected was grouped into categories this task is statistically
known as data tabulation. This data collected is scrutinized so as to ensure
consistency, unambiguity and accuracy. This process were done under
different headings, represented in the form of tables have been carefully
analyzed arriving at the correct conclusion. The table shows the count or
occurrence of individual categories among this sample also the frequency
distribution was presented pictorially by bar graph.
100
80
60
Male
40 Female
Total
20
0
Number of % of
respondents respondents
55
100
80
Below 25
60 25 - 35
35 – 45
40
45 – 55
20 Above 55
0 Total
Number of % of respondents
respondents
It is observed from above table and chart that the sample considering in the
study has covered more respondents between the age group of 35 – 45 that is
46%. And it is followed by 25 – 35 age group with 30% , 45 – 55 with 14%
and above 55 with 06%.
56
70
60
50
Percentages
40
Series1
30
20
10
0
SSLC PUC Graduation Post Graduation
Level of education
60
50
40
percentages
Education
30
Percentage
20
10
0
Arts Commerce Science Engineering
Strems of education
57
It is observed from the table that sample consists of 60% of respondents who
have completed their graduation, 26% of the respondents having completed
their post graduation and 14% of the respondents having completed PUC.
And it is also to be noted that majority of them belong to commerce stream.
58
70
60
50
Percentages
40
Percentages
30
20
10
0
Salaried Class Professional Self employed Others
Occupation
It is observed from the above table that 60%, 20%, 14% and 05% of the
respondents belong to salaried class, professional , self employed and others
group respectively. This implies that people from salaried class are have
more interest in Mutual funds.
59
45
40
35
30
Percentages
25
Series1
20
15
10
5
0
Below 20,000 20,000 – 30,000 – 40,000 – Above 50,000
30,000 40,000 50,000
Montly Income ( In Rupees )
It is observed from the above table that, 40% of the respondents belong to
the group of people whose monthly income is below Rs. 20,000, 26% of
respondents belongs the income of group of Rs 20,000 to 30, 000, followed
by 14% belongs to Rs 30, 000 to 40,000, 12% belongs to Rs. 40,000 to
50,000 and 08% belongs to the income group of above Rs 50, 000.
Table 6: Classification of respondents on the basis of Savings per month
Savings per month Number of respondents Percentage
1,000 – 3,000 15 30
3,000 – 6,000 25 50
6,000 – 10,000 07 14
10, 000 above 03 06
Total 50 100
60
60
50
40
Percentage
30 Series1
20
10
0
1,000 – 3,000 3,000 – 6,000 6,000 – 10,000 10, 000 above
Savings per month (in rupees )
The table shows that out of the 50 respondents 25 respondents that is 50% of
their savings per month is between Rs. 3,000 to 6,000, 15 respondents that
30 % of their savings per month is between Rs. 1,000 to 3,000, 7
respondents that is 14% of their savings per month is between Rs 6,000 to
10,000and 3 respondents that is 06% of their savings per month is above
Rs. 10,000.
Table 7: Showing the information gathering about mutual funds
Information Number of respondents Percentages
Advertisement 15 30
Financial Advisor 28 56
Friends 05 10
Broker 02 04
Total 50 100
61
60
50
40
Percentages
30
20
10
0
Advertisement Financial Advisor Friends Broker
Information
It is observed from the above table that out 50 mutual fund investors
(Respondents), 28 respondents that is 56% got information from financial
advisors, 15 respondents that is 30% got information form advertisements, 5
respondents that is 10% got information from friends and 2 respondents that
is 4% got information from brokers.
62
No, 34%
Yes
No
Yes, 66%
From the above table and chart it shows that out of 50 mutual fund investors
66% that is 33 respondents prefers to opt for Systematic investment planning
options in their investments, where as 34% that is 17 respondents do not
prefers to opt for Systematic investment planning.
63
Rate of Return,
21.2
From the above table and chart it is observed that out 33 respondents, 20
respondents who prefers to opt for Systematic Investment planning in their
mutual fund investment because they feel it will boost the saving habit
among middle income group of people. 7 respondents thinks rate of return
is more in SIP,s and 6 respondents feels it is safe to invest in SIP’s.
(* out of 50 respondents only 33 respondents are opted for SIP’s)
Table 10: Table showing investor perception towards SIP,s benefit
Remarks Number of respondents Percentages
Yes 28 84.8
No 05 15.15
Total 33* 100
64
No, 15.15%
Yes
No
Yes, 84.80%
It is observed from the above table and chart that 28 respondents that is
84.8% feels that they are benefited out of Systematic Investment Planning
option in their mutual fund investments. Where as 5 respondents that is
15.15% feels that they are not benefited.
(* out of 50 respondents only 33 respondents are opted for SIP’s)
Table 11: Showing the awareness of SIP’s among responded Mutual fund
investors
Remarks Number of respondents Percentage
Yes 23 46
No 27 54
Total 50 100
Graph 12: Represents the awareness of SIP options among responded mutual
fund investors
65
Yes
46% Yes
No
No
54%
Table 12: Showing preferred saving avenue between SIP’s and Recurring
Deposit
Preference Number of respondents Percentages
SIP’s 47 94
Recurring deposite 3 06
Total 50 100
66
Recurring
deposite
6%
SIP’s
Recurring deposite
SIP’s
94%
It is observed from the above table and chart out 50 respondents 47 that is
94% of respondents prefers to invest in Systematic Investment Planning
rather to invest in Recurring deposit account. Where as only 3 respondents
prefers to invest in Recurring deposit account rather to invest in Systematic
investment planning option.
Table 13: Showing comparison between SIP returns and One time
investment in Mutual funds
67
(*the returns are on a SIP from 1st Feb 2000 to 29 th oct 2004 ( 57 months ) i.e., the markets were
at 6000 levels at both times. The investment amount is Rs. 57,000 which grew to the values
shown above)
If we look at the table the growth in all the schemes through systematic
investment planning option is higher when compared to one time investment
68
The mutual fund industry has grown enormously since its introduction in
India in 1964.
The rapid growth in the industry was seen after privatization of the
mutual fund sector in 1993 on wards. The prospects for mutual fund industry
is positive.
69
The growth of sectors like Service Industry in India has increased the
employment opportunity, earning capacity and their ability to invest
more in Mutual funds and Opting more for Systematic Investment
planning option.
The fundamentals of Indian Economy is strong for the long run and
hence Indian Economy can be seen in growth stage this is an
advantage for SIP prospects. Because the performance of SIP,s in
growth market conditions are good.
The entry load and exit load that was made compulsory in every
scheme for investors opting for Systematic Investment Planning has
been removed by most of Mutual Fund companies this reduction or
70
SUMMARY OF FINDINGS
71
4. Investors under the category of below Rs. 20, 000 monthly income
have shown more interest in mutual fund investment.
5. The ability to save among the respondents was high on the category of
was high but not dominant to the extent of 66% of the survey results.
8. The Decision factor considered by investors for selection of SIP in
their investment is the saving ability followed by rate of return and
safety.
10. The awareness among investors about the SIP advantages all low by
a small margin and this may contradicts their above response.
72
13.The period for which investors would opt for Systematic investment
planning in their investment is for 2 to 3 years.
73
SUGGESTIONS:
74
6) The rural masses and public sector employees are another source of
investors which have not seen tapped by the Mutual fund companies
who can start investing in Mutual funds with a minimum SIP of
Rs. 500.
75
CONCLUSION:
Mutual funds are one of the reliable means to invest the investors hard
earned money and savings the growth of the mutual fund industry in India is
an example for the above statement.
Mutual fun Investment are common and most preferred avenue for saving
among salaried class, Private Organizational employees and professionals
76
77