SEBI intends to increase incentives for mutual funds distributors

29 Jul 2011 Evaluate

The market watchdog, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), has imposed a new fee for investors in Mutual Funds whereby existing investors dealing via distributors will have to pay transaction cost of Rs 100 for investment of Rs 10,000 and above in mutual funds whereas new investors investing for the first time would be charged Rs 150.  This decision of SEBI to increase the incentive for mutual fund distributors is expected to have positive effect on the growth of the sector.

As per the SEBI chairman U K Sinha, an extra amount of Rs 50 can be charged to first time mutual funds investor. However, there would be no transaction charges other than purchases or subscriptions relating to new inflows and direct transactions with the mutual fund. On the same time, as the first step toward regulating distributors of mutual funds, selected distributers will regulated by the Asset Management Companies (AMCs), by putting in place the due diligence process to be conducted by AMCs.

The move by SEBI is welcomed by the experts and market players as this will increase incentives for the distributors and will also attract more investors in mutual funds. According to the folio data collection from SEBI, the number of individual accounts or folios has been declining from last few years, it reduced to 387 lakh in June 2011 from 412 lakh in September 2007.

After the SEBI board meeting, U K Sinha said, “For SIPs, the transaction charges can be recovered in 3 or 4 installments. The transaction charges are in addition to the existing eligible commissions permissible to the distributors”. The pooled assets such as offshore funds and pension funds etc., will be managed and advised by the AMCs conditionally there is no conflict of interest because of differential fee structure.  AMCs will continue to deal with Portfolio Management Services (PMS) under the current arrangements, he added.

© 2026 The Alchemists Ark Pvt. Ltd. All rights reserved. MoneyWorks4Me ® is a registered trademark of The Alchemists Ark Pvt. Ltd.

×