It has been slow going, but the mutual fund industry is cutting through the clutter and gradually reducing the number of similar schemes it offers.
However, with only 192 schemes merged since securities market regulator SEBI asked the industry to join similar schemes, work is far from done.
In 2010, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) told mutual funds that they should start merging schemes with similar investment strategies and portfolios.
Six years later, the industry has merged 192 schemes, out of a universe of over 3,000. Of this, the industry offers a little over 350 open-ended equity and balanced funds (a mix of debt and equity) and close to 1,500 debt schemes.
