Market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has recently instructed the Registrar and Transfer Agents (RTAs) to recommend a transaction platform simplifying the ecosystem for mutual fund investors.

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The market regulator has proposed this single-stop shop portal for investors, despite the Mutual Fund Utility platform.

The proposed platform will in phases enable a user-friendly interface for investors, Sebi said, for the execution of mutual fund transactions, initiation and tracking of service requests as well as queries and complaints, access investment related reports, transactions reports, capital gains or loss reports, details of unclaimed dividend and redemption among others.

According to experts, this will deliver a better experience to investors across the industry.

As per Harsh Jain, Co-founder and COO, Groww, this will allow for a much smoother experience for all, including investors.

“It has the potential to improve and elevate everyone's mutual fund experience like how UPI changed the payments domain,” Jain said.

Sonam Chandwani, Managing Partner at KS Legal & Associates said that the new platform has the potential to improve efficiency and create a centralised platform for investors to execute mutual fund transfers.

“Proposing an official transaction platform, on the other hand, will be more useful if it provides more than just interoperable KRA services. The platform would provide investors with comfort and convenience while also saving them money and time,” she said.

However, one cannot deny the presence of the MF Utility platform.

MF Utilities, which was formally launched in January 2015, is an innovative “shared services” initiative by the Mutual Fund industry under the aegis of Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI), which acts as a “transaction aggregation portal” through which a mutual fund customer is enabled to transact in multiple schemes across mutual funds using a single form/payment.

According to the MF Utilities India portal, it provides browser-based access to customers, with connectivity to Registrars and Transfer Agents (RTA), Banks, Asset Management Companies (AMC), Payment Gateways (PG), and KYC Registration Agencies (KRAs). It also enables online transaction submission in multiple schemes across mutual funds through a single form/payment.

This is operated by MF Utilities India Pvt Ltd (MFUI) which is equally owned by the participating AMCs.

On the difference between MF Utilities and the proposed new platform; experts said that more clarity is required to comment on this.

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First Published:Jul 29, 2021 9:37 AM IST