There is a good news for the mutual fund industry. SEBI has come out with an investor survey report called SEBI Investor Survey (SIS) 2015 in which it has found that mutual funds are the most popular investment instrument among Indian investors.
Of the 5356 respondents who have financial investments, SEBI found that 66% or 3536 investors have invested in mutual funds. Of these mutual fund investors, close to 1500 investors have invested through distributors, said SEBI.
However, if we take a holistic overview of the population, which includes all investors and non-investors, overall contribution in mutual funds stood at 10% only. The survey had a sample size of 36,756 respondents across the country in which only 5356 respondents have financial investments.
The market regulator said that retail investors found that mutual funds are diversified financial instrument that provide high quality, long-term, risk adjusted returns to them.
On buying pattern, SEBI found that although most investors (88 percent) are aware that MFs can be bought online, only 24% of them purchase it online. These investors use exchanges and exchange platforms to invest in MFs.
Traditional means of investing like using MF distributors, collection centres or investing directly through fund houses (physically) remain the most popular mode of transaction, said SEBI.
In addition, SEBI found that 60% of retail investors invest in mutual funds through SIPs.
