Regulatory Aspects Of Mutual Fund

SCHEMES OF MUTUAL FUND:

The asset management company shall launch no scheme unless the trustees approve such scheme and a copy of the offer document has been filed with the Board.

Every mutual fund shall along with the offer document of each scheme pay filing fees.

The offer document shall contain disclosures which are adequate in order to enable the investors to make informed investment decision including the disclosure on maximum investments proposed to be made by the scheme in the listed securities of the group companies of the sponsor.

No one shall issue any form of application for units of a mutual fund unless the form is accompanied by the memorandum containing such information as may be specified by the Board.

Every close ended scheme shall be listed in a recognized stock exchange within six months from the closure of the subscription

The asset management company may at its option repurchase or reissue the repurchased units of a close ended scheme.

A close-ended scheme shall be fully redeemed at the end of the maturity period. "Unless a majority of the unit holders otherwise decide for its rollover by passing a resolution".

The mutual fund and asset management company shall be liable to refund the application money to the applicants,-

(i) If the mutual fund fails to receive the minimum subscription amount referred to in clause (a) of sub-regulation (1);

(ii) If the moneys received from the applicants for units are in excess of subscription as referred to in clause (b) of sub-regulation (1).

The asset management company shall issue to the applicant whose application has been accepted, unit certificates or a statement of accounts specifying the number of units allotted to the applicant as soon as possible but not later than six weeks from the date of closure of the initial subscription list and or from the date of receipt of the request from the unit holders in any open ended scheme.

RULES REGARDING ADVERTISEMENT:

The advertisement for each scheme shall disclose investment objective for each scheme.

An advertisement shall be truthful, fair and clear and shall not contain a statement, promise or forecast which is untrue or misleading.

Advertisements shall not be so framed as to exploit the lack of experience or knowledge of the investors.

All advertisements issued by a mutual fund or its sponsor or asset management company, shall state "all investments in mutual funds and securities are subject to market risks and the NAV of the schemes may go up or down depending upon the factors and forces affecting the securities market".

The advertisement shall not compare one fund with another, implicitly or explicitly, unless the comparison is fair and all information relevant to the comparison is included in the advertisement.

The offer document and advertisement materials shall not be misleading or contain any statement or opinion, which are incorrect or false.

INVESTMENT OBJECTIVES AND VALUATION POLICIES:

The moneys collected under any scheme of a mutual fund shall be invested only in transferable securities in the money market or in the capital market or in privately placed debentures or securitised debts.

Provided that moneys collected under any money market scheme of a mutual fund shall be invested only in money market instruments in accordance with directions issued by the Reserve Bank of India;

The mutual fund shall not borrow except to meet temporary liquidity needs of the mutual funds for the purpose of repurchase, redemption of units or payment of interest or dividend to the unit holders.

The mutual fund shall not advance any loans for any purpose.

Every mutual fund shall compute and carry out valuation of its investments in its portfolio and publish the same in accordance with the valuation norms specified in Eighth Schedule

Every mutual fund shall compute the Net Asset Value of each scheme by dividing the net assets of the scheme by the number of units outstanding on the valuation date.

The Net Asset Value of the scheme shall be calculated and published at least in two daily newspapers at intervals of not exceeding one week:

The price at which the units may be subscribed or sold and the price at which such units may at any time be repurchased by the mutual fund shall be made available to the investors.

GENERAL OBLIGATIONS:

Every asset management company for each scheme shall keep and maintain proper books of accounts, records and documents, for each scheme so as to explain its transactions and to disclose at any point of time the financial position of each scheme and in particular give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the fund and intimate to the Board the place where such books of accounts, records and documents are maintained.

The financial year for all the schemes shall end as of March 31 of each year.

Every mutual fund or the asset management company shall prepare in respect of each financial year an annual report and annual statement of accounts of the schemes and the fund as specified in Eleventh Schedule.

Every mutual fund shall have the annual statement of accounts audited by an auditor who is not in any way associated with the auditor of the asset management company.

PROCEDURE FOR ACTION IN CASE OF DEFAULT:

On and from the date of the suspension of the certificate or the approval, as the case may be, the mutual fund, trustees or asset management company, shall cease to carry on any activity as a mutual fund, trustee or asset management company, during the period of suspension, and shall be subject to the directions of the Board with regard to any records, documents, or securities that may be in its custody or control, relating to its activities as mutual fund, trustees or asset management company.

RESTRICTIONS ON INVESTMENTS:

A mutual fund scheme shall not invest more than 15% of its NAV in debt instruments issued by a single issuer, which are rated not below investment grade by a credit rating agency authorized to carry out such activity under the Act. Such investment limit may be extended to 20% of the NAV of the scheme with the prior approval of the Board of Trustees and the Board of asset management company

A mutual fund scheme shall not invest more than 10% of its NAV in unrated debt instruments issued by a single issuer and the total investment in such instruments shall not exceed 25% of the NAV of the scheme. All such investments shall be made with the prior approval of the Board of Trustees and the Board of asset management company.

No mutual fund under all its schemes should own more than ten per cent of any company's paid up capital carrying voting rights.

Transfers of investments from one scheme to another scheme in the same mutual fund shall be allowed only if, -

Such transfers are done at the prevailing market price for quoted instruments on spot basis.

The securities so transferred shall be in conformity with the investment objective of the scheme to which such transfer has been made.

A scheme may invest in another scheme under the same asset management company or any other mutual fund without charging any fees, provided that aggregate inter scheme investment made by all schemes under the same management or in schemes under the management of any other asset management company shall not exceed 5% of the net asset value of the mutual fund.

The initial issue expenses in respect of any scheme may not exceed six per cent of the funds raised under that scheme.

Every mutual fund shall buy and sell securities on the basis of deliveries and shall in all cases of purchases, take delivery of relative securities and in all cases of sale, deliver the securities and shall in no case put itself in a position whereby it has to make short sale or carry forward transaction or engage in badla finance.

Every mutual fund shall, get the securities purchased or transferred in the name of the mutual fund on account of the concerned scheme, wherever investments are intended to be of long-term nature.

Pending deployment of funds of a scheme in securities in terms of investment objectives of the scheme a mutual fund can invest the funds of the scheme in short term deposits of scheduled commercial banks.

No mutual fund scheme shall make any investment in;

Any unlisted security of an associate or group company of the sponsor; or

Any security issued by way of private placement by an associate or group company of the sponsor; or

The listed securities of group companies of the sponsor which is in excess of 30% of the net assets [of all the schemes of a mutual fund]

No mutual fund scheme shall invest more than 10 per cent of its NAV in the equity shares or equity related instruments of any company. Provided that, the limit of 10 per cent shall not be applicable for investments in index fund or sector or industry specific scheme.

A mutual fund scheme shall not invest more than 5% of its NAV in the equity shares or equity related investments in case of open-ended scheme and 10% of its NAV in case of close-ended scheme.