While speaking at the 11th CII MF summit held in Mumbai yesterday, SEBI Chief UK Sinha urged fund houses to leverage digital technology to expand their reach.
Citing an example of e-commerce websites, he said, “The e-commerce industry in India has grown by CAGR of over 48% in the past few years. In fact, in the coming decade, it is expected to grow at a CAGR of 45%. India is a market where large number of people use such platforms to buy goods and services. I am sure all of us would have participated in at least one e-commerce transaction.”
He further said, “Why can’t mutual fund industry provide a similar service to investors? 99% of people are dependent on someone’s help to buy mutual fund schemes. There is some disconnect between the ability of customers using such technologies and what MF industry has provided.”
Praising the banking sector for effectively using digital technology to achieve growth, he said that banks have overtaken securities market in terms of digitization and electronic transaction processing. Currently, 30% of banking transactions are taking place online. Value of such transactions is 3.2%. In contrast, the electronic transactions in mutual fund industry account for only 3.2% with the overall value of Rs. 133 crore, he added.
A few fund houses have already launched their mobile apps through which distributors can invest on behalf of their clients.
