Mutual Funds In India (1964 - 2000)

The end of millennium marks 36 years of existence of mutual funds in this country. The ride through these 36 years is not been smooth. Investor opinion is still divided. While some are for mutual funds others are against it.

UTI commenced its operations from July 1964 .The impetus for establishing a formal institution came from the desire to increase the propensity of the middle and lower groups to save and to invest. UTI came into existence during a period marked by great political and economic uncertainty in India. With war on the borders and economic turmoil that depressed the financial market, entrepreneurs were hesitant to enter capital market.

The already existing companies found it difficult to raise fresh capital, as investors did not respond adequately to new issues. Earnest efforts were required to canalize savings of the community into productive uses in order to speed up the process of industrial growth. The then Finance Minister, T.T. Krishnamachari set up the idea of a unit trust that would be "open to any person or institution to purchase the units offered by the trust. However, this institution as we see it, is intended to cater to the needs of individual investors, and even among them as far as possible, to those whose means are small."

His ideas took the form of the Unit Trust of India, an intermediary that would help fulfill the twin objectives of mobilizing retail savings and investing those savings in the capital market and passing on the benefits so accrued to the small investors.

UTI commenced its operations from July 1964 " with a view to encouraging savings and investment and participation in the income, profits and gains accruing to the Corporation from the acquisition, holding, management and disposal of securities." Different provisions of the UTI Act laid down the structure of management, scope of business, powers and functions of the Trust as well as accounting, disclosures and regulatory requirements for the Trust.

One thing is certain – the fund industry is here to stay. The industry was one-entity show till 1986 when the UTI monopoly was broken when SBI and Canbank mutual fund entered the arena. This was followed by the entry of others like BOI, LIC, GIC, etc. sponsored by public sector banks. Starting with an asset base of Rs. 25 crore in 1964 the industry has grown at a compounded average growth rate of 27% to its current size of Rs.90000 crore.

The period 1986-1993 can be termed as the period of public sector mutual funds (PMFs). From one player in 1985 the number increased to 8 in 1993. The party did not last long. When the private sector made its debut in 1993-94, the stock market was booming.

The opening up of the asset management business to private sector in 1993 saw international players like Morgan Stanley, Jardine Fleming, JP Morgan, George Soros and Capital International along with the host of domestic players join the party. But for the equity funds, the period of 1994-96 was one of the worst in the history of Indian Mutual Funds.

1999—YEAR OF THE FUNDS

Mutual funds have been around for a long period of time to be precise for 36 yrs but the year 1999 saw immense future potential and developments in this sector. This year signaled the year of resurgence of mutual funds and the regaining of investor confidence in these MF’s. This time around all the participants are involved in the revival of the funds ----- the AMC’s, the unit holders, the other related parties. However the sole factor that gave lifer to the revival of the funds was the Union Budget. The budget brought about a large number of changes in one stroke. An insight of the Union Budget on mutual funds taxation benefits is provided later.

It provided centre stage to the mutual funds, made them more attractive and provides acceptability among the investors. The Union Budget exempted mutual fund dividend given out by equity-oriented schemes from tax, both at the hands of the investor as well as the mutual fund. No longer were the mutual funds interested in selling the concept of mutual funds they wanted to talk business which would mean to increase asset base, and to get asset base and investor base they had to be fully armed with a whole lot of schemes for every investor .So new schemes for new IPO’s were inevitable. The quest to attract investors extended beyond just new schemes. The funds started to regulate themselves and were all out on winning the trust and confidence of the investors under the aegis of the Association of Mutual Funds of India (AMFI)

One cam say that the industry is moving from infancy to adolescence, the industry is maturing and the investors and funds are frankly and openly discussing difficulties opportunities and compulsions.