Why Indian mutual fund industry wants you to order less on Swiggy, Zomato

 

Despite the growing retail interest in financial products, the Indian mutual fund industry has just 4 crore investors. In the podcast ‘The BarberShop with Shantanu’ podcast, hosted by Bombay Shaving Company founder Shantanu Deshpande, Radhika Gupta, MD & CEO of Edelweiss Mutual Funds, says that that MF industry has to compete with the likes of Swiggy and Zomato for investors’ money and she urged the youngsters to save more. Edelweiss Mutual Funds has assets under management of over Rs 1.2 lakh crore. She is also a judge in the new season of popular show Shark Tank India.

 

“I am the one who is competing with Zomato and Swiggy! I am telling you, if you have Rs 50,000-60,000 per month, please save some! People tell me that they can’t put even Rs 100 in SIPs because they don’t have money…I mean you pay Rs 100 per month to Netflix!” she said.

 

“You know there are 40 crore people in this country who subscribe to one OTT streaming platform or do Zomato, Swiggy. That means they pay at least Rs 100 a month? But there are only 4 crore people in the country who invest in mutual funds!”

 

But she is hopeful that the today’s youngsters will save more going forward.

 

“We are very critical of this generation. Our parents grew up in an India of scarcity, our generation grew up in an India of transition, the generation you are talking about has grown up in an India of pure abundance. So that sense to own isn’t there and there is perhaps less appreciation. But who is to say that when these 20-year-olds turn into 30-year-olds they won’t turn into a saver?” she said.

 

On entrepreneurship, Radhika Gupta said, “it is about creating value. whether you are creating in an existing busienss or starting a new business.”

 

Data released this week showed that overall inflows into India’s equity mutual funds fell in November even though contributions into systematic investment plans (SIPs) – in which investors make regular payments into mutual funds – hit a record high,. The inflows into equity mutual funds dropped 22.15% month-on-month to Rs 15,536 crore in November from Rs 19,957 crore in October, data from Association of Mutual Funds in India showed. Some analysts attributed the dip in inflows to Diwali-related shopping that competed for investors’ money. The benchmark Nifty 50 gained 5.52% in November.

 

Recently, Sebi’s chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch said that the on Friday said the markets regulator is aiming to sachetise mutual fund investments which will help in financial inclusion.

 

“We are working with them (MF industry) to see where is the cost, what can Sebi do to facilitate making it possible to bring that viability down to Rs 250 a month, because then it is the equivalent of what Hindustan Lever did with shampoo sachets. You just explode the market,” she said.

 

Source- Economictimes

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