Professional Documents
Culture Documents
We Amit Agrawal and Tarun Agrawal , student of MBA 3rd Sem. hereby declare
that the research project titled:
FUND” is our co-ordinate work which is written and undertaken by us and is our
original work. The empirical finding in the project was undertaken as a part of
Amit Agrawal
Tarun Agrawal
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
We wish to express our sincere sense of gratitude to all those who generously
helped us in our successful completion of the project work by sharing their valuable
time and knowledge.
We are proud and privileged to express our heartfelt regards to Reliance Mutual
fund AMC (Asset Management Company) for giving us opportunity to prepare A
PROJECT ON “A STUDY OF MARKETING MIX ELEMENTS RELIANCE
MUTUAL FUND”
We are proud to express our sincere gratitude to Respected Guide Ms. Bhumika
Singh for her constant encouragement; guidance and her valuable suggestions as she
rendered us all possible help and guidance while reviewing the manual script and
finalizing the report. For providing us guidelines of the Project, we are thankful to
Respected Sir Mr. RAJNISH JAIN for providing us all possible guidance in making
us understand the whole process.
Chapter 1 deals with introduction of Reliance Mutual fund AMC in which meaning of
mutual find, history of industry and overview is discussed
Chapter 2 discusses about the objectives of the study at Reliance Mutual Fund AMC.
A mutual fund is a collective investment vehicle formed with the specific objective of raising
money from a large number of individuals and investing it according to a pre specified objective.
The word mutual in a mutual fund signifies a vehicle wherein the benefits of investment accrued pro
rata to all the investors in proportion to there investments.
Mutual Fund is a trust that pools the savings of a number of investors who share a common
financial goal. Anyone with an invisible surplus of as little as few thousand rupees can invest in
mutual funds. These investors buy units of a particular mutual fund scheme that has a defined
investment objective and strategy.
The fund manager in different types of securities then invests the money thus collected. These
could range from shares to debentures to money market instruments, depending on the scheme’s
stated objectives. The income earned through these investments and the capital appreciations
realized by the scheme are shared by its unit holders in proportion of the number of units owned by
them. Thus a mutual fund is the most suitable investment for the common man as it offers an
opportunity to investing a diversified, professionally managed basket of securities at a relatively low
cost.
A mutual fund is the ideal investment vehicle for today’s complex modern world. It appoints
professionally qualified and experienced staff that manages each of these functions on full time
basis. The large pool of money collected in the fund allows it to hire such staff at a very low cost to
each investor. In effect, the mutual fund vehicle exploits economies of scale in all three areas –
research, investing and transaction processing.
While the concept of individuals coming together to invest money collectively is not new, the
mutual fund in its present form is a 20th century phenomenon. In fact, mutual funds gained
popularity only after the Second World War. Globally, there are thousand of firms offerings tens of
thousand of mutual funds with different investment objectives. Today mutual funds collectively
manage almost as much money as banks.
Along with the success of mutual funds, inevitably there arose a need to regulate the industry.
Thus regulation and regulatory bodies came into being so that small investors were not misled or put
to loss by some unscrupulous people representing themselves as mutual funds.
History of the Indian Mutual Fund Industry:
The origin of mutual fund industry in India is with the introduction of the concept of mutual
fund by UTI in the year 1963. Though the growth was slow, but it accelerated from the year 1987
when non-UTI players entered the industry.
In the past decade, Indian mutual fund industry had seen a dramatic improvements, both
quality wise as well as quantity wise. Before, the monopoly of the market had seen an ending phase,
the Assets Under Management (AUM) was Rs. 67bn. The private sector entry to the fund family
rose the AUM to Rs. 470 bn in March 1993 and till April 2004, it reached the height of 1,540 bn.
Putting the AUM of the Indian Mutual Funds Industry into comparison, the total of it is less
than the deposits of SBI alone, constitute less than 11% of the total deposits held by the Indian
banking industry.
The main reason of its poor growth is that the mutual fund industry in India is new in the
country. Large sections of Indian investors are yet to be intellectuated with the concept. Hence, it is
the prime responsibility of all mutual fund companies, to market the product correctly abreast of
selling.
The mutual fund industry can be broadly put into four phases according to the development of
the sector which can b understand on the basis of following diagram:
First Phase – 1964-87(UTI was the Only Player)
Second Phase – 1987-1993 (Entry of Public Sector Funds):
Third Phase – 1993-2003 (Entry of Private Sector Funds):
Fourth Phase – since February 2003.
Erstwhile UTI was bifurcated into UTI Mutual Fund and the Specified Undertaking of the Unit
Trust of India effective from February 2003. The Assets under management of the Specified
Undertaking of the Unit Trust of India has therefore been excluded from the total assets of the
industry as a whole from February 2003 onwards.
Objective of the study
Reliance Mutual Fund (RMF) is one of India’s leading Mutual Funds, with Assets Under
Management (AUM) of Rs. 79,974 crores (AUM as on 31st Oct 07) and an investor base of over
40.28 Lakhs
Reliance Mutual Fund, a part of the Reliance - Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, is one of the fastest
growing mutual funds in the country. RMF offers investors a well-rounded portfolio of products to
meet varying investor requirements and has presence in 115 cities across the country.
Reliance Mutual Fund constantly endeavors to launch innovative products and customer service
initiatives to increase value to investors. Reliance Mutual Fund schemes are managed by Reliance
Capital Asset Management Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Reliance Capital Ltd.
Reliance Capital Ltd. is one of India’s leading and fastest growing private sector financial services
companies, and ranks among the top 3 private sector financial services and banking companies, in
terms of net worth.
Reliance Capital Ltd. has interests in asset management, life and general insurance, private equity
and proprietary investments, stock broking and other financial services.
FINDINGS
Market Segmentation:
The mutual fund market can be segmented based on the investment objective of the
investor. Say for example, one investor wants his investments to provide him with regular
fixed returns and another wants his investment to grow and provide high returns and in the
medium to long term. The investment objectives of these two investors are different and
therefore the same fund cannot cator to the needs of both. Since customer needs are
different, the market can be segmented into the following funds based on these differences.
Growth funds: Growth funds provide capital appreciation over the medium to long
term. These funds invest in equities, which generally offer high returns over a period of
time. Therefore, they are ideal for investors looking for high returns on capital over the long
term
Income funds: Income funds provide regular income to investors. Such funds
generally invest in fixed income securities such as bonds, corporate debentures and
government securities. They are ideal for investors who desire the minimum risk and a
regular income on their investments.
Balanced funds: Balanced funds, as the name suggests, strike a balance between
growth and regular income. These funds invest in a combination of equities and fixed
income securities, in a predetermined proportion. they are ideal for investors who want both
capital appreciation and a steady income.
Market Structure:
Mutual Fund Companies in India:
The concept of mutual funds in India dates back to the year 1963. The era between 1963 and
1987 marked the existence of only one mutual fund company in India with Rs. 67bn assets under
management (AUM), by the end of its monopoly era, the Unit Trust of India (UTI). By the end of
the 80s decade, few other mutual fund companies in India took their position in mutual fund market.
The new entries of mutual fund companies in India were SBI Mutual Fund, Canbank Mutual
Fund, Punjab National Bank Mutual Fund, Indian Bank Mutual Fund, Bank of India Mutual Fund.
The succeeding decade showed a new horizon in Indian mutual fund industry. By the end of
1993, the total AUM of the industry was Rs. 470.04 bn. The private sector funds started penetrating
the fund families. In the same year the first Mutual Fund Regulations came into existence with re-
registering all mutual funds except UTI. The regulations were further given a revised shape in 1996.
Kothari Pioneer was the first private sector mutual fund company in India which has now
merged with Franklin Templeton. Just after ten years with private sector players penetration, the
total assets rose up to Rs. 1218.05 bn. Today there are 33 mutual fund companies in India.
Product:
Customers invest in mutual funds with capital appreciation, liquidity and safety as their objectives.
So, marketers need to design the products keeping these objectives in mind. In addition, the marketer
has to take care of the government regulations that govern the industry. As a result, he needs to be
very judicious in designing the product and planning the investment portfolio of the customer. Only
then he can maximize the returns while minimizing the risk.
In the case of Reliance Mutual fund they also have products based on the same segmentation.
Price:
Before we try to understand the pricing of mutual funds, let us first understand the concept of NAV
(Net Asset Value). The net asset value of the fund is the cumulative market value of the assets fund
net of its liabilities. In other words, if the funds is dissolved or liquidated, by selling of all the assets
in the fund, this is the amount that the share holders would collectively own . They give rise to the
concept of the net asset value per unit, which is the value, expressed by the owner ship of one unit in
the fund, It is calculated simply by dividing the net asset value of the fund by the number of units.
However, most people refers usually to the NAV per unit as NAV, ignoring the per unit. We also
abide by the same convention.
Calculation of NAV:
The most important part of the calculation is the valuation of the assets owned by the funds . Once it is calculated the NAV is simply the net value of assets divide by the number of units out standing . The detail methodology for the calculation of the net asset value is given below :
Promotion:
With more and more private and global players entering the mutual market, the market has become
quite competitive in the recent past. Mutual funds, as an investment option, are now competing with
commercial banks and other financial institutions for the investor’s savings. Mutual fund companies
need to differentiate themselves from the other investment avenues in the market and position their
services exclusively in the customers mind. They need to adopt innovative promotional strategies
like strategic tie-ups.
Reliance uses electronic media, print media and hoardings for promotion.
Place:
The various distribution channels employed by mutual fund companies include their own
employees, agents, third party distribution companies, banks and post offices. The third party
distribution companies started flourishing with the entry of private players into the industry in 1993.
UTI and the government players relied completely on their agents for distributing the funds.
Reliance has more than 500 distributors in the state. In addition to it 50 brokerage houses and 2
AMC’s (Asset Management company)
People:
The process of investment decision-making in a mutual fund company determines the importance of
the individuals in the company. If the fund manager has a free hand to decide the fate of savings of
thousands of unit holders, he needs to be very competent and judicious in his decision-making. In
such companies, people become the most important element of the marketing mix. In fact companies
publicize the success of their fund manager who has delivered consistent results, to promote their
services.
If we talk about Reliance AMC, it has not a big staff. The reason behind that is the expenses made
on these people is adjusted from the return which they earn from the investment of their customer. In
Reliance AMC there is 1 Relationship manager, 2 Office Coordinator executives (customer), 1
coordinator (Karvy), 1 Sales manager, and 1 assistant sales manager, and 1 coordinater.
Process:
The process of investment by one mutual fund company can be quite different from that of another.
In some companies, the fund manager given a free hand and he decides where to invest and how
much to invest. On the other hand, the investment decision in some companies is strictly governed
by the company itself. Any fund manager can operate within the defined parameters of the company.
Difference in investment processes defines the style of functioning of a fund and determines its
success.
Physical Evidence:
Providing physical evidence to the customer is one of the most difficult aspects of the mutual fund
business. As there are very few instances of the customer entering the company premises, buildings
and infrastructure can rarely be used as physical evidence. Therefore, companies use their channels
of distribution like banks and post offices to attach an element of credibility to their services. They
also try to use their service personnel to reduce the perceived risk of customers. One of the most
important ways is to promote the earlier successes of the company in a big way.
SWOT Analysis
Strengths:
• Professional Management - The basic advantage of funds is that, they are professional
managed, by well qualified professional. Investors purchase funds because they do not
have the time or the expertise to manage their own portfolio. A mutual fund is considered
to be relatively less expensive way to make and monitor their investments.
• Diversification - Purchasing units in a mutual fund instead of buying individual stocks
or bonds, the investors risk is spread out and minimized up to certain extent. The idea
behind diversification is to invest in a large number of assets so that a loss in any
particular investment is minimized by gains in others.
• Economies of Scale - Mutual fund buy and sell large amounts of securities at a time,
thus help to reducing transaction costs, and help to bring down the average cost of the
unit for their investors.
• Liquidity - Just like an individual stock, mutual fund also allows investors to liquidate
their holdings as and when they want.
• Simplicity - Investments in mutual fund is considered to be easy, compare to other
available instruments in the market, and the minimum investment is small. Most AMC
also have automatic purchase plans whereby as little as Rs. 2000, where SIP start with
just Rs.50 per month basis.
Weakness:
• Professional Management- Some funds doesn't perform in neither the market, as their
management is not dynamic enough to explore the available opportunity in the market, thus
many investors debate over whether or not the so-called professionals are any better than
mutual fund or investor him self, for picking up stocks.
• Costs – The biggest source of AMC income is generally from the entry & exit load which
they charge from investors, at the time of purchase. The mutual fund industries are thus
charging extra cost under layers of jargon.
• Dilution - Because funds have small holdings across different companies, high returns from a
few investments often don't make much difference on the overall return. Dilution is also the
result of a successful fund getting too big. When money pours into funds that have had strong
success, the manager often has trouble finding a good investment for all the new money.
• Taxes - when making decisions about your money, fund managers don't consider your
personal tax situation. For example, when a fund manager sells a security, a capital-gain tax
is triggered, which affects how profitable the individual is from the sale. It might have been
more advantageous for the individual to defer the capital gains liability.
Threats:
• Lack of Investor Awareness - Retail investors had a wrong notion about mutual funds as
an investment avenue. The benefits of risk diversification, professional management and
ease of administration involved while investing in mutual funds are not clearly understood.
Knowledge of financial products is ingrained in school and college curriculum in countries
like UK, US and France.
• Investor Risk Appetite -Equity funds account for 30% of the total AUM in India. This
figure is more than 50% in most developed countries. Frequent stock market scams and the
bust of tech sector specific MFs have contributed to this apprehension. The growth in mutual
funds has come through the growth in investments in short term instrument like Money
Market Mutual Funds which account for 40% of AUM.
Opportunities:
• AUM as a Percentage of GDP - In most of the developed countries the total assets under
management ranges from 30% -60% of the GDP. Total assets under management are only
8% of the GDP in case of India.
• Penetration of Mutual funds - In India it is estimated that 6.7% of the households hold
mutual funds. This figure is close to 50% in case of the US and 17% in case of UK. Mutual
funds account for only 0.73% of total financial assets in India (11% of bank deposits). AUM
for Mutual funds had exceeded the bank deposits in US in as early as 1998.
• Growing Economy - Indian economy in a resilient mode in terms of GDP growth is
positioned as the fourth largest economy in terms of purchasing power parity and has the
benefit of low inflation along with rising forex rate and reserves
• Opening up of sectors for investment – in India service sector is also growing at a fast
rate because government has opened up investment in the sector.
• Promising consumer markets
• Significant investment in infrastructure creation for industry.
Conclusion
Currently there are 34 Mutual Fund organizations in India which are managing over Rs.
1,02,000/- crores.
The asset base is expected to continue growing at an annual rate of about 30 to 35% over the
next few years as investor’s shift their assets from banks and other traditional avenues. Some of the
older public and private sector players will either close shop or be taken over.
Out of ten public sector players five will sell out, close down or merge with stronger players in
three to four years. In the private sector this trend has already started with two mergers and one
takeover. Here too some of them will shut down their shutters in the near future to come.
But this doesn’t mean that there is no room for others players. The market will witness a flurry of
new players entering the arena. There will be a large number of offers from various assets
management companies in the time to come. Some big names like Fidelity, Principal, Old Mutual
etc. are looking at Indian market seriously. One important reason for it is that most major players
already have presence here and hence these big names would hardly like to get left behind.
The mutual fund industry is awaiting the introduction of derivatives in India as this would enable
it to hedge its risk and this in turn would be reflected in it’s Net Asset Value.
SEBI is working out the norms for enabling the existing mutual fund schemes to trade in
derivatives. Importantly, many market players have called on the regulator to initiate the process
immediately, so that the mutual funds can implement the changes that are required to trade in
Derivatives.
Many nationalized banks got into the mutual fund business in the early nineties and got of to a
good start due to the stock market boom prevailing then. These banks did not really understand the
mutual fund business and they just viewed it as just another kind of banking activity. Few haired
specialized staff and generally chose to transfer staff from the parent organizations. The performance
of most of the scheme floated by these funds, were not good enough. Some scheme had offered
guaranteed returns and there parent organization had to bail out theses AMC’s by paying large
amount of money as the difference between the guarantees and actual returns. The service levels
were also very bad. Most of these AMCs have not been able to retain staff, float new scheme etc and
it is doubtful whether, barring a few exceptions, they have serious plans of continuing the activity in
the major way.
The foreign owned companies have deep pockets and have come in here with the expectation of
a long haul. They can be credited with introducing many new practices such as new product
innovation, sharp improvement in service standards and disclosure, usage of technology, broker
education and support etc. In fact, they have forced the industry to upgrade itself and service levels
of organizations like UTI have improved dramatically in the last few years in response to the
competition provided by these.
Indian Mutual fund industry is now no longer in its nascent stage. It is growing by indulging in
continuous tapping of increasing needs & changing perceptions of investors. The concept of mutual
fund got ignited by UTI & has gone further with many Private & Foreign AMCs sharing the
industry. They have now been appreciated for increasing the savings attitude among Indians, thus
helping in capital formation & economic development of the country.
Rerences
1. Reliance AMC.
2. Kotak Mahindra AMC.
3. DSP Merrill Lynch AMC.
4. Website of Association of Mutual Funds in India. (www.amfiindia.com)
5. Official website of reliance mutual fund. ( www.reliancemutualfund.com)