Skip to main content

MF Industry welcomes Sebi move to abolish extra commission for distributors

MF Industry welcomes Sebi move to abolish extra commission for distributors
The Securities and Exchange Board of India’s (Sebi’s) decision to abolish the extra commission for mutual fund distributors in 15 more cities and towns — from Guwahati in Assam to Raipur in Chhattisgarh — has been received well by India’s Rs 22-trillion mutual fund industry.
According to sector officials, the move will help to bring 30 cities on a par and arrest the churn rate in these regions. Further, they added the 15 cities were not small ones and mutual fund distribution could grow on its own without additional incentives.
Effective from April 1, 2018, mutual fund distributors (MFDs) in cities such as Ranchi, Jamshedpur, Patna, Coimbatore, Rajkot, Indore, Bhopal, and Varanasi will not be given an extra 30-basis-point (bps) commission.
Sundeep Sikka, chief executive officer (CEO) of Reliance Nippon Life Mutual Fund, said, “The special incentives for B-15 cities had certain objectives to help penetrate mutual funds. I believe the objective has been well achieved and sops withdrawal should be later extended to 50 cities. Such incentives can't be permanent at a time when all stakeholders are fast realising that total expense ratio (TER) has to come down.”
According to Sikka, the move means that the industry should go now deeper in the country. “These cities can take care of themselves for further growth, now the need of the hour is to concentrate more on India's hinterland towns."
Other executives echo similar views.
The CEO of a mid-sized fund house said: “It is true that the additional commission has worked but at the same time we observed there was a big churn happening in B-15 cities. Investors did not complain as they made good money. The extra commission was nothing but a subsidy to smaller cities at the cost of big cities' investors. I think, gradually, it should be abolished altogether.” When asked about the impact of this move on the sector's growth, sector officials say it will not have any significant impact, if any.
According to Sikka, “I don't think there will be any impact on the industry's growth. These are big cities, investors and distributors are educated, and know why mutual funds are important.”In the past five years, since 2012, when B-15 incentives were announced, assets under management in B-15 cities as of December 2017 stood at Rs 3.59 trillion against Rs 0.77 trillion in 2012. This means a robust annualised growth rate of 36 per cent. During the same period, assets from T-15 (top 15) cities grew 24 per cent on an annualised basis from Rs 6.14 trillion to Rs 17.7 trillion. What is interesting is the growth of systematic investment plans (SIPs) in B-15 cities. It grew from a mere Rs 4.2 billion to Rs 23.11 billion — an annualised growth rate of 41 per cent.
It grew from a mere Rs 4.2 billion to Rs 23.11 billion — an annualised growth rate of 41 per cent. Total SIP amounts from T-15 cities grew from Rs 7.4 billion to Rs 38.1 billion — an annualised growth rate of 39 per cent.
The business Standard, New Delhi, 06th February, 2018

.....

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

RBI deputy governor cautions fintech platform lenders on privacy concerns during loan recovery

  India's digital lending infrastructure has made the loan sanctioning system online. Yet, loan recovery still needs a “feet on the street” approach, Swaminathan J, deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of India, said at a media event on Tuesday, September 2, according to news agency ANI.According to the ANI report, the deputy governor flagged that fintech operators in the digital lending segment are giving out loans to customers with poor credit profiles and later using aggressive recovery tactics.“While loan sanctioning and disbursement have become increasingly digital, effective collection and recovery still require a 'feet on the street' and empathetic approach. Many fintech platforms operate on a business model that involves extending small-value loans to customers often with poor credit profiles,” Swaminathan J said.   Fintech platforms' business models The central bank deputy governor highlighted that many fintech platforms' business models involve providing sm

Credit card spending growth declines on RBI gaze, stress build-up

  Credit card spends have further slowed down to 16.6 per cent in the current financial year (FY25), following the Reserve Bank of India’s tightening of unsecured lending norms and rising delinquencies, and increased stress in the portfolio.Typically, during the festival season (September–December), credit card spends peak as several credit card-issuing banks offer discounts and cashbacks on e-commerce and other platforms. This is a reversal of trend in the past three financial years stretching to FY21 due to RBI’s restrictions.In the previous financial year (FY24), credit card spends rose by 27.8 per cent, but were low compared to FY23 which surged by 47.5 per cent. In FY22, the spending increased 54.1 per cent, according to data compiled by Macquarie Research.ICICI Bank recorded 4.4 per cent gross credit losses in its FY24 credit card portfolio as against 3.2 per cent year-on-year. SBI Cards’ credit losses in the segment stood at 7.4 per cent in FY24 and 6.2 per cent in FY23, the rep

India can't rely on wealthy to drive growth: Ex-RBI Dy Guv Viral Acharya

  India can’t rely on wealthy individuals to drive growth and expect the overall economy to improve, Viral Acharya, former deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said on Monday.Acharya, who is the C V Starr Professor of Economics in the Department of Finance at New York University’s Stern School of Business (NYU-Stern), said after the Covid-19 pandemic, rural consumption and investments have weakened.We can’t be pumping our growth through the rich and expect that the economy as a whole will do better,” he said while speaking at an event organised by Elara Capital here.f there has to be a trickle-down, it should have actually happened by now,” Acharya said, adding that when the rich keep getting wealthier and wealthier, they have a savings problem.   “The bank account keeps getting bigger, hence they look for financial assets to invest in. India is closed, so our money can't go outside India that easily. So, it has to chase the limited financial assets in the country and