In a meeting chaired by Economic Affairs Secretary R Gopalan today, various stakeholders – AMC CEOs, SEBI officials, AMFI CEO and FIFA representative gave their recommendations to revive the fortunes of the mutual fund industry.
According to sources, among the recommendations were - allow AMCs to charge service tax from investors, extension of Rajiv Gandhi Equity Savings Scheme (RGESS) to mutual funds, additional tax benefits for investments in mutual funds, allowing continuation of tax benefits in ELSS, introduction of 401 K (a retirement savings account prevalent in US) and giving pension fund benefits to MFs.
“All the suggestions were same as discussed in the public platforms earlier. The government has very keenly heard us. Each category of stakeholders made their suggestions,” said Deepak Chatterjee, MD & CEO, SBI Mutual Fund.
Dhruv Mehta, Chairman of FIFA found that the government was keen on addressing the issues of the industry. “There is a concern at the government level as to why this industry is not growing. We have emphasised the need for some load or upfront for retail penetration. There has also been a discussion about churning and mis-selling. There were suggestions that people who mis-sell or churn should be penalised and not the entire industry. The ministry said that immediate steps need to be taken. Certain things are in the purview of SEBI and the industry is already in dialogue with the market regulator,” said Dhruv.
CEOs from the top AMCs - HDFC, Reliance, UTI, ICICI Prudential, Birla Sun Life, SBI, Franklin Templeton, DSP BlackRock, IDFC and Kotak were believed to have been present at the meeting. R K Agarwal, Whole Time Member of SEBI was also present along with H N Sinor, CEO of AMFI.
