Mutual funds are financial instruments which invest in a portfolio of securities. These securities may be stocks, bonds, money market instruments, gold, silver and real estate investment trusts (REITs) etc. You can buy units of mutual funds; each unit represents a certain percentage of the mutual fund scheme portfolio. Mutual funds are managed by professional fund managers who manage the schemes according to the investment objectives of the schemes.
When an asset management company (AMC) house launches a new mutual fund scheme, it invites subscriptions from the public in the New Fund Offer (NFO). In the NFO period, investors are allotted units at par value (usually Rs 10). If you invested Rs 10,000 in a mutual fund scheme during the NFO period, you would be allotted 1,000 units. You need to be KYC compliant to invest in mutual funds. Your financial advisor can help you fulfil KYC requirements. Along with KYC documents, you need to provide bank details to invest in mutual funds. Investors can invest in mutual funds only from their own bank accounts.
At the end of the NFO period, the money pooled from all the investors are invested in a diversified portfolio of securities according to the schemes mandate. After the NFO, investors can buy units of open ended schemes from the AMC at prevailing Net Asset Values (NAV). You can also redeem open ended mutual fund schemes at any time at prevailing NAVs. The redemption proceeds will be credited to your bank account on T+3 for equity funds. Investors should note that for redemptions within a certain period of time from investment exit loads may apply.
NAV is the market value or price of one unit of a mutual fund scheme. It is the per unit price you pay or get when you are buying or selling (redeeming) mutual funds. The NAV is calculated by dividing the market value net assets of the mutual fund scheme by the total number of units outstanding. The asset of a mutual fund scheme is the market value of the securities and the cash in the scheme portfolio. Net asset value is the value of scheme assets minus the expenses and liabilities. NAVs are calculated based of the closing prices of the scheme portfolio securities at the end of each business day and disclosed by the Asset AMC on a daily basis.
Key mutual fund terms :: Read all the terms carefully before investing in mutual funds.
Different Types Of Mutual Funds :: There are three broad categories of mutual funds:-
Different fund categories and sub-categories have different risk profiles. Mutual funds provide investment solutions for a wide spectrum of risk appetites and investment needs. Your financial advisor can help you select the right investment option for you.
Professional Management — Investors may not have the time or the required knowledge and resources to conduct their research and purchase individual stocks or bonds. A mutual fund is managed by full-time, professional money managers who have the expertise, experience and resources to actively buy, sell, and monitor investments. A fund manager continuously monitors investments and rebalances the portfolio accordingly to meet the scheme’s objectives. Portfolio management by professional fund managers is one of the most important advantages of a mutual fund.
Risk Diversification — Buying shares in a mutual fund is an easy way to diversify your investments across many securities and asset categories such as equity, debt and gold, which helps in spreading the risk - so you won't have all your eggs in one basket. This proves to be beneficial when an underlying security of a given mutual fund scheme experiences market headwinds. With diversification, the risk associated with one asset class is countered by the others. Even if one investment in the portfolio decreases in value, other investments may not be impacted and may even increase in value. In other words, you don’t lose out on the entire value of your investment if a particular component of your portfolio goes through a turbulent period. Thus, risk diversification is one of the most prominent advantages of investing in mutual funds.
Affordability & Convenience (Invest Small Amounts) — For many investors, it could be more costly to directly purchase all of the individual securities held by a single mutual fund. By contrast, the minimum initial investments for most mutual funds are more affordable.
Liquidity — You can easily redeem (liquidate) units of open ended mutual fund schemes to meet your financial needs on any business day (when the stock markets and/or banks are open), so you have easy access to your money. Upon redemption, the redemption amount is credited in your bank account within one day to 3-4 days, depending upon the type of scheme e.g., in respect of Liquid Funds and Overnight Funds, the redemption amount is paid out the next business day.
However, please note that units of close-ended mutual fund schemes can be redeemed only on maturity. Likewise, units of ELSS have a 3-year lock-in period and can be liquidated only thereafter
Low Cost — An important advantage of mutual funds is their low cost. Due to huge economies of scale, mutual funds schemes have a low expense ratio. Expense ratio represents the annual fund operating expenses of a scheme, expressed as a percentage of the fund’s daily net assets. Operating expenses of a scheme are administration, management, advertising related expenses, etc. The limits of expense ratio for various types of schemes has been specified under Regulation 52 of SEBI Mutual Fund Regulations, 1996.
Well-Regulated — Mutual Funds are regulated by the capital markets regulator, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) under SEBI (Mutual Funds) Regulations, 1996. SEBI has laid down stringent rules and regulations keeping investor protection, transparency with appropriate risk mitigation framework and fair valuation principles.
Systematic Investment Plan or SIP is a mutual fund facility through which you can invest fixed amounts every month (or any other interval) in a mutual fund scheme. The SIP amounts are automatically debited from your savings bank account through an ECS or NACH mandate provided by you to the AMC. You can invest over a long period of time from your regular savings and create wealth through the power of compounding. SIP can also help you take advantage of market volatility through Rupee Cost Averaging of NAVs.
The term ‘lump sum’ primarily means a large sum of money. In financial terms, it regards the investment of a substantial sum of money at a single go instead of breaking it down into multiple instalments. Lump sum investment involves investing all the money currently available to you as an investor. For example, if you desire to invest the entire amount present with you in mutual funds or similar investment instruments, it will be termed a lump sum investment. Lump sum payments are similar but in terms of payment. It does not involve any instalments or breakage of the whole amount. There are mainly two modes of making investments - Lump sum and Systematic Investment Plan (SIP). SIP includes investing a fixed amount of money on a periodic basis, unlike lump sum investment, which involves only a one-time investment.
DISCLAIMER -
Mutual funds, like securities investments, are subject to market risks and there is no guarantee against loss in the schemes or that the scheme's objectives will be achieved. As with any investment in securities, the NAV of the Units issued under the schemes can go up or down depending on various factors and forces affecting capital markets. Past performance of the Sponsor or mutual funds managed by the Sponsor does not indicate the future performance of the schemes of Mutual Fund. Please read the offer document of the schemes before investing. Any investment program in securities may be volatile and can involve the loss of principal. No assurances can be given as to the accuracy of market predictions. Information made available here is purely as a measure of facilitation. In view of the individual nature of the product features, tax consequences, etc., you are advised to have detailed professional consultation before taking any decision for action on the basis of information provided here.