A Study of Factors affecting Mutual Fund Investments in India

ABSTRACT

Consistent performance evaluation of mutual funds is crucial for investors and fund managers. In India mutual funds have not been as favourable investment options as in other developedcountries.The Indian mutual fund industry continuesextremely underpenetrated. India's AUM-to-GDP ratio is about 14% as compared to a worldwide average of 75-80% in March 2022. The equity AUM-to-GDP ratio is only 5%. Though, the situation is expected to change in the years to come.Retail investors are becoming more and more interested in mutual fund investments as per data shown by AMFI. The retail investors in the mutual funds' assets under management was 24%, which indicates an increase of 300 bps in September 2021 against the number in September 2020.In addition, AMFI's campaign 'Mutual Fund Sahi Hai' has attracted retail investors from smaller cities. To extend the investor base for mutual funds in India, it is essential to know the impact of income on monthly investment behaviour of investors towards mutual funds during COVID-19, and impact of investor awareness program on monthly investment. In these circumstances, the present research work is dedicated to achieving these objectives. The data were collected from individual investors from different states of India in 2022.The study aims to find out the impact of income andawareness programs on monthly investments towards mutual funds investment during COVID-19.An attempt has also been made to study the level of impact of 'Mutual Fund Sahi Hai' campaign on the retail investors. The data analysis has been done with the SPSS software and by using multivariate and bivariate techniques.