Senior officials in the MF industry say while the finance ministry and regulators communicate regularly, this is one of the very few instances in many years where an issue between the two has come out into the open.
Funds made investments worth Rs 64,602 crore (Rs 646.02 billion) in the debt market during June, higher than Rs 26,840 crore (Rs 268.4 billion) in May, as per the latest data available with market regulator Sebi.
While looking to give a boost to the mutual fund sector with some contribution from about Rs 5.5 lakh crore (Rs 5.5 trillion) corpus being managed by Employee Provident Fund Organisation, Sebi feels that age restrictions would safeguard investors from 'unnecessary risks' during years closer to their retirement.
'The idea is to invest where there is opportunity.'
'Continue with your SIPs to get the benefit of lower average prices in this challenging market environment.'
There are just 10 mn MF investors compared to 60 mn homes with life insurance.
Mutual fund is an investment vehicle that is made up of a pool of funds collected from many investors for the purpose of investing in securities such as stocks, bonds, money market instruments and similar assets.
Last year ended on a positive note in terms of investment in the domestic equity mutual funds; thanks to a rise in the equity markets during the month of December.
Investors pumped Rs 491 crore in gold exchange traded funds (ETFs) in February as they seem be taking advantage of the lower domestic prices caused due to declining international rates, appreciating rupee and reduction in custom duty. This came following a net investment of Rs 625 crore in January and Rs 431 crore in December. Prior to this, gold ETFs had seen an outflow of Rs 141 crore in November, data available with Association of Mutual Funds in India showed.
'Strong regulations are crucial for the orderly development of the market.'
With India's market capitalisation surpassing the $3-trillion mark, stocks across the board are adding heft. The upper limit for qualifying as a mid-cap stock -under the Securities and Exchange Board of India's (Sebi's) definition for mutual fund reclassification - has hit an all-time high of $5.4 billion. In 2013, amid the taper tantrum sell-off, it had dropped to just $1 billion, shows an analysis done by ICICI Securities.
In 2022, gold emerged as the top performer among all conventional asset classes with over 14 per cent returns mainly owing to the depreciation of the rupee.
Taxpayers are filing their income tax returns (ITRs) early for the Assessment Year 2024-25 (FY25). By April 29, over 592,000 returns were filed, with over 538,000 verified and 367,000 processed. Early filing allows revisions without penalties.
Debt funds typically held 0-5 per cent of their portfolio in cash and cash equivalents before this Sebi diktat.
Mutual fund investors put in more than Rs 1.23 lakh crore into various schemes in July the second biggest infusion in a month this fiscal -- mainly in fixed income plans.
In 2013-14, the funds witnessed outflow of Rs 2,293 crore
Asset management companies have been told not to deal with non-compliant intermediaries. They are to report such cases to the Association of Mutual Funds in India (Amfi) and Sebi.
"This decision of removing initial issue expense will make close-ended mutual fund schemes less expensive for retail investors", Sebi chairman M Damodaran said while briefing reporters after the board meeting. The Sebi board also cleared the draft proposal for listing of debt securities, ease disclosure norms for existing debt market securities and paved the way for permanent registration of capital market intermediaries.
Ask rediffGURU and tax expert Mihir Tanna your income tax-related questions.
The bulk of an investor's portfolio should be in shorter-duration funds of up to one year portfolio duration.
Understand the pros and cons of SGBs before rushing to invest in them based on past returns.
Continued volatility in Indian stock markets over the US subprime mortgage crisis all through August has led to a fall in assets of mutual funds in the country by over Rs 185 billion during the month.
Begin by creating a household budget. Involve all family members in the exercise and cut costs wherever possible.
Corporate houses, banks and financial institutions account for more than half of the mutual fund industry's total assets under management, while retail investors hold less than one-fourth of the assets, a report says.\n\n
'Looking at the speed at which changes were made post the Franklin Templeton issue, we are awaiting more stricter norms in the months to come.'
Over 700,000 new investor accounts have been opened so far in FY15.
This feat was achieved 25 years after the mutual funds industry was opened to private players. The industry now aims to achieve the next Rs 25 trillion in 5 years.
Sebi has taken note of mis-selling in the financial sector and is planning to regulate the distributors, the only unregulated part of the MF industry.
Following the AMFI approval, these entities would be given the clearance by CDSL Ventures Ltd, the nodal agency for MIN issuances.
In August, the Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das held a meeting with chief executive officers/ managing directors (CEOs/ MDs) of large non-banking financial corporations (NBFCs). The discussions included diversifying borrowing sources for NBFCs and housing finance companies (HFCs) to contain increasing reliance on bank borrowing, risks associated with high credit growth in retail segment in unsecured loans, prioritising IT upgrades and cyber-security, improving provisioning, monitoring of stressed exposures and slippages, ensuring robust liquidity and asset-liability management, ensuring transparency in pricing, creating robust grievance redress mechanisms.
Domestic mutual funds have added over 20 billion dollars in July to their 100-billion-dollar kitty, driven by fresh capital raised through new fund offerings as well as a sharp rally in stock markets.
Reliance Mutual Fund has toppled UTI MF to become the country's largest fund house in January with assets under management of more than Rs 39,000 crore (Rs 390 billion).
Mihir Tanna, Associate Director, S K Patodia & Associates, answers your tax queries.
Here is a checklist of 'must haves' for your investment advisor.
The combined average assets under management of the 33 fund houses in the country dropped to Rs 5,64,599.28 crore (Rs 5,645.99 billion) at the end of June as compared to Rs 6,00,266.32 crore (Rs 6,002.66 billion) in May, according to data released by the Association of Mutual Funds in India. Reliance Mutual Fund continues to be the top fund house in the country despite its average AUM falling to Rs 90,813.45 crore (Rs 908.13 billion).
The mutual fund industry has witnessed a value erosion of Rs 75,966 crore (Rs 759.66 billion) in equity-related schemes in the first seven months of the current financial year. This is primarily because of the slide in the equity market on account of the global financial turmoil.
Both the debt and equity markets have seen sharp volatility in recent months.
Alternative investment funds (AIFs) - pooled investment vehicles catering to high net worth individuals (HNIs) - saw a 30 per cent increase in investment commitments during financial year 2022-23 (FY23). At the end of March 2023, the total investment commitments raised stood at Rs 8.33 trillion, up Rs 1.92 trillion from Rs 6.41 trillion at the end of March 2022. A commitment is the money clients are willing to put into AIFs.
Women have been leaving the investment decision to husbands.
Postpone the purchase of big-ticket consumer durable items, recreational spending on holidays, and other such expenses unless your financial position is very secure, advises Sarbajeet K Sen.
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