Mutual Fund Performance India

In 1963 the government in power of India established the Unit Trust of India (UTI) by an act of parliament. The UTI functioned under the authority of the Reserve Bank of India until 1978 when the Industrial Development Bank of India took over the regulatory and administrative control. In 1964 the first scheme was launched by UTI. The 2nd phase of the mutual fund industry in India began when public sector banks and life insurance companies set up their own mutual funds and finally in 1993 Kothari Pioneer became the first private sector mutual fund to go public.

The market value of the assets (NAV) of any scheme or fund will usually reflect how the performance of the scheme is doing. Good funds should be able to provide returns for various periods since inception such as one, three, six months, one year, two years etc. Mutual funds should have the ability to provide comparisons with benchmarks to tell whether it has performed as well or not as the benchmark. It is believed however by many financial advisors that the returns don't give the real picture unless they are risk-adjusted.

When looking at the mutual funds and fund houses we must keep in mind that performance alone is not make the fund a sure winner. Things like service standards and transparency of actions and the ability to provide fast solutions to investor's problems or grievances. Reputation of fund houses also will indicate how good a fund is. To explore funds there are a wealth of sources such as financial dailies that show the NAV of all mutual fund schemes. Magazines do annual surveys and some are dedicated solely to the mutual fund industry. The internet has also many excellent financial sites and the Association of Mutual Funds of India home page is one well informed source to go to.

There are various types or structures of funds such as open-ended funds, close-ended funds, interval funds, growth funds, income funds, balanced funds and money market funds. There are also special schemes, tax saving schemes, index funds, and sector specific schemes.

If you plan on investing in a scheme find out if the objectives you have in mind meet the criteria of the scheme you are looking at a pick schemes that meet your specific needs.