Mutual funds are investment products available to investors through which they can invest in an asset class of their choice such as equity, debt, gold or real estate. Investors who may not want to invest directly in financial markets may instead get exposure to the same securities through a mutual fund.Similarly, investors can diversify their portfolio holdings even with small amounts, by investing in gold and real estate through mutual funds. There are multiple entities involved in the activities of a mutual fund business. All these entities are regulated by SEBI for their eligibility in terms of experience and financial soundness, range of responsibilities and accountability.
Important key points
1.Mutual fund is a scheme where investors pool money to invest 20-100 different sectors all at once.
2.Mutual funds are subject to market risk so read all scheme related documents carefully. Please read full documents before investing in it.
3.New fund offer contains all details of proposed fund, investment objectives, investment pattern and all fees associated with it.
4.Net assets value forms the current assets value. Investor will get that value if mutual fund gets liquidated.
5.There is lot of different types of mutual funds, investor should know befoe investing.
How mutual funds operate?
The mutual fund appoints trustees to take care of various rights of investor when launching various schemes. Mutual fund appoints an asset management company (AMC) to manage the activities related to launching a scheme, marketing it, collecting funds, investing the funds according to the scheme’s investment objectives and enabling investor transactions.
New Fund offer (NFO)
The mutual fund invites subscription from investors by issuing an offer document that gives all details of the proposed fund, including its investment objective, investment pattern in different asset classes to reflect the objective, the strategy of the fund manager to manage the fund, the costs and fees associated with managing the fund and all other information prescribed by SEBI as essential for an investor to make an investment decision. This is the New Fund Offer (NFO) of the scheme.
The investor will assess the suitability of the fund for their investment needs and make an investment decision. The application form along with the abridged offer document called the Key Information Memorandum (KIM) is available with the AMC, investor service centres and other distribution points, the details of which are available in the KIM. The activities related to maintaining investor records and investment details and communicating with the investors is done by the R&T agent of the scheme.
Investment objective
An investor should decide to invest in a mutual fund scheme after following the suitability of the scheme to their needs. A investment objective defines the scheme of mutual fund. The investment objective states what the scheme intends to achieve. The asset class that the fund will invest in, the type of securities that will be selected and the way the fund will be managed will depend upon the investment objective.
What are the units of mutual fund?
Just as the number of shares of company represents the investors’ investment, or number of bonds or debentures represent investments in debt, units represent each investor’s investments in that mutual fund derived from the amount invested. Each unit represents one share of the fund.
For example, A & B invests in SBI Equity fund when the price of each unit is Rs.10. A invests Rs.5,000 and B Rs.10,000. The number of units allotted is calculated as amount invested/price per units. A : Rs.5,000/Rs.10 = 500 units B : Rs.10,000/Rs.10= 1000 units. Through a new fund offer (NFO) investor gets offer of units. Subsequently, depending upon the structure of the scheme, the fund may or may not issue fresh units to investors.
Net assets
The assets of a mutual fund scheme are the current value of the portfolio of securities held by it. There may be some current assets such as cash and receivables. Together they form the total assets of the scheme. From this, the fees and expenses related to managing the fund such as fund manager’s fees, charges paid to constituents, regulatory expenses on advertisements and such are deducted to arrive at the net assets of the scheme.
Net assets of the scheme will go down if investors take out their investments from the scheme by redeeming their units or if the securities held in the portfolio fall in value or when expenses related to the scheme are accounted for. The net assets of the scheme are therefore not a fixed value but keep changing with a change in any of the above factors.
Net asset value (NAV)
The net asset per unit of a scheme is Net assets/Number of outstanding units of the scheme. This is the Net asset value (NAV). The NAV of the scheme will change with every change in the Net Assets of the scheme.
A redemption or additional investment will not directly affect the NAV since the transactions are conducted at the NAV.The time when a request for a purchase or redemption or switch of units is received by a mutual fund will determine when it is processed. This is a standard followed across all mutual funds so that there is equity and fairness in allocation. So no investors gets a preferential treatment over others. The NAV that will be applicable would thus be determined by the time when the request is received by the mutual fund.
The current value of the portfolio forms the base of the net assets of the scheme and therefore the NAV. It means that if the portfolio was to be liquidated, then this would be the value that would be realised and distributed to the investors. Therefore, the portfolio has to reflect the current market price of the securities held. This process of valuing the portfolio on a daily basis at current value is called marking to market.
Open- ended and Closed-end Schemes
Mutual fund schemes can be structured as open-ended or closed-end schemes. An open-ended scheme allows investors to invest in additional units and redeem investment continuously at current NAV. The scheme is for perpetuity unless the investors decide to wind up the scheme. The unit capital of the scheme is not fixed but changes with every investment or redemption made by investors.
A closed-end scheme is for a fixed period or tenor. It offers units to investors only during the new fund offer (NFO).The scheme is closed for transactions with investors after this. The units allotted are redeemed by the fund at the prevalent NAV when the term is over and the fund ceases to exist after this. In the interim, if investors want to exit their investment they can do so by selling the units to other investors on a stock exchange where they are mandatorily listed. The unit capital of a closed end fund does not change over the life of the scheme since transactions between investors on the stock exchange does not affect the fund.
Interval fund
It is a variant of closed end funds which become open-ended during specified periods. During these periods investors can purchase and redeem units like in an open-ended fund. The specified transaction periods are for a minimum period of two days and there must be a minimum gap of 15 days between two transaction periods. Like closed-ended funds, these funds have to be listed on a stock exchange
Exchange Traded Funds(ETF)
These are mutual funds that have the features of a mutual fund but can be traded. Like a stock they are listed on the stock exchange so they can be traded all day long. Beneath this feature is the fact that the ETF is a mutual fund that has its value derived from the value of the holdings in its portfolio. ETFs usually track some index when it comes to equity oriented funds while they can also track the price of a commodity like gold.Instead of a single NAV for a day that the investor gets in a normal open ended fund there are multiple prices they can get in an ETF. In an ETF it is actually investors trading with each other while in case of an open ended fund it is the investor on one side of the transaction and the mutual fund on the other side.
Regulator
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) is the primary regulator of mutual funds in India. SEBI’s Regulations called the SEBI (Mutual Funds) Regulations, 1996, along with amendments made from time to time, govern the setting up a mutual fund and its structure, launching a scheme, creating and managing the portfolio, investor protection, investor services and roles and responsibilities of the constituents. Apart from SEBI, other regulators such as the RBI are also involved for specific areas which involve foreign exchange transactions such as investments in international markets and investments by foreign nationals and the role of the banking system in the mutual funds industry in India.
Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI) is the industry body that oversees the functioning of the industry and recommends best practices to be followed by the industry members. SEBI has defined the process of categorizing open-end mutual fund products broadly as equity schemes, debt schemes, hybrid schemes, solution oriented schemes and other schemes.
Open-ended schemes are classified based on the asset class/sub-asset class, the strategy adopted to select and manage the schemes or the solutions offered by the scheme. Only one scheme per category is permitted for each mutual fund. The exceptions are Index funds and Exchange Traded Funds (ETF) tracking different indices, Fund of Funds with different underlying schemes and sectoral/thematic funds investing in different sectors or themes.
Equity Funds
Equity funds invest in a portfolio of equity shares and equity related instruments. Since the portfolio comprises of the equity instruments, the risk and return from the scheme will be similar to directly investing in equity markets. Equity funds can be further categorized on the basis of the strategy adopted by the fund managers to manage the fund.
a) Passive & Active Funds
Passive funds invest the money in the companies represented in an index such as Nifty or Sensex in the same proportion as the company’s representation in the index. There is no selection of securities or investment decisions taken by the fund manager as to when to invest or how much to invest in each security. Active funds select stocks for the portfolio based on a strategy that is intended to generate higher return than the index. Active funds can be further categorized based on the way the securities for the portfolio are selected.
b) Diversified Equity funds
Diversified equity funds invest across segments, sectors and sizes of companies. Since the portfolio takes exposure to different stocks across sectors and market segments, there is a lower risk in such funds of poor performance of few stocks or sectors. Some equity diversified funds can also be closed ended schemes which are in operation for a specific time period. The assets are redeemed after the time period of the scheme is over and returned to the investors.
c) Based on market capitalisation
Equity funds may focus on a particular size of companies to benefit from the features of such companies. Equity stocks may be segmented based on market capitalization as large- cap, mid-cap and small-cap stocks. The open-end equity schemes (based on market capitalisation) are classified by SEBI as follows:
Large cap
Large cap funds invest in stocks of large, liquid blue-chip companies with stable performance and returns. Large-cap companies are those ranked 1 to 100th in terms of full market capitalization in the list of stocks prepared by AMFI. To be classified as a large cap fund, at least 80% of the total assets should be invested in such large cap companies.
Mid cap
Mid-cap funds invest in mid-cap companies that have the potential for faster growth and higher returns. These companies are more susceptible to economic downturns and therefore, evaluating and selecting the right companies becomes important. Funds that invest in such companies have a higher risk of the companies selected not being able to withstand the slowdown in revenues and profits.
Similarly, the price of the stocks also fall more when markets fall. Mid-cap companies are those ranked 101st to 250th in terms of full market capitalization in the list of stocks prepared by AMFI. To classify as a mid-cap fund, at least 65% of the total assets should be invested in such companies. Large and Mid-cap funds invest in equity-related securities of a combination of large and mid-cap companies. To be classified as a large and mid-cap fund, a minimum of 35% of the total assets should be invested in large cap companies and a minimum of 35% in mid-cap companies.
Small cap
Small-cap funds invest in companies with small market capitalisation with intent of benefitting from the higher gains in the price of stocks. The risks are also higher. Companies ranked from 251 onwards in terms of total market capitalization in the list of stocks prepared by AMFI are defined as small-cap companies. To be classified as a small cap fund, at least 65% of the total assets should be invested in such companies.
Multi cap
Multi cap funds invest across large, mid and small cap companies. Earlier to be classified as a multi cap fund at least 65% of the total assets should be invested in equity related instruments of such companies. At least 75% of the assets to be invested in equity related instruments with a minimum of 25 % in large caps, 25% in mid-caps and 25% in small caps. In Flexicap funds there is no minimum investment limits across market caps and the funds are free to invest according to their requirements. Overall at least 65% of the corpus has to be invested in equities.
d) Based on Sectors and Industries
Sector funds invest in companies that belong to a particular sector such as technology or banking. The risk is higher because of lesser diversification since such funds are concentrated in a particular sector. Sector performances tend to be cyclical and the return from investing in a sector is never the same across time. For example, Auto sector, does well, when the economy is doing well and more cars, trucks and bikes are bought. It does not do well, when demand goes down.
Banking sector does well, when interest rates are low in the market; they don’t do well when rates are high. Investments in sector funds have to be timed well.
Thanks for reading.
