In the entire chain of mutual fund investing, from the Asset Management Company which creates and runs the fund to the saver who uses that fund to invest savings, nothing is more central and yet more in flux than the entities (persons or organisations) who sell mutual funds to investors. As fashions have changed over the years, the term used for these entities has evolved from agent to distributor to advisor. There's a clear rise in the level of respectability that the three terms imply. There's also a set of SEBI rules which clearly distinguish between advisors and distributors, even though the entities themselves have a hard time deciding which is a better business.
