Eight IFA Associations representing six states came together to form Federation of Mutual Fund Distributors Associations in India (FMFDAI). The federation received its registration certificate on October, 28, 2013.
The associations are - All Kerala IFA Association, Ask Circle (Kolkata), Association of Professional Independent Financial Advisors (Andhra Pradesh), IFA Galaxy (Tamil Nadu), Independent Financial Professionals Association (Tamil Nadu), Karnataka Association of Mutual Fund Advisors, Northern India Mutual Fund Advisor Association (Haryana), Pondicherry Individual Financial Advisors Association.
The members are likely to hold their first meeting this month in Chennai where the future course of action will be decided.
R Lakshmanan of KAMFA is the President of this federation. The other key office bearers of the federation are - Oommen Panicker (AKIFAA, Kochi) - Additional President, S K Bagaria (ASK Circle, Kolkata) - Vice President, Davesh Bansal (NIFAA, Chandigarh) - Vice President, Ramesh Bhat (IFA Galaxy, Chennai) - General Secretary, Suresh Nair (AKIFAA) - Joint Secretary, C Satish Kumar (TNIFPA, Chennai) -Joint Secretary. The executive committee members are Bhavesh Udeshi, Sunil Bhagat, Vikas Batra, M S Shabbir, George Joseph( Treasurer) and Sasidhar Kumar.
“The objective is to be the common voice of distributors across India. Currently there are many small associations in cities like Vijaywada, Salem, Madurai, etc. which can’t afford to join a federation. Thus, we have kept the enrollment fee (Rs 10,000) very low. Our aim is to enroll every small association so that all distributors get a fair representation,” said Ramesh Bhat, General Secretary, FMFDAI.
The federation will actively work towards upgrading the skills of IFAs and try to enroll IFAs from smaller towns. The key objective of the federation is to empower IFAs and communicate their views before government and regulators in a unified manner. Besides, the federation also aims to spread financial literacy.
The mutual fund industry has 21 IFA associations/groups across India. Some of them are registered while others are informal groups of IFAs. Excluding the eight associations which have come together to form a federation, there are several more associations/groups - MF Network (Kolkata), Forum (Kolkata), Delhi Financial Distributors Association (DFDA), Independent Financial Advisor Association (New Delhi), Vadodara IFA Association, Mutual Fund Distribution Association (Gujarat), South Gujarat IFA Association, Insurance and Investment Advisor Association of Indore, MF Chain (Mumbai), Prudent Chain Mumbai), Value Chain (Mumbai), IFA Association of Nagpur, Pune Investment Advisor Association, Guntavanuk Vikas Pratinidhi Sanstha (Nasik), Western Maharashtra Rural IFA Association (Kolhapur), Orissa Mutual Fund Advisors Association and Foundation of Independent Financial Advisors (FIFA).
