By Elton Gomes
As Paytm looks to enter the mutual fund (MF) arena soon, a total of 11 fund houses have completed the required paperwork and have been empanelled with Paytm Money. The 11 fund houses constitute for 62 % of industry assets.
The asset management firms that have signed up with Paytm Money-the MF distribution platform-include fund houses such as ICICI Prudential MF, HDFC MF, Reliance MF, UTI MF, as well as Invesco MF, Mirae AMC, and Mahindra MF.
Manish Mehta, head of sales, distribution, and marketing at Kotak MF, said, Paytm has tied-up with around a dozen mutual fund companies, including us. The Mutual Funds Sahi Hai campaign has significantly contributed towards awareness. However, execution could still be a challenge, Business Standard reported.
Mehta added digitalization has increased the chances of mutual funds being accepted as an ideal investment option. He said, With the rise of digitalisation in India, accessing MFs as an ideal investment option would be easier for potential investors. The industry will be able to leverage the large customer base and geographic reach that Paytm will offer to deepen the penetration of mutual funds.
As per the Business Standard report, most firms had confirmed the development, while other firms were in various stages of coming to an agreement with Paytm Money.
One97 Communications Pvt Ltd., Paytms parent company, has already registered more than five lakh mutual fund users on Paytm Money. Once the platform is live and open for public, we will offer access on priority to those who have registered for early access, the companys spokesperson told Bloomberg Quint. The spokesperson added that registrations will be thrown open to everyone through the companys official website in August, and only direct investments will be allowed.
On August 7, Live Mint reported that users were initially invited to register and that they would be able to conduct transactions after the launch. We are testing the app internally with many key employeesthey are buying and selling MFs already as we speakand will be going live very soon. People with early registrations are just invited to register; they will be able to transact once we launch, Pravin Jadhav, director at Paytm Money, told Live Mint.
A dedicated app for investing in mutual funds
In April 2018, the Economic Times reported that Paytm – India’s largest mobile-first financial services platform was planning to launch Paytm Money, a dedicated app to facilitate investments in mutual funds. To begin with, Paytm Money will offer mutual funds from top 10-12 AMCs and will slowly increase the number, Pravin Jadhav, Senior Vice President of Paytm Money said. The app will begin with mutual funds and will gradually add other investment products, Jadhav said in an interview with the Economic Times.
The app would reportedly offer investing in direct plans of all types of mutual funds, including equity and debt schemes. The Paytm Money app would be free and would be available on Android and iOS. Besides selling mutual funds, the app will reportedly provide portfolio services to investors, wherein they can view complete details of their investment through the app.
Elton Gomes is a staff writer at Qrius