As the new MD & CEO of Shriram AMC, what are your three key priorities for the company?
Over the last year, we have launched Shriram Mutual Fund 2.0 in a refreshed avatar with a new team, new investment philosophy and new initiatives – with the intent to create an innovative and differentiated presence in the mutual fund space.
Our three key priorities are 3 Ps - Performance, Product and Partnerships.
- Our unique “Enhanced Quantamental Investment” (EQI) framework was implemented across all our equity schemes in September last year and has delivered top quartile performance and consistent alpha over the benchmark.
- We also introduced Shriram Multi Asset Allocation Fund in a timely manner last year, offering our customers a product that provides the USP of Upside of Equity, Stability of Debt and Protection of Gold. Our current range of products is well positioned to cover customer goals of all durations, delivering on the promise of ‘Goals Anek, Mutual Fund Ek’.
- At Shriram Group, we value and nurture our partners, as they are the ones who represent us to end customers and we can only grow if we work jointly with mutual benefit while keeping customer interest in mind. We are committed to serve and support our partners to help strengthen their position with their customers.
AMFI data shows that the Indian MF industry has close to 75 lakh women investors in December 2022. In other words, women account for 20% of the total client base. How can the industry attract more women investors?
For every male investor, it is useful to remember that there is most likely another woman investor in the same household and who would like to be spoken to as well. How many advertising messages feature male vs. women investors? We did a scan of some popular investor education campaigns and found that a vast majority of them were featuring male protagonists in the lead role(s). Not so surprising, isn’t it?
In our film supporting our last NFO, we made it a point to have a young working woman as the lead who manages to convince her parents about the benefits of multi asset allocation funds.
You can watch this AV by clicking the below links:
Hindi - https://youtu.be/XIUeinf-dH0?si=wwpVov0LhwuSLriR
Malayalam - https://youtu.be/g6zVL4eLwWs?si=ovcJySOPZlG9h8LR
Telugu - https://youtu.be/73-YnPlcDrs?si=2KcTqlKUzIqreRHg
Tamil - https://youtu.be/CBCRuQzc8HY?si=MKw0X28sFQ0mlVMM
It is important to have more women role models in the industry and we must encourage more women to become MF distributors. AMFI’s recent MFD Karein Shuru campaign does this beautifully. Women focused IAPs are also a great initiative.
Shriram Mutual Fund has launched a new initiative for MFDs to encourage them to bring in more women clients. What’s the rationale behind launching this initiative?
Mutual Fund distributors today contribute to about 50% of industry AUMs. They play a critical role in expanding the market and taking the power of mutual funds to a wider customer base. Mutual funds, being a relatively high involvement product, benefit a lot from the face-to-face engagement with people you know and trust - MFDs deliver this to their customers in the comfort of their homes. Women also like to compare notes with other women, and MFDs can get a larger set of clients in one place so that there is a conducive exchange of views.
Hence, rather than the AMC targeting women customers directly, we felt it would be more effective to incentivise the channel partners who could play the role of trusted influencer.
Can you take us through this initiative in details?
This initiative is termed “#EmpowHER” and on the occasion of International Women’s Day (8th March), Shriram AMC wants to encourage financial independence of women through mutual funds. The core driver of this is fairly straightforward – we are offering an additional 10 bps of trail incentive to the channel partner for every subscription from a women investor. This is payable for a year on fresh or add on lumpsum amounts. In the case of SIPs, the first 12 instalments qualify for the offer. The period of offer is from 1st March to 21st March 2024, which gives enough time for channel partners to reach out to as wide an audience as possible. We are encouraging them to ensure that all their women family members, friends, and their customers’ family members are on the journey to financial independence. Apart from this, we are also holding webinars and events with industry experts to create awareness and catalyse change towards this cause.
Please share some practical tips to engage with women clients efficiently.
It is important to keep in mind that women clients like to be given the same level of importance as their male counterparts. Being a crucial anchor of the family, they are often more responsible and worry more about the family’s well-being. In this context, they expect to be heard fully and to express their point of view which should be acknowledged before any decision is being made. Further, women clients are often more practical and have a better understanding of money management than men do. They also have their own dreams and aspirations apart from their family goals. Financial independence for them often means the ability to take independent decisions for their families and themselves. Keeping this in mind, we need to empower them with financial literacy and actively engage with them to guide how to fulfil their financial aspirations and goals.
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