Prepared by Kaushal Sharma

Internet based Tools used Mutual Fund Distributorsto promote Mutual Fund Investments

Summer Internship Project

Table of contents:

• Introduction

• Data collection – Sample size & method

• Data analysis

• Research Findings

• Suggestions

Introduction

Objective: • To identify tools used by ***********.com to promote MF Investment

• To identify the different tools used by websites of other MF distributors, AMC’s & ranking agencies

• To record those tools which are not present on ICICIDirect.com

• To suggest tools that can be incorporated on ICICIDirect.com

Research Methodology:• Observational research conducted on websites of Mutual Fund

Distributors, AMC’s and Ranking Agencies

• The research projects the findings resulted after analyzing freely available information from websites i.e on the NON-LOGIN PAGES of the above mentioned institutions

Data Collection

Distributors/Brokers AMC’s Ranking Agencies

IndiaInfoline.com AngelMF.com UTIMF.com Valueresearchonline

AxisDirect.in Mututalfundindia.com SBIMF.com Morningstar.in

KotakSecurities.com Religareonline.com MutualFund.Birlasunlife.com

Moneycontrol.com

Njfundz.com Bajajcapital.com RelianceMutual.com

Ask Wealth Investors Rsec.co.in (Reliance securities)

LnTMF.com (L & T MF)

HDFCSecurities.com Karvyonline.com HDFCfund.com

Sharekhan.com Standardchartered.co.in

SMCtradeonline.com SBIcapsec.com (SBICapSecurities)

Fundsupermart.com Fundsindia.com

Distributors/Brokers - 18

AMC’s - 6

Ranking Agencies - 3

The below mentioned websites were used for collecting data which was publicly available (non-login access)

Analysis

• Tools or Methods which were not present on ******* but used on other websites were tabulated

• These tools were classified into 5 sections– Educating/ Information Sharing tools

– Finding Funds

– Evaluation & Tracking

– Investing Tools &

– Others (Promotion, Website usability etc.)

• Tools or Methods which were widely used formed the base for recommendation

Research Findings

• SIP plans & Gold ETF plans are the top plans being promoted within their websites by distributors (flexi SIP by HDFC)

• ‘Alerts’, ‘Watchlist’, ‘Start SIP’ buttons are extensively used

• Majority Tools & Reports are used for to facilitate ‘evaluation & tracking’

• IndiaInfoline.com, MoneyControl.com, SBICapSec.com, RSec.co.in, Reliageronline.com & AxisDirect.in use the maximum no. of tools & reports(more than 7 out of the measured 13 ) – ICICIDIrect has 6– All of them have a ‘News’ Section

– 4 of them have a SIP related calculator

– 5 of them have a sector related report

• Most common tools– Retirement Calculator - Child Education Planner

– Marriage Savings Calculator - Millionaire/ Crorepati Calculator

– Mobile/Desktop applications & e-trading platforms

– Forward Compounder - Returns calculator

Continued…

Category Tools/ Reports ICICIDirectOthers (only Brokers )

Others (all)

Educating/ Info Sharing

News 15 18

Discussion boards/forums 2 4

NFO Y 13 13

Investment Tools

SIP 10 17

SWP/STP 1 2

Risk Profiler Y 4 8

Evaluation & Tracking

Sector Y 9 12

Fund Ranker Y 15 18

Scheme Comparison Y 12 15

Fund Activity 6 6

Latest Dividend Y 11 12

Continued…

• Out of the 18 distributors taken in the research sample:– 15 include a ‘News’ section pertaining to MF on their website

– 10 have a SIP related calculator

– 13 provide NFO/ Upcoming NFO reports via widgets

– 9 provide reports related to Sectors (top sectors favouring MF investments, % allocation in different sectors)

– 6 provide reports related to daily transaction in equity & debt investments by Mutual Fund Schemes

Continued…

• Out of the 6 AMC’s taken in the research sample:– 5 have a SIP related calculator

– All have the Goals (education, marriage) calculator

– 2 have a Future Value calculator

– 3 have a risk profiler & asset allocator for investors

• Out of the 3 Ranking agencies:– All the three display News & Sector Reports

– They emphasize more on displaying top funds according to different categories

– 2 have discussion boards (Blogs & Forums both) which can be used for research purposes as well as promoting schemes

Suggested Tools & Reports

• After analysing the different methods used by competitors the following methods/tools/reports can be incorporated on ********

– A more focused search box for finding funds

– Discussion Boards /Forums*

– MF related latest News Section

– SIP, SWP and STP Calculators

– Fixed Footer Bar on website with quick links & collapsible banner ad slot

– SMS Alerts Plan for MF

– Sector Tracker Search & Fund Activity Reports

Searching New Funds

• A more focused search

• Schemes can be searched using performance, sector weightage, asset size, age & minimum investment

Finding Funds

as seen on moneycontrol.com

Discussion Boards

• Discussion Boards, Forums, Blogs (Fund Manager Speak –Articles/Videos) can be used in the following ways– Myth Buster Articles– Address investor queries– Adds a personal touch– Increase participation of investors on website

Used by – ValueResearch (Ask Value Research),– FundSupermart.com, – MoneyControl (Interact), – IIFL – HDFC Securities (Analyst Videos, Learning Curve Series - articles)

Educating/ Information Sharing

MF News

• MF related recent news articles to keep investors updated

• Can increase investor participation through commenting system

• Used by:– IIFL – Angel MF– SMC Online– Karvy Stock Broking– Axis Direct– Reliance Securities– Standard Chartered Securities– Bajaj Capital– MoneyControl– JM Financial Services

Educating/ Information Sharing

as seen on indiainfoline.com

SIP/SWP/STP Calculators

• To calculate:

– the monthly SIP required to attain a specific goal

– the long run worth of an SIP

– the gains via investment made in an SIP plan (historic data)

– Returns & cashflow after a SWP or STP

CalculatorsInvesting Tools

• Presently used by IIFL : indiainfoline.comHDFC SecuritiesMutualFundIndia.comRelianceMutual.comAxisDirect.inMorningstar.inSharekhan.com

Example: SIP as per

need calculator

Source: Indiainfoline.com

CalculatorsInvesting Tools

Example: Long run worth of an SIP

Source: Indiainfoline.com

Investing Tools

SWPCalculator

Input

OutputSource: reliancemutual.com

Investing Tools

Static/ Fixed Footer Bar

• **********displays a pin up ad on arrival on the homepage

• A opening banner can also be used at the MutualFunds page

• Can be used to promote new schemes/offers

• Links can be easily viewed and accessed

Source: UTIMF

Continued..

• Mouseover Links

Displays direct links to performance, charts etc when a user hovers the mouse cursor over a scheme name

• Footer & Links used by:

• Utimf.com

• Axisdirect.in

• Hdfcsec.com (also used a fixed sidebar)

• MoneyControl(mouseover links)

Source: moneycontrol.com

SMS - Alerts Plan

• Users can be charged to receive real-time alerts pertaining to their portfolio– Real time NAV changes

– News

– Rank updates

– NAV trigger alerts

• Alerts can be delivered across SMS’s, Desktop Apps, Mobile Apps

• Users can customise the alerts

Continued…

Currently being used by:

- MoneyControl

Sector ReportA report that displays the aggregate sector exposure of schemes in the industry

Source: moneycontrol.com

Evaluation & Tracking

Sector Tracker

• The tracker lists all the schemes investing in a particular sector

• Identify the top 10 funds investing in a particular sector

• Investors who anticipate growth in a sector can track & invest in the respective funds

as seen on valueresearchonline.com

Evaluation & Tracking

Used by: ValueResearch, Sharekhan, AxisDirect, SMC Online, MorningStar.in, MoneyControl, Reliance Securities, SBImf.com, Angel Broking, Standard Chartered, IIFl

Fund Activity Reports• Displays the net

transaction of funds in debt and equity investments

• A search function can be added to identify fund activity across different periods

• Used by 6 out of 18 distributors

• Indiainfoline

• AxisDirect

• SBICapSec

• SMC Online

• RelianceSec

• Standard Chartered Sec

Evaluation & Tracking

as seen on indiainfoline.com

Fund Manager Tracker• Fund Manager Search - Search

for fund managers on basis of performance over a period of time

• Fund Manager Compare –Displays a comparison report (compares two fund managers only)

• Top performing fund managers – Report

• Used by myiris.co.in

Evaluation & Tracking

as seen on fundmanager.myiris.com

Reports in widgets

• Certain reports can be displayed on the Mutual Fund page of ICICIDirect, they are:

• NFO Reports

• Sector Report

• Sector Tracker

• Fund Activity Report

Source: hdfcsecurities.com

Why reports in widgets?

• Facilitates sharing of information in concise & arranged manner

• The homepage looks clean

• Easy access to information

• Who’s using such reports ?• Indiainfoline.com

• Axisdirect.in

• Morningstar.in

• Moneycontrol.com

• HDFCSecurities (hdfcsec.com)

Mobile App for MF

• Mobile App that delivers– Top 10 schemes, NAV and other

such reports

– Performance Charts

– Mutual Fund related news

– In-App Purchases • Daily Alerts

• Recommended Portfolio

– Includes MF related calculators

– Chat Function

– Investor Education via App (Daily Article, Facts etc.)

Why?

• MoneyControl.com app 500000+ downloads (Android)

• Indian Mutual Funds Tracker 5000+ downloads

• Many more such apps

• Users can track portfolio

• In-App purchases can generate revenue

• In-App ad slots can be used for promotion or generating additional revenue

Personal Finance App

• A personal finance app that facilitates– Recording Daily transactions

– Recording Investments

– Budget

– Planning Finances

– In built SIP, Returns calculator

– Displays the returns that can be earned by investing in different products

– Access to data

– Ad Revenue, In-app purchases etc. for revenue generation

Fund Manager - Game

• The user is the Fund Manager with a certain corpus

• Competing with other users for the top spot

• Can invest the corpus using the app

• Access to ******** reports (top stocks, top 10 schemes etc.)

• Similar games: – Stockopedia.co.uk/fantasy-funds

– Ffm.fantasyleague.com : JP Morgan

– Fantasyfundinvestor.telegraph.co.uk : The Telegraph & Skandia

Why?

• 75% of apps downloaded are games

• 48% of cell phone users are between 18 – 24 years (~19.2 million)

• Youngsters are the future investors

• Gaming Platform can be used to educate & thereby attract investments

• Facilitate Brand Recall

Source: Nielsen Informate Mobile Insights

Thank You

References

• http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/newswire/2013/smartphones-keep-users-in-india-plugged-in.html

• http://www.appbrain.com/app/mutual-funds-india/com.rhomobile.mutualfunds

• http://www.businessworld.in/en/storypage/-/bw/not-without-my-smartphone/603065.0/page/0

• http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/smartphones-social-networking-sites-technology-android-blackberry-youngsters/1/249994.html