by Mumbai / Chennai: Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI), the industry association of Asset Management Companies (AMCs) of all Mutual Funds in India, today spoke about the success of the Mutual Fund investor awareness campaign, Mutual Funds Sahi Hai. Increased awareness of mutual funds helped the industry add 32 lakh new investors over the last year.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. A Balasubramanian, Chairman – AMFI said, “Concerted efforts taken by the mutual fund industry through the Mutual Funds Sahi Hai campaign, under the guidance of SEBI, supported by favourable market conditions and support from the distribution community, led to overwhelming success in the inaugural year of the Mutual Funds Sahi Hai campaign. Given the rising household incomes and higher appetite towards financial savings coupled with long term India growth story, we are sure that mutual funds would become the investment option of choice of every household in the years to come.”
“We continue to advocate mutual fund investors to have patience and stay invested, add debt and hybrid funds to their portfolio and allocate more through SIPs, especially in periods of market volatility and aim to benefit over a longer term, Mr. Balasubramanian added.
On the occasion, AMFI Chief Executive, Mr. NS Venkatesh said, “We have seen tremendous growth within the mutual fund industry in the recent years. Going ahead, we want to build on the base and ensure that the momentum and the faith of the investors continue for investing in mutual funds over longer term.”
The first leg of ‘Mutual Funds Sahi Hai’ campaign, aimed at creating awareness and busting myths around mutual funds, was launched on Mar 15, 2017. The campaign got a very positive response as mutual fund companies saw an overall addition of 32 lakh new investors over the last one year. Industry also witnessed AUM growth of 25% (Rs.4.25 lakh crore), 38% (Rs.3.25 lakh crore) growth in Retail AUM till Feb 28, 2018, in comparison from Mar 31, 2017. The total number of folios and SIP accounts in the same period saw a growth of 26% (1.05 crore) and 52% (70 lakhs) respectively. Monthly SIP contribution for the industry touched Rs.6,425 crores from 2.05 crore SIP accounts.
Along with the media campaign, the focus will now be on on-ground outreach programs. AMFI recently tied-up with a leading media house to launch Jan Nivesh – an initiative that will educate, inspire and encourage Indians to change their financial habits to create wealth smartly by investing regularly in Mutual Funds and thus, make every citizen of India an equal participant in India’s economic growth story.Along with millions of TV viewers, the Jan Nivesh initiative will also reach out to over 50,000 people on-ground through over 200 events in over 100 cities & towns.
AMFI will also very soon launch the next leg of the media campaign. In the upcoming campaign, which continues under the Mutual Funds Sahi Hai banner, AMFI’s objective is to communicate to the investor on the nuances of mutual fund investing, while extolling the benefits of being invested for longer term, especially when markets are volatile.
As part of the campaign, AMFI has a microsite, www.mutualfundssahi.com, available in English and Hindi, where investors can find detailed information about mutual funds and also locate their nearest mutual fund office and mutual fund distributors. The website will soon be made available in other regional languages.
