The committee is looking at various ways to enhance mutual fund investor’s engagement with the industry by strengthening investor communication.
Confirming the development, V. Ramesh, Deputy CEO, AMFI told Cafemutual “A customer engagement committee has been formed which will look at various dimensions of the customers experience with mutual funds. The committee will primarily look at the issues and problems faced by mutual fund investors.”
“The whole idea is to look at how we can enhance client engagement at various levels. It’s quite a wide scope. These initiatives are at a concept stage,” said a person familiar with the development.
The industry is yet to penetrate beyond top 10 cities, a concern which U.K. Sinha, Chairman of SEBI has also expressed and urged fund houses to expand their reach in smaller towns. All fund houses now publish the bifurcation of their AUM and their geographical reach. AMFI has recently spread the concept of mutual funds through an advertising campaign called “Mutual Fund – Savings ka Naya Tareeka”. The campaign received 41,000 SMS responses from people.
Declining folios and redemption pressure in equity mutual funds has also been a concern for the industry. As per SEBI data, the industry has lost 1.20 lakh folios so far. Equity funds including ELSS lost 8.89 lakh folios as on January 2012.
“Getting new clients is a challenge. The industry has to grow its base but engaging existing customers is also important. It’s important to get new clients but it’s equally important to engage and get more participation from existing clients. It’s not good if investors move out of the industry during every market rally,” says Hemant Rustagi of Wiseinvest Advisors.
