Benefits Of Mutual Funds Investment
In few years Mutual Fund has emerged as a tool for ensuring one's financial well being. Mutual Funds have not only contributed to the India growth story but have also helped families tap into the success of Indian Industry. As information and awareness is rising more and more people are enjoying the benefits of investing in mutual funds.
The main reason the number of retail mutual fund investors remains small is that nine in ten people with incomes in India do not know that mutual funds exist. But once people are aware of mutual fund investment opportunities, the number who decide to invest in mutual funds increases to as many as one in five people. The trick for converting a person with no knowledge of mutual funds to a new Mutual Fund customer is to understand which of the potential investors are more likely to buy mutual funds and to use the right arguments in the sales process that customers will accept as important and relevant to their decision.
This Project gave me a great learning experience and at the same time it gave me enough scope to implement my analytical ability. The analysis and advice presented in this Project Report is based on market research on the saving and investment practices of the investors and preferences of the investors for investment in Mutual Funds. This Report will help to know about the investors' Preferences in Mutual Fund means Are they prefer any particular Asset Management Company (AMC), Which type of Product they prefer, Which Option (Growth or Dividend) they prefer or Which Investment Strategy they follow (Systematic Investment Plan or One time Plan). This Project as a whole can be divided into two parts.
The first part gives an insight about Mutual Fund and its various aspects, the Company Profile, Objectives of the study, Research Methodology. One can have a brief knowledge about Mutual Fund and its basics through the Project. The second part of the Project consists of data and its analysis collected through survey done on 200 people. For the collection of Primary data I made a questionnaire and surveyed of 200 people. I also taken interview of many People those who were coming at the SBI Branch where I done my Project. I visited other AMCs in Dehradoon to get some knowledge related to my topic. I studied about the products and strategies of other AMCs in Dehradoon to know why people prefer to invest in those AMCs. This Project covers the topic "THE MUTUAL FUND IS BETTER INVESTMENT PLAN."The data collected has been well organized and presented. I hope the research findings and conclusion will be of use.
INTRODUCTION TO MUTUAL FUND AND ITS VARIOUS ASPECTS
Mutual fund is a trust that pools the savings of a number of investors who share a common financial goal. This pool of money is invested in accordance with a stated objective. The joint ownership of the fund is thus "Mutual", i.e. the fund belongs to all investors. 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 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. A Mutual Fund is an investment tool that allows small investors access to a welldiversified portfolio of equities, bonds and other securities. Each shareholder participates in the gain or loss of the fund. Units are issued and can be redeemed as needed. The funds Net Asset value (NAV) is determined each day.
Investments in securities are spread across a wide cross-section of industries and sectors and thus the risk is reduced. Diversification reduces the risk because all stocks may not move in the same direction in the same proportion at the same time. Mutual fund issues units to the investors in accordance with quantum of money invested by them. Investors of mutual funds are known as unit holders.
When an investor subscribes for the units of a mutual fund, he becomes part owner of the assets of the fund in the same proportion as his contribution amount put up with the corpus (the total amount of the fund). Mutual Fund investor is also known as a mutual fund shareholder or a unit holder.
Any change in the value of the investments made into capital market instruments (such as shares, debentures etc) is reflected in the Net Asset Value (NAV) of the scheme. NAV is defined as the market value of the Mutual Fund scheme's assets net of its liabilities.
NAV of a scheme is calculated by dividing the market value of scheme's assets by the total number of units issued to the investors.
ADVANTAGES OF MUTUAL FUND
- Portfolio Diversification
- Professional management
- Reduction / Diversification of Risk
- Liquidity
- Flexibility & Convenience
- Reduction in Transaction cost
- Safety of regulated environment
- Choice of schemes
- Transparency
DISADVANTAGE OF MUTUAL FUND
- No control over Cost in the Hands of an Investor
- No tailor-made Portfolios
- Managing a Portfolio Funds
- Difficulty in selecting a Suitable Fund Scheme
HISTORY OF THE INDIAN MUTUAL FUND INDUSTRY
The mutual fund industry in India started in 1963 with the formation of Unit Trust of India, at the initiative of the Government of India and Reserve Bank. 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 a dramatic improvement, both qualities wise as well as quantity wise. Before, the monopoly of the market had seen an ending phase; the Assets Under Management (AUM) was Rs67 billion. The private sector entry to the fund family raised the Aum to Rs. 470 billion in March 1993 and till April 2004; it reached the height if Rs. 1540 billion.
The Mutual Fund Industry is obviously growing at a tremendous space with 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.
First Phase - 1964-87
Unit Trust of India (UTI) was established on 1963 by an Act of Parliament by the Reserve Bank of India and functioned under the Regulatory and administrative control of the Reserve Bank of India. In 1978 UTI was de-linked from the RBI and the Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI) took over the regulatory and administrative control in place of RBI. The first scheme launched by UTI was Unit Scheme 1964. At the end of 1988 UTI had Rs.6,700 crores of assets under management.
Second Phase - 1987-1993 (Entry of Public Sector Funds)
1987 marked the entry of non- UTI, public sector mutual funds set up by public sector banks and Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) and General Insurance Corporation of India (GIC). SBI Mutual Fund was the first non- UTI Mutual Fund established in June 1987 followed by Canbank 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 established its mutual fund in June 1989 while GIC had set up its mutual fund in December 1990.At the end of 1993, the mutual fund industry had assets under management of Rs.47,004 crores.
Third Phase - 1993-2003 (Entry of Private Sector Funds)
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. The erstwhile Kothari Pioneer (now merged with Franklin Templeton) was the first private sector mutual fund registered in July 1993.
The 1993 SEBI (Mutual Fund) Regulations were substituted by a more comprehensive and revised Mutual Fund Regulations in 1996. The industry now functions under the SEBI (Mutual Fund) Regulations 1996. As at the end of January 2003, there were 33 mutual funds with total assets of Rs. 1,21,805 crores.
Fourth Phase - since February 2003
In February 2003, following the repeal of the Unit Trust of India Act 1963 UTI was bifurcated into two separate entities. One is the Specified Undertaking of the Unit Trust of India with assets under management of Rs.29,835 crores as at the end of January 2003, representing broadly, the assets of US 64 scheme, assured return and certain other schemes.
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. consolidation and growth. As at the end of September, 2004, there were 29 funds, which manageas sets of Rs.153108 crores under 421 schemes.
CATEGORIES OF MUTUAL FUND:
Mutual funds can be classified as follow :
Based on their structure:
Open-ended funds: Investors can buy and sell the units from the fund, at any point of time.
Close-ended funds: These funds raise money from investors only once. Therefore, after the offer period, fresh investments can not be made into the fund. If the fund is listed on a stocks exchange the units can be traded like stocks (E.g., Morgan Stanley Growth Fund). Recently, most of the New Fund Offers of close-ended funds provided liquidity window on a periodic basis such as monthly or weekly. Redemption of units can be made during specified intervals. Therefore, such funds have relatively low liquidity.
Based on their investment objective:
Equity funds: These funds invest in equities and equity related instruments. With fluctuating share prices, such funds show volatile performance, even losses. However, short term fluctuations in the market, generally smoothens out in the long term, thereby offering higher returns at relatively lower volatility. At the same time, such funds can yield great capital appreciation as, historically, equities have outperformed all asset classes in the long term. Hence, investment in equity funds should be considered for a period of at least 3-5 years. It can be further classified as:
i) Index funds- In this case a key stock market index, like BSE Sensex or Nifty is tracked. Their portfolio mirrors the benchmark index both in terms of composition and individual stock weightages.
ii) Equity diversified funds- 100% of the capital is invested in equities spreading across different sectors and stocks.
iii) Dividend yield funds- it is similar to the equity diversified funds except that they invest in companies offering high dividend yields.
iv) Thematic funds- Invest 100% of the assets in sectors which are related through some theme. e.g. -An infrastructure fund invests in power, construction, cements sectors etc.
v) Sector funds- Invest 100% of the capital in a specific sector. e.g. - A banking sector fund will invest in banking stocks.
vi) ELSS- Equity Linked Saving Scheme provides tax benefit to the investors.
Balanced fund: Their investment portfolio includes both debt and equity. As a result, on the risk-return ladder, they fall between equity and debt funds. Balanced funds are the ideal mutual funds vehicle for investors who prefer spreading their risk across various instruments.
Following are balanced funds classes:
i) Debt-oriented funds -Investment below 65% in equities.
ii) Equity-oriented funds -Invest at least 65% in equities, remaining in debt.
Debt fund: They invest only in debt instruments, and are a good option for investors averse to idea of taking risk associated with equities. Therefore, they invest exclusively in fixed-income instruments like bonds, debentures, Government of India securities;
and money market instruments such as certificates of deposit (CD), commercial paper (CP) and call money. Put your money into any of these debt funds depending on your investment horizon and needs.
i) Liquid funds- These funds invest 100% in money market instruments, a large portion being invested in call money market.
ii) Gilt funds ST- They invest 100% of their portfolio in government securities of and T-bills.
iii) Floating rate funds - Invest in short-term debt papers. Floaters invest in debt instruments which have variable coupon rate.
iv) Arbitrage fund- They generate income through arbitrage opportunities due to mispricing between cash market and derivatives market. Funds are allocated to equities, derivatives and money markets. Higher proportion (around 75%) is put in money markets, in the absence of arbitrage opportunities.
v) Gilt funds LT- They invest 100% of their portfolio in long-term government securities.
vi) Income funds LT- Typically, such funds invest a major portion of the portfolio in long-term debt papers.
vii) MIPs- Monthly Income Plans have an exposure of 70%-90% to debt and an exposure of 10%-30% to equities.
viii) FMPs- fixed monthly plans invest in debt papers whose maturity is in line with that of the fund.
INVESTMENT STRATEGIES
- Systematic Investment Plan: under this a fixed sum is invested each month on a fixed date of a month. Payment is made through post dated cheques or direct debit facilities. The investor gets fewer units when the NAV is high and more units when the NAV is low. This is called as the benefit of Rupee Cost Averaging (RCA)
- Systematic Transfer Plan: under this an investor invest in debt oriented fund and give instructions to transfer a fixed sum, at a fixed interval, to an equity scheme of the same mutual fund.
- Systematic Withdrawal Plan: if someone wishes to withdraw from a mutual fund then he can withdraw a fixed amount each month.
INTRODUCTION TO SBI MUTUAL FUND
SBI Funds Management Pvt. Ltd. is one of the leading fund houses in the country with an investor base of over 4.6 million and over 20 years of rich experience in fund management consistently delivering value to its investors.
SBI Funds Management Pvt. Ltd. is a joint venture between 'The State Bank of India' one of India's largest banking enterprises, and Societe Generale Asset Management (France), one of the world's leading fund management companies that manages over US$ 500 Billion worldwide.
Today the fund house manages over Rs 28500 crores of assets and has a diverse profile of investors actively parking their investments across 36 active schemes. In 20 years of operation, the fund has launched 38 schemes and successfully redeemed 15 of them, and in the process, has rewarded our investors with consistent returns. Schemes of the Mutual Fund have time after time outperformed benchmark indices, honored us with 15 awards of performance and have emerged as the preferred investment for millions of investors. The trust reposed on us by over 4.6 million investors is a genuine tribute to our expertise in fund management.
SBI Funds Management Pvt. Ltd. serves its vast family of investors through a network of over 130 points of acceptance, 28 Investor Service Centres, 46 Investor Service Desks and 56 District Organizers.SBI Mutual is the first banksponsored fund to launch an offshore fund - Resurgent India Opportunities Fund. Growth through innovation and stable investment policies is the SBI MF credo.
PRODUCTS OF SBI MUTUAL FUND
The investments of these schemes will predominantly be in the stock markets and endeavor will be to provide investors the opportunity to benefit from the higher returns which stock markets can provide. However they are also exposed to the volatility and attendant risks of stock markets and hence should be chosen only by such investors who have high risk taking capacities and are willing to think long term. Equity Funds include diversified Equity Funds, Sectoral Funds and Index Funds. Diversified Equity Funds invest in various stocks across different sectors while sectoral funds which are specialized Equity Funds restrict their investments only to shares of a particular sector and hence, are riskier than Diversified Equity Funds. Index Funds invest passively only in the stocks of a particular index and the performance of such funds move with the movements of the index.
- Magnum COMMA Fund
- Magnum Equity Fund
- Magnum Global Fund
- Magnum Index Fund
- Magnum Midcap Fund
- Magnum Multicap Fund
- Magnum Multiplier plus 1993
- Magnum Sectoral Funds Umbrella
- MSFU- Emerging Business Fund
- MSFU- IT Fund
- MSFU- Pharma Fund
- MSFU- Contra Fund
- MSFU- FMCG Fund
- SBI Arbitrage Opportunities Fund
- SBI Blue chip Fund
- SBI Infrastructure Fund - Series I
- SBI Magnum Taxgain Scheme 1993
- SBI ONE India Fund
- SBI TAX ADVANTAGE FUND - SERIES I
Debt Funds invest only in debt instruments such as Corporate Bonds, Government Securities and Money Market instruments either completely avoiding any investments in the stock markets as in Income Funds or Gilt Funds or having a small exposure to equities as in Monthly Income Plans or Children's Plan. Hence they are safer than equity funds. At the same time the expected returns from debt funds would be lower. Such investments are advisable for the risk-averse investor and as a part of the investment portfolio for other investors.
- Magnum Children's benefit Plan
- Magnum Gilt Fund
- Magnum Income Fund
- Magnum Insta Cash Fund
- Magnum Income Fund- Floating Rate Plan
- Magnum Income Plus Fund
- Magnum Insta Cash Fund -Liquid Floater Plan
- Magnum Monthly Income Plan
- Magnum Monthly Income Plan - Floater
- Magnum NRI Investment Fund
- SBI Premier Liquid Fund
BALANCED SCHEMES
Magnum Balanced Fund invests in a mix of equity and debt investments. Hence they are less risky than equity funds, but at the same time provide commensurately lower returns. They provide a good investment opportunity to investors who do not wish to be completely exposed to equity markets, but is looking for higher returns than those provided by debt funds.
COMPETITORS OF SBI MUTUAL FUND
Some of the main competitors of SBI Mutual Fund in Dehradoon are as Follows:
- ICICI Mutual Fund
- Reliance Mutual Fund
- UTI Mutual Fund
- Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund
- Kotak Mutual Fund
- HDFC Mutual Fund
- Sundaram Mutual Fund
- LIC Mutual Fund
- Principal
- Franklin Templeton
AWARDS AND ACHIEVEMENTS
SBI Mutual Fund (SBIMF) has been the proud recipient of the ICRA Online Award - 8 times, CNBC TV - 18 Crisil Award 2006 - 4 Awards, The Lipper Award (Year 2005-2006) and most recently with the CNBC TV - 18 Crisil Mutual Fund of the Year Award 2007 and 5 Awards for our schemes.
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
- To find out the Preferences of the investors for Asset Management Company.
- To know the Preferences for the portfolios.
- To know why one has invested or not invested in SBI Mutual fund
- To find out the most preferred channel.
- To find out what should do to boost Mutual Fund Industry.
Scope of the study
A big boom has been witnessed in Mutual Fund Industry in resent times. A large number of new players have entered the market and trying to gain market share in this rapidly improving market.
The research was carried on in Dehradoon. I had been sent at one of the branch of State Bank of India Dehradoon where I completed my Project work. I surveyed on my Project Topic "A study of preferences of the Investors for investment in Mutual Fund" on the visiting customers of the SBI Boring Canal Road Branch. The study will help to know the preferences of the customers, which company, portfolio, mode of investment, option for getting return and so on they prefer. This project report may help the company to make further planning and strategy.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This report is based on primary as well secondary data, however primary data collection was given more importance since it is overhearing factor in attitude studies. One of the most important users of research methodology is that it helps in identifying the problem, collecting, analyzing the required information data and providing an alternative solution to the problem .It also helps in collecting the vital information that is required by the top management to assist them for the better decision making both day to day decision and critical ones.
Data sources:
Research is totally based on primary data. Secondary data can be used only for the reference. Research has been done by primary data collection, and primary data has been collected by interacting with various people. The secondary data has been collected through various journals and websites.
Duration of Study:
The study was carried out for a period of two months, from 30th May to 30th July 2008.
Sampling:
Sampling procedure:
The sample was selected of them who are the customers/visitors of State Bank if India, Boring Canal Road Branch, irrespective of them being investors or not or availing the services or not. It was also collected through personal visits to persons, by formal and informal talks and through filling up the questionnaire prepared. The data has been analyzed by using mathematical/Statistical tool.
Sample size:
The sample size of my project is limited to 200 people only. Out of which only 120 people had invested in Mutual Fund. Other 80 people did not have invested in Mutual Fund.
Sample design:
Data has been presented with the help of bar graph, pie charts, line graphs etc.
Limitation:
Some of the persons were not so responsive.
Possibility of error in data collection because many of investors may have not given actual answers of my questionnaire.
Sample size is limited to 200 visitors of State Bank of India, Boring Canal Road Branch, Dehradoon out of these only 120 had invested in Mutual Fund. The sample size may not adequately represent the whole market.
Some respondents were reluctant to divulge personal information which can affect the validity of all responses.
The research is confined to a certain part of Dehradoon.
ANALYSIS & INTERPRETATION OF THE DATA
...
Findings
In Dehradoon in the Age Group of 36-40 years were more in numbers. The second most Investors were in the age group of 41-45 years and the least were in the age group of below 30 years.
In Dehradoon most of the Investors were Graduate or Post Graduate and below HSC there were very few in numbers.
In Occupation group most of the Investors were Govt. employees, the second most Investors were Private employees and the least were associated with Agriculture.
In family Income group, between Rs. 20,001- 30,000 were more in numbers, the second most were in the Income group of more than Rs.30,000 and the least were in the group of below Rs. 10,000.
About all the Respondents had a Saving A/c in Bank, 76% Invested in Fixed Deposits, Only 60% Respondents invested in Mutual fund.
Mostly Respondents preferred High Return while investment, the second most preferred Low Risk then liquidity and the least preferred Trust.
Only 67% Respondents were aware about Mutual fund and its operations and 33% were not.
Among 200 Respondents only 60% had invested in Mutual Fund and 40% did not have invested in Mutual fund.
Out of 80 Respondents 81% were not aware of Mutual Fund, 13% told there is not any specific reason for not invested in Mutual Fund and 6% told there is likely to be higher risk in Mutual Fund.
Most of the Investors had invested in Reliance or UTI Mutual Fund, ICICI Prudential has also good Brand Position among investors, SBIMF places after ICICI Prudential according to the Respondents.
Out of 55 investors of SBIMF 64% have invested due to its association with the Brand SBI, 27% Invested because of Advisor's Advice and 9% due to better return.
Most of the investors who did not invested in SBIMF due to not Aware of SBIMF, the second most due to Agent's advice and rest due to Less Return.
For Future investment the maximum Respondents preferred Reliance Mutual Fund, the second most preferred ICICI Prudential, SBIMF has been preferred after them.
60% Investors preferred to Invest through Financial Advisors, 25% through AMC (means Direct Investment) and 15% through Bank. 65% preferred One Time Investment and 35% preferred SIP out of both type of Mode of Investment.
The most preferred Portfolio was Equity, the second most was Balance (mixture of both equity and debt), and the least preferred Portfolio was Debt portfolio.
Maximum Number of Investors Preferred Growth Option for returns, the second most preferred Dividend Payout and then Dividend Reinvestment.
Most of the Investors did not want to invest in Sectoral Fund, only 21% wanted to invest in Sectoral Fund.
Conclusion
Running a successful Mutual Fund requires complete understanding of the peculiarities of the Indian Stock Market and also the psyche of the small investors. This study has made an attempt to understand the financial behavior of Mutual Fund investors in connection with the preferences of Brand (AMC), Products, Channels etc. I observed that many of people have fear of Mutual Fund. They think their money will not be secure in Mutual Fund. They need the knowledge of Mutual Fund and its related terms. Many of people do not have invested in mutual fund due to lack of awareness although they have money to invest. As the awareness and income is growing the number of mutual fund investors are also growing.
"Brand" plays important role for the investment. People invest in those Companies where they have faith or they are well known with them. There are many AMCs in Dehradoon but only some are performing well due to Brand awareness. Some AMCs are not performing well although some of the schemes of them are giving good return because of not awareness about Brand. Reliance, UTI, SBIMF, ICICI Prudential etc. they are well known Brand, they are performing well and their Assets Under Management is larger than others whose Brand name are not well known like Principle, Sunderam, etc.
Distribution channels are also important for the investment in mutual fund. Financial Advisors are the most preferred channel for the investment in mutual fund. They can change investors' mind from one investment option to others. Many of investors directly invest their money through AMC because they do not have to pay entry load. Only those people invest directly who know well about mutual fund and its operations and those have time.
Suggestions and Recommendations
The most vital problem spotted is of ignorance. Investors should be made aware of the benefits. Nobody will invest until and unless he is fully convinced. Investors should be made to realize that ignorance is no longer bliss and what they are losing by not investing.
Mutual funds offer a lot of benefit which no other single option could offer. But most of the people are not even aware of what actually a mutual fund is? They only see it as just another investment option. So the advisors should try to change their mindsets. The advisors should target for more and more young investors. Young investors as well as persons at the height of their career would like to go for advisors due to lack of expertise and time.
Mutual Fund Company needs to give the training of the Individual Financial Advisors about the Fund/Scheme and its objective, because they are the main source to influence the investors. Before making any investment Financial Advisors should first enquire about the risk tolerance of the investors/customers, their need and time (how long they want to invest). By considering these three things they can take the customers into consideration.
Younger people aged under 35 will be a key new customer group into the future, so making greater efforts with younger customers who show some interest in investing should pay off.
Customers with graduate level education are easier to sell to and there is a large untapped market there. To succeed however, advisors must provide sound advice and high quality.
Systematic Investment Plan (SIP) is one the innovative products launched by Assets Management companies very recently in the industry. SIP is easy for monthly salaried person as it provides the facility of do the investment in EMI. Though most of the prospects and potential investors are not aware about the SIP. There is a large scope for the companies to tap the salaried persons.
