ADVANTAGES OF MUTUAL FUND

(a) Professional Management: The funds are managed by skilled and professionally experienced managers with a back up of a Research team. 

(b) Diversification: Mutual Funds offer diversification in portfolio which reduces the risk. 

(c) Convenient Administration: There are no administrative risks of share transfer, as many of the Mutual Funds offer services in a demat form which save investor’s time and delay. 

(d) Higher Returns: Over a medium to long-term investment, investors always get higher returns in Mutual Funds as compared to other avenues of investment. This is already seen from excellent returns, Mutual Funds have provided in the last few years. However, investors are cautioned that such high returns riding on the IT boom should not be taken as regular returns and therefore one should look at the average returns provided by the Mutual Funds particularly in the equity schemes during the last couple of years. 

(e) Low Cost of Management: No Mutual Fund can increase the cost beyond prescribed limits of 2.5% maximum and any extra cost of management is to be borne by the AMC. 

(f) Liquidity: In all the open ended funds, liquidity is provided by direct sales / repurchase by the Mutual Fund and in case of close ended funds, the liquidity is provided by listing the units on the Stock Exchange. 

(g) Transparency: The SEBI Regulations now compel all the Mutual Funds to disclose their portfolios on a half-yearly basis. However, many Mutual Funds disclose this on a quarterly or monthly basis to their investors. The NAVs are calculated on a daily basis in case of open ended funds and are now published through AMFI in the newspapers. 

(h) Other Benefits: Mutual Funds provide regular withdrawal and systematic investment plans according to the need of the investors. The investors can also switch from one scheme to another without any load. 

(i) Highly Regulated: Mutual Funds all over the world are highly regulated and in India all Mutual Funds are registered with SEBI and are strictly regulated as per the Mutual Fund Regulations which provide excellent investor protection. 

(j) Economies of scale: The way mutual funds are structured gives it a natural advantage. The “pooled” money from a number of investors ensures that mutual funds enjoy economies of scale; it is cheaper compared to investing directly in the capital markets which involves higher charges. This also allows retail investors access to high entry level markets like real estate, and also there is a greater control over costs. 

(k) Flexibility: There are a lot of features in a regular mutual fund scheme, which imparts flexibility to the scheme. An investor can opt for Systematic Investment Plan (SIP), Systematic Withdrawal Plan etc. to plan his cash flow requirements as per his convenience.

The wide range of schemes being launched in India by different mutual funds also provides an added flexibility to the investor to plan his portfolio accordingly.