Mutual fund houses, distributors, and investment advisers have well understood the role of technology to make life simpler.

About four years ago, investing in mutual funds was a cumbersome task, starting from the very first step of getting Know Your Customer (KYC) compliant. Investors found complying with KYC burdensome and a rather complex process, involving a good amount of paperwork. Hence, distributors were the preferred route, as they helped you right from KYC to investment to redemptions.

In 2013, after the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) asked fund houses to introduce Direct Plans that charged a lower fee, many fund houses either launched or enhanced their online investing portals to make it user-friendly for direct investors. In 2015, for the first time e-KYC was introduced by a direct to investor fund house. Eventually, other fund houses jumped on the bandwagon.

This set the ball rolling.

From online portals, mutual funds are now focused on mobile applications (also known as apps). Investors can choose to invest either through the applications of the Registrars or directly through the app of the fund house. Several distributors and investments advisers too, have launched their own mobile apps through which investors can set goals and invest though mutual funds.

Few of the mobile apps we have come across include:

1. myCAMS Mutual Fund App - Computer Age management Services (CAMS)
2. KTrack app - Karvy
3. IPRU TOUCH - ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund
4. InvesTap - SBI Mutual Fund
5. FinGo - Birla SunLife MF
6. HDFCMFMobile - HDFC MF
7. EasyApp - Axis Mutual Fund
8. UTI Buddy – UTI Mutual Fund
9. Kotak Mutual Fund App – Kotak Mutual Fund

You can download these apps from the Google Play Store for smartphones operating on the Android Platform. For iPhones, these apps can be downloaded from the App Store.

These apps not only offer you recommendations on the mutual fund schemes to invest in, they allow you to analyse and compare schemes based on various parameters. They even facilitate transactions, more importantly in paperless form, that too within few minutes of you downloading an app. You can even track your investments on the go. Even the once tedious process of KYC can be completed seamlessly using your smartphone.

With this added convenience and a host of other factors, investors are once again flocking to mutual funds. In July 2017, equity mutual fund schemes received net inflows of Rs 12,037 crore. While the combined inflows of balanced funds, Equity Linked Savings Schemes (ELSS) and other equity funds stood at Rs 20,591 crore as on July 2017.

In the first four months of FY2017-18, 40 lakh investors were added, taking the total mutual fund folio count to 5.94 crore. Retail investor accounts under equity, equity-linked saving schemes (ELSS), and balanced categories grew over 36 lakh cumulating to more than 4.8 crore during the period.

This is a clear sign that the technological ease of investment has been an enabler for the increased participation of investors and strong inflows. Cumbersome paperwork and lack of time are no longer reasons for not investing in mutual funds. You can now invest from the comfort of your home at a feasible time. Investors in areas that lack the presence of mutual fund companies can invest too, through the websites and mobile applications.

In the recent few months, robo apps (apps from robo-advisers) have proliferated, and a whole host of new ones will hit the market in the future. Therefore, it is important for you to understand which app is better for you. Well, you might get attracted to the app based on reviews and star ratings, but that approach won't assist you every time. As a smart investor, you should know how to segregate a fantastic app from an ordinary one.

PersonalFN is of the view that the basics of investing in mutual fund schemes remain the same, irrespective of whether you invest through mobile apps of a fund house or any other robo-investing platform. You should invest in mutual funds congruent to your financial goals. The apps might provide you with a convenient platform to perform transactions; however, you need to be sure about the quality of equity schemes you choose.

If you need research backed recommendations to select the potentially best mutual fund schemes for your portfolio, opt for PersonalFN's research reports. Our superlative guidance will certainly help you on the path to wealth creation. You can be rest assured about the ethical and unbiased nature of this service.

The Systematic Investment Plan (SIP) route to investing in equity mutual funds adds to the convenience of investing in mutual funds, in addition it helps to deal with market volatility through rupee-cost averaging. At the same time, it is pertinent to note that all mutual funds may not be investment worthy to start an SIP. Hence, you need to narrow down to a list of funds that have performed remarkably well under SIP.

Backed by strong research-driven processes, PersonalFN will soon release a research report of mutual funds that are optimised for SIP investments. Stay tuned to know more!

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amritak069@gmail.com Jul 21, 2018 I am a begginer in mutual fund investment. I am interested in investing in sip although i am almost clueless about it. I am a school teacher with 5 lakhs annual income. My risk appetite is low and i just want a consistent moderately good return. Please suggest on which steps should i take.

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