After the success of ‘Mutual Fund Sahi Hai’ campaign, the mutual fund industry should focus on inculcating the investing culture through advisors/MFDs by launching ‘Saarthi Zaroori Hai’ campaign, said a 14-point-action document prepared by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) with inputs from the mutual fund industry.
As the industry has successfully imbibed the notion of ‘Mutual funds sahi hai’ among its investors, it now needs to inculcate the culture of ‘Saarthi zaroori hai’, the document said.
The document has urged the industry to build greater emphasis on role of advisors and expand their productivity and reach by leveraging technology.
"The B30 segment offers a wide playfield that is still an untapped territory with low penetration. For expanding this market, all stakeholders – regulators, asset managers, distributors, investors – need to come together to continue with the existing incentive structure and take this business forward by mobilizing increased number of investors," the action document said.
It further stated that the industry needs to attract more people into the business of distribution, which can be done by campaigning within educational institutions and educating people about the profitable aspects of becoming a MFD.
Citing a recent Boston Consulting Group (BCG) survey, the release said that 80% of urban consumers who bought mutual fund have digital footprint and 66% of them were influenced digitally during the purchase process. "MF distributors and advisors can leverage this increase in acceptability of digital channels to improve efficiencies in their business model by unlocking significant time earlier spent on physical travel, physical form filling, manual tracking and reporting, etc.," the report said.
Other recommendations for the industry included simplification of offerings, using tech to drive efficiency of fund managers, strengthening internal risk management, communicating risk-return effectively to retail investors and leveraging new strategies to deliver enhance performance.
