Personal Finance Outlook 2013: Mutual Funds - Overcoming hurdles
The year saw continuous outflow from the equity portfolio. The commission structure did not appear to be very attractive to distributors. New valuation norms were introduced by Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), fund houses were permitted to launch corporate repo and credit default swaps as also infrastructure debt funds (IDF) as mutual fund products.
Further, Sebi came out with a new set of regulations, which could have a profound impact on the industry and its fortunes. On the other hand, this was a year when all the fundamental asset classes — equity, gold and debt — performed well at some point of time or the other. Investors with prudent allocation between the three assets benefited from the market movements, with some estimates putting the returns from such multi-asset allocation at decent double-digit figures.
The aforesaid events in the industry could be viewed from two perspectives (a) actual on-ground happenings; and (b) regulatory changes. The regulatory changes, in essence, could make the industry more vibrant and less risk-prone. The new valuation norms mandate portfolio valuation on a daily mark-to-market basis, making the returns in tune with actual market realities and, thereby, less prone to fluctuations.
Sebi, through its recently published guidelines, which are
Be the first to comment.
