Usually their are few options investor will find ways to invest in mutual funds. Some of them are through adviser, directly (recently lot of changes and discussion is going on this issue), through your demat account, CAMS or through web portals. I am concentrating on investment of mutual funds through web portal of FundsIndia where I found few innovative investment options which you will not get with other options.
It is basically a online platform where with one time process of account opening you can transact online with your mutual fund investment. It also offering equity investments and NPS (National Pension Scheme) too. Few of interesting features of FundsIndia are as below.
1) Account Opening-As I told earlier with one time process of account opening you can start investing in mutual funds online without the hassle of filling the forms or sending physical forms to found houses or your adviser every time.
2) Trigger Option-This option is currently available with few AMCs if you invest through other modes. But in FundsIndia you can specify, when you need to enter market or when you need to come out from your investments for all mutual funds irrespective of AMCs. This feature called Trigger option.
3) Pre-Packaged Portfolio-This means, based on your risk appetite and financial goal you can easily invest in mutual funds with ready made portfolio construction. If not then you can also easily construct your own portfolio based on the their experts advice. Even with small amount like Rs.1,000 you can easily construct your desired portfolio.
4) Cost for Services-Whatever the service you will get from FundsIndia is totally free. Means their service is totally based on the trail fee what they get from AMC directly but not from investors. So it will be totally free for you. Also you can avail free advisory with prior appointment with them.
5) Alert SIP-This SIP alert will be for those investors who not availed ECS mandate. You will get SIP alerts and after that you can login and complete transaction using net banking facility. One good point of this facility is, you can change the amount of investment on each month.
6) Flexi SIP-This method of SIP gives you the option to change the amount of investment between a pre-set range of amounts on a monthly basis. It lets you invest more or less depending on either your affordability or your perception of the market climate.
7) Value Averaging Investment Plan-Using VIP, you can put the markets to work for you by changing your investment amount monthly based on the performance of your scheme. By setting up an expected rate of return and a maximum amount for your investment plan, the system will automatically figure out the amount to be invested on a monthly basis to try and optimize the rate of return of your portfolio.
8) Value Averaging Transfer Plan-VTP is similar to VIP, but uses a source liquid fund to effect the value-averaging algorithm. With this method, you can effectively deploy lump-sums in the market efficiently.
9) Consolidation of family investments – FundsIndia allows you to consolidate all your family members’ investments in one single login id. You can just add investors under a login id, and view and manage investments for all of them in the same place. In mutual funds, you can also make single and joint investments under the same login id.
10) Portfolio concept – Just like you can group your files in your computers into folders, you can organise your mutual fund schemes in multiple portfolios, making it easier to manage and track your investments. You can have a portfolio for all your tax saving funds, one for all your debt funds, one for your son’s education goal, etc. You can even set a monetary goal for the portfolio and get a quick graph of how your investments are tracking to this goal.
11) Morningstar X-Ray PDF reports – In partnership with Morningstar, FundsIndia offers one-click access to an X-Ray report of your portfolio. It is a single report that will look at the components of your scheme, the overall risk profile, the overlap of funds, the sector-wise categorisation etc in a neatly presented PDF document.
Hope above mentioned features will really add value to your your mutual fund investment.
25 Responses
Sir,
I have a DEMAT account with SBI Capsec. If I invest in mutual funds through the DEMAT account, what are the advantages and disadvantages? Do they charge any fee (onetime/annual) while investing /maintaining the investment / redemption?
What is your advice regarding investing in MFs – directly with the MF companies (online/offline) or through the DEMAT account?
Mahesh-Apart from regular charges, SBI may charge you upfront for each SIP. Hence, try to avoid it of investing through your Trading and Demat Account. The best way is to do through regular online portals like FundsIndia or for direct funds through MF Utility or Investza.
Mr. Basavaraj,
Thanks for your guidance.
Mr.Basavaraj,
Instead of SIP, if I am going to make one time investments, will SBI still charge for the investments through Demat account?
Mahesh-YES.
bashu sir lately I read this article.since I am an IFA ; I want a portal.kindly suggests me.national distributors like nj, prudent cas , cams , carvy, fundsindia., or should I choose from national stock brokers’ platform to transact MF.kindly advise me.thanks.
Prasanna-I am with NJ and no issues at all. You can check with them. If you want to go for directly with AMCs, then use recently launched free online platform called MF Utility.
Hi basu,
this is avijit.as you told me before 4 months,in larg cap section franklin india prima plus is best,so i started sip monthly rs.1000.you also suggested in mid cap section hdfc midcap opp fund,but i dont start it yet.My question is,still its a good enough to start sip rs.1000 for 3 or 4years otherwise another best fund you suggest me in this section.Please suggest.I want to start asap.Thanks.
Avijit-If your time frame is 3-4 years, then no equity recommendations from my end.
Hi Basu,
One quick question at this time (as article is a liitle old). Which one is better for online managing your funds, FundsIndia or Scripbox?
At current market scenario, considering ease provided by these two platforms such as Trading facilities, Services to users, Expert advice and suggested funds and operative methods, Which one is more preferable for a regular and first time investor (FundsIndia or ScripBox)?
Kiran-When you say an ease of management, then I suggest use DIRECT and you can manage easily from respective mutual fund companies only. There are many online tools to manage the portfolio at FREE OF COST.
Basu, Agreed on your point. but out of these two, which one you thinks is better to go for?
Kiran-I personally used FundsIndia. Hence, my choice is FundsIndia. But it may differ to you. Also, I am not recommending anyone specifically. I also disclose that FundsIndia currently associated with BasuNivesh for advertising. But it does not mean that I recommend that company. It is purely based on comfort. Hence, I not mentioned any particular.
Alright, Thank you very much Basu.
Basu, you can reply me on personal email id too, if you want.
kiranjgandhi@gmail.com.
Thanks.
Dear Mr.Basu
I have prepared an approximate portfolio for me and my spouse. I request you to give your expert opinion regarding the same.
1. To invest Rs 25000 each in ELSS funds namely Franklin India Tax Shield and ICICI Prudential Tax Plan for my wife so as to cover her 80 deficit.
2. To invest Rs 50000 divided equally (25000+25000) in one of these combinations-HDFC Mid Cap Opportunities fund+Franklin India Smaller Companies fund OR HDFC Mid Cap Opps+UTI Mid Cap fund OR any one of these mid caps (HDFC/Franklin/UTI)+HDFC balanced fund.
Since my 80C bracket is fulfilled, I am not opting for ELSS for myself. I plan to stay invested for 8-10 years so as to have maximum gains.
Also, I have not included large cap funds. Is this a wise decision?
Does this portfolio seem all right to you for a start?
Should I opt for SIP mode or go for one time investment?
How are the services of Karvy or CAMS or fundsindia etc. for online mutual funds purchase and sale? Or should I go for ICICI Direct or HDFC securities for the same?
Awaiting your response.
Regards
Dr.Syamal Modi
Dr.Syamal-1) Both tax saving funds are good. 2) Chose one Large Cap, One small/midcap like HDFC Midcap Opp or Franklin India Smaller Companies and one balanced fund like HDFC Balanced Fund. You have to allocate some fund to large cap. When your time horizon is more than 10+ yrs then I don’t think either SIP or lump sum matters more. It is your comfort that you have to choose. Karvy, CAMS or FundsIndia are cheaper than ICICI Direct or HDFC Securities. You can chose Karvy, CAMS, FundsIndia or the mutual fund advisers like me.
Hi Basu,
I appreciate your effort in explaining all the different charges that a broker get. However, I have one concern..
Please tell me why a broker charge 1-2% Fee based on AUM of Client ? Ideally, it should be 1-2% of the yearly investment. For example- say I invested in MFs 50000 per month for a year, so the broker should charge 1-2% of 6L for the first year. Now for the second year he should charge another 1-2% of 6L not on 12L (6l + 6L). Please explain
What is the usual range (%) of different broker charge on AUM for MF investments?
Does FundsIndia charge 1-2% Fee based on AUM of Client?
Waiting for your post..
Regards,
Sam
Sam-If they are charging based on your AUM then it is good than flat yearly charges on your fresh investment. Because in case of AUM based charges if it grows then he earns more and goes down then he too will earn less. So by this method he make sure that to guide you in proper way so that you also get benefit from this. I am not sure how much each broker charges. FundsIndia will not charge anything like this. But they earn commission through upfront commission and trail commission.
Sir, Thanks for your excellent service in educating people thro’ your website. I’m a regualr follower of your blog. My question might be a repeatitive. Can i trust fundsindia website?
Guru-Yes you can. Why have get this doubts?
I am 25 n planning to invest in MF. I already have equity exposure through stock market.I ununderstand this article is written long back, is the performance of funds india good ? Would you recommend even now ?
can I invest in direct plan through this or I can only opt for regular plan.
I have hdfc tradding n Demat account. I asked them about additional charge that they would detect from investor on MF investment. They replied that they won’t deduct anything apart from the nav value * units = invested amount. Is that true ? Also they said no fee for SIP in MF but exception is minimum investment in SIP is 5K. They agreed they have fee for SIP for tradding in stocks. Does fundindia has any min limit for sip.
Elam-My answer to all your questions are discussed here in this post “How to invest in Mutual Funds in India online?“
Hi Basu,
Is it safe to invest through fundsindia.
1) if we want to with draw funds from fundsindia what is the process and does it costs any thing
2) Redeem and switching of funds will happen through online or any manual process is involved
Thanks
Srini
Srinivas-It is as safe as you are investing with any distributor or directly. In worst case if FundsIndia unable to serve you in a better way then you can directly approach respective AMCs for the service. Dont worry they are well managed organisation. Click here to view your doubts in detail.