Investors can begin investing in mutual funds with as little as Rs 100.
If you do not insulate your retirement corpus from the true cost of modern critical care, you don't have a retirement plan -- you have a fragile strategy waiting for an expensive medical emergency to break it
Knowing these will save you from taking undue risks, losses and also create wealth in the long run, says Dwaipayan Bose.
Even as net flows into smallcap funds in March turned negative, for the first time in 30 months, they remained a big draw for new investors. The smallcap fund category saw a net of 360,000 investment accounts, or folios, getting added last month, the second-most among all active equity categories. Smallcap funds' continued traction could be driven by their strong performance across timeframes, say experts.
Equity mutual funds witnessed a remarkable surge in inflows to nearly Rs 4 lakh crore in 2024, more than double the amount recorded in the preceding year, reflecting strong investor confidence and a continued shift towards long-term investing, particularly through Systematic Investment Plans (SIPs).
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is considering a proposal to allow mutual funds (MFs) to charge a fee based on their performance, said Ananta Barua, whole-time member of the markets regulator. He said the proposal is being reviewed by a working group formed to look into cost structures. "One working group has been set up which is going to review... One of the suggestions is that if any scheme or fund is performing well above the benchmark, it (fee) can be linked to its performance.
Drone technology company ideaForge Technology has successfully raised Rs 500 crore through a Qualified Institutional Placement (QIP). The funding, which saw strong interest from domestic and international institutional investors, will be used to accelerate innovation, expand its product portfolio into combat drones and autonomous systems, and strengthen its working capital to meet growing demand in defence, homeland security, and civil sectors.
Drone technology company ideaForge Technology has successfully raised Rs 500 crore through a Qualified Institutional Placement (QIP). The funding, which saw strong interest from domestic and international institutional investors, will be used to accelerate innovation, expand its product portfolio into combat drones and autonomous systems, and strengthen its working capital to meet growing demand in defence, homeland security, and civil sectors.
Contributions to mutual fund schemes through systematic investment plans or SIPs remain unfazed from the market volatility in 2022 with inflow growing to Rs 1.5 lakh crore in 2022, a surge of 31 per cent from a year earlier, due to higher retail participation. In comparison, an inflow of Rs 1.14 lakh crore through the route was registered in 2021 and Rs 97,000 crore in 2020, data with the Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI) showed. Going ahead, SIP numbers are expected to continue to remain strong in 2023 as investors are increasingly appreciating the importance of regular investing through the route, Kaustubh Belapurkar, director - manager research at Morningstar Investment Adviser India, said.
Why should I invest in mutual funds? Why cannot I invest in equities directly? Here are 7 simple reasons
Asset management companies launched 239 new fund offerings (NFOs) mobilising Rs 1.18 lakh crore in 2024, with sectoral or thematic equity funds emerging as the top choice of investors, according to a report by Germinate Investor Services Research. This was higher than 212 NFOs collecting Rs 63,854 crore in 2023 and 228 NFOs garnering Rs 62,187 crore in 2022.
The top 10 fund houses are slowly losing ground to their smaller peers, even as they continue to hold the lion's share in the total assets under management (AUM) of the mutual fund (MF) industry, according to an analysis of the quarterly AUM for the past six years. These fund houses had an average AUM of Rs 38.8 trillion in the third quarter (Q3) of 2023-24, which is 79 per cent of the total industry AUM of Rs 49.2 trillion. The share has come down steadily since Q3 of 2019-2020, when the share stood at 84 per cent.
'Investors shouldn't let fear dictate their decisions. The most important step is simply to begin investing.'
Mutual funds (MFs) are lining up distinguished new fund offerings (NFOs) for the next financial year to win over investors after a lukewarm response to product launches in the 2022-23 financial year (FY23). NFOs drew a lukewarm response in FY23 as launches were mostly in the passive debt space, which has a comparatively lower popularity among retail investors. The limited launches in equity space also failed to rake in huge sums due to subdued investor sentiments in a volatile market.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India does not seem to have understood the enormity of what funds have been up to. If Sebi does not crack down on mutual funds using cooked-up credit ratings to hide behind promoter funding, this is bound to grow into a systemic menace, says Debashis Basu.But MFs decided to become lenders without the legal backing to secure themselves, or the skillset to assess lending risk. If Sebi does not crack down on mutual funds using cooked-up credit ratings to hide behind promoter funding, this is bound to grow into a systemic menace, says Debashis Basu.
A buoyant equity market, coupled with an improved performance of mutual funds (MFs) on the returns chart, has heightened retail investors' appetite for equities. In the past few months, equity MF schemes have seen a surge in fresh investments through both lump sum (one-time investments) and systematic investment plan (SIP) routes. During the August-September 2023 period, equity MF schemes recorded net lump sum investments of Rs 35,270 crore, compared to just Rs 5,550 crore in the previous three months, according to data from the Association of Mutual Funds in India (Amfi).
In the second part of this five part series on top 25 mutual funds analysed by Value Research we produce the next best five mutual funds that investors can put their money in for the long term.
Their assets under management (AUM) rose from Rs 1.04 trillion (January 31, 2025) to Rs 1.75 trillion (January 31, 2026), an increase of 68.3 per cent.
Here is an evaluation of the two investment avenues on certain common parameters and how they measure up.
The improvement in the performance of actively managed mutual fund (MF) schemes is acting as a key tailwind for the nearly Rs 50 trillion industry, Kotak Institutional Equities (KIE) said in a report. The report adds that the two largest listed asset management companies (AMCs) - HDFC and Nippon India - are likely to be the biggest beneficiaries. "The industry has a solid track record of delivering alpha on 10-year returns (70-80 per cent of assets under management (AUM) beat the benchmark), with shorter duration performance also on an upswing.
Despite strong AUM growth, MFs lag behind other popular investment avenues. MFs received only 6 per cent of total household savings in 2021-2022.
Increasing awareness about mutual funds, ease of transactions through digitisation and sharp surge in equity markets have aided asset management companies to add a staggering 3.17 crore investor accounts in 2021-22, with experts saying the trend is likely to continue this fiscal as well. This was a significant rise from 2020-21 when 81 lakh accounts (or folios in mutual fund parlance) were opened, data with the Association of Mutual Funds in India (Amfi) showed. The ongoing financial year too appears to be promising in terms of folios as increase in investor accounts will enable people to move beyond fixed deposits and savings accounts, said Priti Rathi Gupta, founder of LXME, a financial platform for women.
A look at stocks in the portfolio, corpus size and comparison with peers can help in selecting a fund.
At first glance, the numbers show a mixed trend.
Five parameters that will help you make a winning decision
Retiring at 50 is not unrealistic. It simply requires: Discipline + Long-Term Vision + Compounding
Inflow in equity mutual funds dipped 3.24 per cent to Rs 24,269 crore in April amid continued market volatility against the backdrop of escalating tensions between India and Pakistan following the Pahalgam terrorist attack. This was the fourth consecutive month of decline in inflow in equity funds.
In the final part of this five part series on top 25 mutual funds analysed by Value Research we produce the last best five mutual funds that investors can put their money in for the long term.
India's gross savings rate is projected to be nearly 47 basis points higher in FY25 than previously estimated, following the Securities and Exchange Board of India's (Sebi) revision of the methodology for calculating household savings routed through the securities market.
Investors must be careful while comparing mutual funds. They must ensure that they are comparing funds with comparable risk profiles within the same category.
In the third part of this five part series on top 25 mutual funds analysed by Value Research we produce the next best five mutual funds that investors can put their money in for the long term.
Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) may not be net buyers of Indian equities in the near term on lack of inflows and are likely to continue with redemption or sit on sidelines, mutual fund officials said.
To become a sponsor-free AMC, a MF must have positive liquid net worth and net profit of at least Rs 10 crore in all of the preceding five years.