The Association of Mutual Funds in India (Amphi) has given this information.
Mutual Funds: The entire 2020 Kovid went under the shadow of 19. It would not be wrong to call the past year the year of the epidemic. Despite the Corona virus epidemic, investment in mutual funds and new investors continued to be added in 2020. Mutual fund companies added 72 lakh folios last year. Investors’ attraction to mutual funds has increased due to high spendable income and low interest on bank deposits. The Association of Mutual Funds in India (Amphi) has given this information.
In comparison, the mutual fund industry added 68 lakh folios in 2019. A folio is the number given to an individual investor account. An investor can have many folios. According to Amphi data, by the end of December 2020, the total number of folios of 45 mutual fund companies has increased by 72 lakhs to 9.43 crores. It was 8.71 crore at the end of December 2019.
Profit booking
MyWealthGrow.com co-founder Harshad Chetanwala said that during the Kovid-19 pandemic in 2020, the market was ‘corrected’ and investors stepped up their mutual fund investment. First-time investors also invested in mutual funds during this period. At the same time, existing investors diversified their investments into new schemes. Due to both these reasons, the number of folios increased. It further said that this number could have been more, but a section of investors also booked profit.
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Digital mode facilitated access
Harsh Jain, the co-founder and Chief Operating Officer (COO) of GRO said that opening of accounts has become easier due to digital investment platforms. This has facilitated investors access to mutual funds. Apart from this, the popularity of direct mutual funds as a low cost alternative to regular plans also attracted investors.
In 2020, regulatory features such as Aadhaar-based verification, UPI based payments, offering new mutual fund categories and simplification of existing categories, pa rsibility in Net Asset Value (NAV) calculations made the process easier. This gave the mutual fund industry the necessary push.