Members representing IFA Associations - Financial Intermediaries Association of India (FIAI), Karnataka Association of Mutual Fund Advisors (KAMFA), IFA Galaxy and United Forum met AMFI today to discuss the repercussions of SEBI’s latest diktat on their business.
One of the main grouse of the distribution community is over the disclosure of absolute commission. They say that this number can be misinterpreted by investors which can induce pass back practice. Rather, IFAs suggest that this disclosure could be in percentage form. “Investors won’t realize that the disclosure is ‘gross commission’. We pay service tax and income tax on this gross commission and have various other expenses over and above that. The gross commission figure will give a wrong picture to investors,” says a Navi Mumbai based IFA.
IFAs who attended today’s meeting told Cafemutual that AMFI gave a patient hearing to them.
Meanwhile, Jayant Sinha, Minister of State for Finance recently responded to an IFA on Twitter that he is in talks with all stakeholders and will be happy to meet the industry delegation to discuss this issue.
It remains to be seen if SEBI reconsiders it decision.