A Project Report

On

“TO KNOW THE INVESTMENT PREFERENCES

OF PEOPLE WITH SPECIAL EMPHASIS ON
MUTUAL FUNDS”

At

COMPANY : ABSL Mutual Fund

FACULTY GUIDE : Dr. Ashulekha Gupta
COMPANY GUIDE : Mr. Pankaj Thakur
UNDERTAKEN AT : Aditya Birla Sunlife Mutual Fund
Dehradun Uttarakhand
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

With regard to my Project with Mutual Fund I would like to thank each and every one
who offered help, guideline and support whenever required.

First and foremost I would like to express gratitude to Branch Manager ABSL Mutual Fund
Dehradun and other staffs for their support and guidance in the Project work. I am extremely
grateful to my guide, Mr.Pankaj Thakur for their valuable guidance and timely suggestions.

Secondly, I express our profound gratitude to our faculty guide Dr. Ashulekha Gupta, who
helped us with his guidance during the project.

I would also like to extend my thanks to my friends for their support. And lastly, I would
like to express my gratefulness to my parent’s for seeing me through it all.
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Contents Page No.

Acknowledgementii

List of illustrations v

Abstract vi

1.Introduction 9
1.1 Significance of topic 9
1.2 About Company 10
1.3 Objectives 15
1.4 Limitations 16
1.5 Scope of study 17

2. Literature Review 18
2.1 What is Mutual Fund 18
2.2 How it works 19
2.3 The Scenario 20
2.4 Structure of Mutual Fund 23
2.5 Characteristics of Mutual Fund 25
2.6 Types of Mutual Fund 26
2.7 Investment Strategy 30
2.8 Mutual Fund – But why?? 31
2.9 Risk in Mutual Fund 35

3. Research Methodology 38
4. Analysis and Interpretation 40
5. Findings 59
6. Conclusion 61
7. Suggestions and Recommendations 62
8. Bibliography 63
9. Questionnaire 66

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
 Figures Page No.

i. Age Distribution of investor 40

ii. Education Qualification of investors 41

iii. Occupation of investors 42

iv. Monthly income of investors 43

v. Investment preferences of investors 44

vi. Preference of factors while investing 45

vii. Awareness about Mutual Fund 46

viii. Source of information for investors 47

ix. No. of people invested in Mutual Fund 48

x. Reason for not investing in Mutual Fund 49

xi. Preferred Mutual Fund Companies 50

xii. Reason for investment in Principal Mutual Fund 51

xiii. Reason for not investing in Principal Mutual Fund 52

xiv. Future Preference for investment 53

xv. Channels preferred for investment 54

xvi. Mode of investment 55

xvii. Preferred Portfolio 56

xviii. Preference regarding Returns 57

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
In few years Mutual Funds has emerged as a tool for ensuring one’s financial wellbeing.
Mutual Funds have not only contributed to the India growth story but also helped families tap
into the success of Indian Industry. As info and awareness is rising, more and more people
are enjoying the benefits of investing in Mutual Funds. The main reason that why the
numbers of retail Mutual Fund investors remain small is that nine in ten people with incomes
in India do not know that the Mutual Funds exist. But once folks come to know about mutual
fund investment opportunities, the people who decide to invest in mutual funds increases.
The method for converting folks with no information of mutual fund to a new customer is to
understand which of the potential customers are more likely to buy mutual funds and to use
the right practice in the sales process that folks will accept as important and relevant to their
decision. This project gave me great learning experience and at the same time it gave me
enough scope to implement my analytical ability. The analysis and advice done in this project
report is according to market research on the saving and investment pattern of the investors
and the preferences of the customer for investment in mutual funds. This report will also help
to know about the investment preferences in mutual funds, means preference for some
particular Asset Management Company (AMC), Particular product, Option (Growth or
Dividend) or any particular Investment Strategy (SIP or One Time Plan) which they will
follow.
The first part gives an insight about Mutual Funds and its various aspects, the Company
Profile, Objectives of the study. Research Methodology. One can able to get brief detail about
Mutual Fund and its basics with this project.
The second part of the project consists of the data and its analysis through the survey done on
200 people. For the collection of primary data I, made a questionnaire and surveyed 200
people. I have also taken interview of many people those who were visiting in the branch.
I also visited other AMC’s in Dehradun to get some knowledge related to my topic. I studied
about the products and strategies available with other AMC’s in Dehradun to know why
people interested to invest in those AMC’s. this project covers the topic “ To know the
investment preferences of people with special emphasis on Mutual Funds”. The data that has
been gathered is well organized and presented. I assume the research findings and conclusion
will be valuable .
INTRODUCTION

Introduction Of Study
The topic “To know the investment preferences of people with special emphasis on
Mutual Funds” is very much important, as it helps us to know the investment preferences of
the investment. If the preferences of the customers will be clear then it will become very
much easier for the companies to attract them or to convince to invest in them. It is very
much important to know that what is going on in the investor’s mind. It will help us know
that which type of people are more interested in investing in Mutual Funds, people of which
age group, which class, with which occupation etc. With the help of this topic we came to
know that who are those people who really like to go for the Mutual Funds and what are all
those things that they look out for when they invest in Mutual Funds.
COMPANY PROFILE
ABSL Mutual Fund
The corporate mission and philosophy is to help people and business meet their financial
goals by providing quality investment and retirement solution. Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC
Limited previously known by Birla Sun Life Asset Management Company Limited, the
investment management Aditya Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund is a joint venture between the
Aditya Birla Group and the Sun Life Financial Inc. of Canada. The joint venture brings
together the Aditya Birla Group’s experience in the Indian market And Sun Life’s global
experience. Established in 1994, Aditya Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund is co-sponsored by
Aditya Birla Capital Limited and Sun Life AMC Investments Inc. Having total domestic asset
under management (AUM) of close to Rs.2423 billion for the Quarter ended December 31st
2018.Aditya Birla Capital Limited is the financial services platform of the Aditya Birla
Group. With the great appearance within the asset management ,private equity ,commodity
broking corporate lending, structured finance ,project finance ,general insurance broking,life
insurance wealth management ,equity, currency and, online, housing finance, pension fund
management ,personal finance management and health insurance business , ABCL is
committed For serving the all the financial services wants of its retail and corporate
customers Managed by more than 17,000 employees, ABCL has a worldwide reach and more
than 2,00,000 agents /channel partners.
PRODUCTS OF ABSL MUTUAL FUND
Equity schemes:
The investments of those schemes can preponderantly be within the exchanges and endeavor
are to produce investors the chance to learn from the upper returns that stock market will
provide. However they're additionally exposed to the volatility and attendant risk of exchange
and thus ought to be chosen solely by such investors who have high risk taking capabilities
and are willing to think long term. Equity Funds embody diversified Equity Funds, Sectorial
Funds and Index Funds. Diversified Equity Funds invest in varied stocks across completely
different sectors whereas Sectorial Funds that area unit specialized Equity Funds prohibit
their investment solely to shares of a specific sector and hence, are riskier than Diversified
Equity Funds. Index Funds invest passively only in the stocks of a particular Index and the
performance of such funds move with the movement of the index.
Debt Schemes:
Debt Funds invest only in the Debt instruments such as Corporate Bonds, Government
Securities and Money Market Instruments, either completely avoiding any investment in the
stock markets as in the Income Funds or in Gilt Funds or having a small exposure to equities
as in the Monthly Income Plan or Children’s Plan. Hence they are safer than Equity Funds.
At the same time the expected returns from the Debt Funds will be lower. Such investments
are advisable for the risk-averse investor and as a part of investment portfolio for the
investors.
Balanced Schemes:
Magnum Balances Fund invest in a mix of Equity and Debt instrument. Hence they are less
risky than Equity Funds, but at the same time provide commensurately lower returns. They
provide a decent investment chance to investors who don't would like to be utterly exposed to
equity markets, however is searching for higher returns than those provided by Debt Funds.
COMPETITORS OF ABSL MUTUAL FUND
Some of the main competitors ofBirla Sun Life Mutual Fund in Dehradun are as follows:
i. ICICI Mutual Fund
ii. Reliance Mutual Fund
iii. UTI Mutual Fund
iv. Principal-PNB Mutual Fund
v. Kotak Mutual Fund
vi. HDFC Mutual Fund
vii. Sundaram Mutual Fund
viii. LIC Mutual Fund
ix. SBI Mutual Fund
x. Franklin Templeton Mutual Fund

(1.2) Need Of Study

 To find out the type of customers who are investing in Mutual Funds (Age, Education,
Occupation, and Income).
 To find out the preferences of investments.
 To know about the future investments.
 To know about the preferred investment plans.
 To find out what should do to boost Mutual Fund Industry.
 2.1 LITERATURE REVIEW
WHAT IS MUTUAL FUND
Mutual Fund is an instrument of investing money. Nowadays, bank interest rates have fallen
down and are normally below the inflation rate. Therefore, keeping massive amounts of
money in bank is not a good option, as in real terms the value of money decreases over a
period of time. One of the option is to invest the money in share market. But a common
investor is not informed and competent enough to understand the intricacies of stock market.
here mutual funds come to the rescue In mutual fund a group of investors invest through a
fund manager to purchase a wide portfolio of stocks or bonds. Mutual funds are highly cost
economical and really simple to invest. By pooling cash along during a investment company,
investors can purchase stocks or bonds with much lower trading costs than if they tried to do
it on their own. Also, one does not have to be compelled to understand that stocks or bonds to
shop for. But the largest advantage of mutual funds is diversification.
HOW IT WORKS
A Mutual Fund is a faith that pools the savings of a no. of investors who share same financial
goal, investments may be made in debt securities shares, money market security or a
combination of these. Those securities are professionally managed on behalf of the unit-
holders, and each investor holds a pro-rata share of the portfolio i.e. entitled to any gain when
the security is sold, but subject to any loss in value also the financial gain attained through
these investments and the capital appreciation realized are shared by its unit holders in
proportion to the amount of units closely-held by them. Thus a Mutual Fund is that the most
fitted investment for the individual because it offers a chance to speculate in an exceedingly
wide-ranging, professionally managed basket of securities at a relatively low cost

.
THE SCENARIO – HOW IT STARTED AND HOW IT IS TODAY
 Pioneer of mutual fund is UTI in 1963
 Actual growth started in 1987
 The improvement through quality and quantity wise
 Main reason for poor growth is new perception in the country.
 Large mass of Indian investor are yet to be aware with this concept.
 Hence it is prime responsibility of all Mutual Fund companies, to make the product
correctly abreast of selling.
 There are four 4 eras according to the development of sector

First Phase 1964-1987

 1964 to 1987: - Unit Trust of India (UTI) was established on 1963 by an Act of
Parliament.
 It was establish up by the Reserve Bank of India and functioned under the Regulatory
and administrative control of the RBI .
 In 1978 Unit Trust of India was de-linked from the Reserve Bank of India and the
Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI) took over the regulatory and
administrative control in place of Reserve Bank of India.
 The first scheme introduced by Unit Trust of India was Unit Scheme 1964. At the end
of 1988 Unit Trust of India had Rs.6,700 cores of asset

Second Phase – 1987-1993 (Entry of Public Sector Funds)

 1987 marked the entry of non-Unit Trust of India, public sector mutual funds introduced
by public sector banks and General Insurance Corporation of India (GIC) and Life
Insurance Corporation of India (LIC).
 State Bank of India Mutual Fund was the first non-Unit Trust of India Mutual Fund
introduced in June 1987 followed by Canara bank Mutual Fund (Dec 87), Punjab
National Bank Mutual Fund (Aug 89), , Bank of India (Jun 90), Indian Bank Mutual
Fund (Nov 89) Bank of Baroda Mutual Fund (Oct 92).
 Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) established its mutual fund in June 1989
while General Insurance Corporation of India (GIC had introduced up its mutual fund in
December 1990.
 •At the last of 1993, the mutual fund industry had assets under management of
Rs.47,004crores.

Third Phase – 1993-2003 (Entry of Private Sector Funds

 With the introduction of private sector funds in 1993, a new era was introduced in the
Indian mutual fund industry, giving the Indian customer a wider choice of fund . Also,
1993 was the year in which the first Mutual Fund Regulations came into existence,
under which all mutual funds, except Unit Trust of India were to be introduced and
governed.
 The Kothari Pioneer was merged into Franklin Templeton was the first private sector
mutual fund introduced in July 1993.
 The 1993 Securities and Exchange Board of India Regulations were interchanged by a
more comprehensive and revised Mutual Fund Regulations in 1996. The industry now
functions under the Securities and Exchange Board of India Regulations 1996.
 The no. of mutual fund company went on increasing, with many foreign mutual funds
established up different funds in India and also the industry has gone through several
mergers and acquisitions.
 In the last of January 2003, there were 33 mutual funds company with total assets of Rs.
1,21,805 crores.
 The UTI with Rs.44,541 crores of assets under management was way raised of other
mutual funds.

Fourth Phase – since February 2003

 In February 2003, following the downward trend of the Unit Trust of India Act 1963
UTI was splited into two separate entities. One is the renound company of the Unit
Trust of India with assets under management of Rs.29,835 crores as at the end of
January 2003, representing broadly, the assets of US sixty four scheme, assured return
and certain other schemes.
 The Specified control of Unit Trust of India, functioning under an administrator and
under the rules made by Government of India and does not come under the regulation of
the Mutual Fund Regulations.
 The second is the Unit Trust of India Mutual Fund Ltd, sponsored by SBI, PNB, BOB
and LIC. It is registered with Securities and Exchange Board of India and functions
under the Mutual Fund Regulations
 With the bifurcation of the Unit Trust of India which had in March 2000 more than
Rs.76,000 crores of assets under management and with the establishment of a Unit Trust
of India Mutual Fund, conforming to the Securities and Exchange Board Mutual Fund
Regulations, and with recent mergers taking place among different private sector
company, the mutual fund industry has entered its current era of consolidation and
growth.
 GROWTH IN ASSET UNDER MANAGEMENT
STRUCTURE OF MUTUAL FUND
The structure consists of:

Sponsor:
Sponsor is the person who acting individually or in combination with another body corporate
establishes a mutual fund house. Sponsor must contribute at least 40% of the net worth of the
Investment Managed and meet the eligibility criteria prescribed under the Securities and
Exchange Board of India (SEBI) Regulations 1996.The Sponsor is not responsible or liable
for any degradation or failure resulting from the operation of the Schemes beyond the initial
investment made by it towards establishing up of the Mutual Fund.

Trust:
The Mutual Fund is formed as a trustunder guidance with the provisions of the Indian Trusts
Act, 1882 by the Sponsor. The trust deed is lodge under the Indian Registration Act, 1908.

Trustee:
Trustee is usually a company of corporate body or a Board of Trustees of body of individual
. The main responsibility of the Trustee is to safeguard the interest of the unit holders and
inter alias ensure that the AMC functions in the interest of investors and in accordance with
the Securities and Exchange Board of India Regulations, 1996 the provisions of the Trust
Deed and the Offer Documents of the respective Schemes. At least 2/3rd directors of the
Trustee are independent directors who are not linked with the Sponsor in any way.
 Asset Management Company (AMC):
The Trustee as the fund Manager of the Mutual Fund appoints the AMC. The AMC is needed
to be approved by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to act as an asset
management company of the Mutual Fund house. About 50% of the directors of the asset
management company is an independent director who is not linked with the Sponsor in any
manner. The asset management company must have a net worth of minimum 10 crore at all
times.

Registrar and Transfer Agent:

The AMC if so authorized by the Trust Deed appoints the Registrar and Transfer Agent to
the Mutual Fund. The Registrar process the application redemption requests and sends
account statements to the mutual fund holders. The Registrar and Transfer agent both
handles communications with investors and updates investor records.

TYPES OF MUTUAL FUNDS

Mutual funds can be classified as follow:
 Based on their structure:
 1. Open-ended funds: Investors can buy and sell the units of mutual fund, at any time with
their convinience.
 2. Close-ended funds:These funds raise money from investors only for once. Therefore, after
the period of offer, fresh investments can not be done into the fund. If the fund is listed in
stock exchange then the units can be traded like stock E.g., Stanley Morgan Growth Fund.
Recently, most of the New Fund Offers are of close-ended fund provided liquidity to the
fund on a periodic basis such as weekly or monthly. Redemption of units of mutual fund can
be made during specified time gaps. Therefore, such funds have relatively of low liquidity.
 Based on their investment objective:

1. Equity funds:
These are the funds which invest in equitie and equity related instruments. With fluctuating
share prices, such fund show volatile performance, even damages. However, short term ups
and downs in the market, generally smoothens in the long term, thereby they offer higher
returns at relatively lower volatility. At the same time, such funds can yield great capital gain
as historically equities have performed all asset classes in the long term. Hence, investment
made in equity funds should be invested for a period of at least 3-5 years. It can be further
classified as:
i) Index funds- In this case a key stock market index, like Nifty or BSE Sensex is tracked.
Their portfolio manages the benchmark index both in terms of individual stock weightage
and composition.
ii) Equity diversified funds- 100% of the capital of this fund is invested in equities
spreading across stocks and different sectors.
iii|) Dividend yield funds- it is same as the equity diversified fund except that they invest in
houses offering high dividend yields.
iv) Thematic funds- Invest 100% of the capital in this sectors which are related through
some particular theme
e.g. -An infrastructure fund invests in construction, power ,cements sectors etc.
v) Sector funds- Invest 100% of the assets in a specific sector. for e.g. - A banking sector
fund will always invest in banking stocks.
vi) ELSS- Equity Linked Saving Scheme provides tax deduction to the investor.

2. Balanced fund:
Their investment portfolio includes equity and debt both. As a result, on the risk-return stairs,
they fall between debt funds and equity fund both. Balanced funds are the best mutual funds
for investors who prefer diversifying their risk across various instruments. Following are
balanced funds classes:

Debt-oriented funds -Investment below 65% in equities.

Equity-oriented funds -Invest at least 65% in equities, remaining in debt.

3. Debt fund:
They invest only in debt instruments, and are a good option for investors averse to idea of
taking risk associated with equities. Therefore, they invest only in fixed-income instruments
like money market instruments such as commercial paper (CP), certificates of deposit (CD),
and call money bonds, Government of India securities ,debentures; and. Put your investment
in any of these debt funds depending on your investment wants and needs.
i) Liquid funds- These funds invest 100% of its assets in money market
instruments, a large portion being invested in call money market.
ii) ii) Gilt funds ST- They invest 100% of their portfolio in government securities
of and T-bills.
iii) Floating rate funds - Invest in short-term debt instrument. Floaters invest in
debt instruments which have variable coupon of rate.
iv) Arbitrage fund- They generate income through arbitrage opportunities due to
mis match of price between derivatives market and cash market. Funds are
allocated to derivatives, equities and money markets. Higher part (around 75%)
is put in money markets, in the non presence of arbitrage opportunities.
v) Gilt funds LT- They invest 100% of their capital in long-term government
securities.
vi) Income funds LT- Such funds invest a major portion of the capital in long-
term debt papers.
vii) SIPs- systematic Investment Plans have an exposure of 70%-90% to debt and
an exposure of 10%-30% to equities.
2.2 Research gap
From the foregoing comprehensive literature review related to mutual funds industry in India,
it is evident that though few works has been done to find out the growth of mutual fund since
the inception of UTI. But no detailed study has been undertaken to assess the impact of
liberalization on the mutual funds industry in India. Also no empirical work has been done to
find out performance evaluation of HDFC mutual funds schemes. Therefore, the present
study has been done to find out the impact of liberalization on the net resource mobilized by
mutual funds, its impact on house hold sector savings. Also an elaborate empirical work is
carried out to assess the performance of HDFC mutual funds schemes in comparison to
benchmark indices. The present study differs from the earlier studies as it covers all aspects
of mutual funds industry in India since 1993. The year 1993 is important as it was in this year
that SEBI Mutual Funds regulation was enacted and also the private sector mutual funds were
allowed to start operation in India. The study makes an attempt to trace the impact of
liberalization on the Indian mutual fund industry. It also tries to find out the performance of
HDFC mutual funds in comparison S & P CNX NIFTY index and their portfolio composition
and diversification of each scheme.
3.RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This analysis is based on primary as well as secondary data, however primary data
collection was given more importance since it is important factor in attitude studies. One of
the most important users of research methodology is that it helps in identifying the problem,
collecting, analyzing the required information data and providing an alternate solution to the
problem. It also helps in collecting the overall information that is required by the top
management to guide them for the better decision making process, day to day decision are
critical ones.

3.1 RESEARCH DESIGN

Performance evaluation of mutual funds is an area that has received a lot of attention of both
researchers and practitioners. Several measures of performance evaluation are generally used.
Some are related to one another and some others are not related to one another. Indian
investors have a choice to invest in either schemes of Indian funds or those of international
funds operating in India. International funds schemes offer opportunities for diversification
over a wider spectrum, but they come with currency risks. One question Indian investors are
faced with is how do schemes of Indian funds compare with the schemes of international
funds. This research work is primarily aimed at addressing this issue. Secondly, there are
several different ways one can diversify a portfolio which contains several different asset
classes. But, another common way to diversify is between the various sectors of the
economy. This is usually accomplished by the mutual funds that concentrate on one of the
major sectors such as natural resources or utilities. Sectored funds come in many different
flavors and can vary substantially in market capitalization, investment objectives (i.e. growth
or income) and class of securities within the portfolio. The future of these sectored funds
keeps varying based on the condition of the economy prevailing at the time. Currently, in
India, three sectored funds are favored: banking & financial services, infrastructure/ power
and technology/ information technology. It makes a good research sense to investigate
whether their performance is sector specific or all these three are equally favored by the
economy.
3.2 Research objective
in the area of factors influencing the investors behavior while investing, while withdrawing
from mutual fund has been covered by few researchers, where in no such
on investment in mutual funds in various circumstances and considering past performance of
the schemes.

3.3 SAMPLING

Sampling Procedure:
The sample was selected of them who are the customers/visitors of ABSL Mutual Fund
Office, irrespective of them being investors or not or availing the services or not. It was
collected through formal and informal talks, and through filling up the questionnaire
prepared. The data has been analyzed by using statistical tools.

Sample Size:
The sample of my project is limited to 200 people only. Out of which only 120 had invested
in mutual fund. Other 80 people have not invested in mutual fund.

Sample Design:
Data has been presented with the help of bar graph, pie chart, line graph etc

3.4 Data Sources:

Research is totally based on the collection of primary data, and primary data has been
collected by taking with various people. The secondary data is used for reference and has
been collected through various journals and websites and some special publications of ABSL
Mutual Funds.

Duration of Study:
The study was carried out for a period of 8 Week, from 13th May, 2019 to 5th July 31, 2019
.
4. ANALYSIS & INTERPRETATION OF DATA

1.(a) Age distribution of the investors of dehradun.

Age Group
<=30 31-35 36-40 41-45 46-50 >50

No. of.
15 21 30 25 20 17
Investors

30
NO. OF INVESTORS

25
20
15
10
5 Column2
0
<30 31-35
36-40 41-45
46-50 >50
AGE GROUP

Intepretation:
According to this chart out of 120 Mutual Fund Investors of dehradun the most are in
the age group of 36-40 yrsi.e 30%, the second most investors are in the age group of
41-45yrs i.e 25% and the least investorssre in the age group of below 30yrs.
 1.(b) Education Qualification of investors in Dehradun
Educational qualification No. of Investors

Graduate/ Post Graduate 88

Undergraduate 25

Others 7

Total 120

Interpretation:
Out of 120 Mutual Fund Investor 73% of them in dehradun are Graduate/ Post Graduate, 21%
are Under Graduate and 6% are others (HSC).
 1.(c) Occupation of the investors in Dehradun.
Occupation No. of Investors

Govt. Service 30

Pvt. Service 45

Business 35

Agriculture 4

Others 6

Interpretation:
In occupation group out of 120 investors, 38% are Pvt. Employees, 29% are Businessman,
25% are Govt. Employees, 3% are in agriculture and 5% are in others.
 1.(d) Monthly Income of Investors in Dehradun
Income Group No. of Investors

<=10000 5

10001-15000 12

15001-20000 28

20001-30000 43

>300000 32

Interpretation:
In the Income Group of investors of Dehradun, out of 120 investors, 36% of the investors that
is the maximum investors are in the monthly income group of Rs. 20001- Rs.30000, second
one i.e 27% are in the monthly income group of more than Rs. 30000 and the minimum
investors i.e 4% are in the monthly income group of below Rs. 10000
 2. Investors invested in different kind of investments.
Kind Of Investments No. of Respondents
Saving A/C 195
Fixed deposits 148
Insurance 152
Mutual Fund 120
Post office 75
Shares/ Debentures 50
Gold/ Silver 30
Real Estate 65

Interpretation:
From the above graph it can be inferred that out of 200 people, 195 have invested in Saving
A/C, 148 in Fixed deposits, 152 in Insurance, 120 in Mutual Fund, 75 in Post office, 50 in
Shares/ Debentures, 30 in Gold/ Silver and 65 in Real Estate.
3. Preference of factors while investing.
Factors Liquidity Low Risk High Return Trust

No. of
40 60 64 36
respondents

Interpretation:
Out of 200 people, 32% people prefer to invest where there is high risk, 30% prefer to invest
where there is low risk, 20% prefer easy liquidity and 18% prefer trust.
 4. Awareness about Mutual Fund and its operations
Response Yes No
No. of Respondents 135 65

Interpretation:
From the above pie chart it can be inferred that 67% people are aware of the Mutual Fund and
its operations and 33% are not.
 5. Source of information for customers about Mutual Fund.
Source of information No. of Respondents
Advertisement 18
Peer Group 25
Bank 30
Financial Advisors 62

Interpretation:
From the above chart it is clear that the financial advisor is the most important source of
information about Mutual Fund. Out of 135 respondents, 46% know about Mutual Fund
through Financial Advisor, 22% through Bank, 19% through Peer group and 13% through
Advertisement
6. Investors invested in Mutual Fund.
Response No. of respondents
Yes 120
No 80
Total 200

Interpretation:
Out of 200 people, 60% have invested in Mutual fund and 40% have not.
 7. Reason for not investing in Mutual fund.

Reason No. of Respondents

Not Aware 50
Higher Risk 10
Not any specific reason 20

No of Respondents
20(25%) not have
any specific
reason
10(12%) higher
50(62%) are Not Aware
risk
not aware
Higher Risk
Not Any Specific reason

Interpretation:
Out of 80 people, who have not invested in Mutual Fund, 62% are not aware of Mutual
Fund, 25% do not have any specific reasonand 12%.there is likely to be higher risk
8. Investors invested in different Asset Management Co.(AMC)
Name of AMC No. of Investors
SBI MF 60
UTI 50
HDFC 70
Reliance 75
ICICI Prudential 56
ABSL 60
Others 65

80
70
60
No of Investors

50
40
30
20
10
0

Name of AMC

Interpretation:
From the above graph it is clear that most of the people preferred Reliance and HDFC
Mutual Fund.
 9. Reason for investing in ABSL Mutual Fund.
Reason No. of Respondents

Associated with ABCL 35

Better Return 5

Agents Advice 15

Associated with ABCL

Better return
Agents advice

Interpretation:
Out of 55 investors of ABSL63% have invested because of its association with brand ABCL,
27% invested on Agent’s advice and 9% invested because of the better returns.
 10. Reason for not investing in ABSL
Reason No. of Respondents
Not Aware 25
Less Return 18
Agent’s Advice 22

Interpretation:
Out of 65 people who have not invested in ABSL Mutual Fund, 38% were not aware with it,
28% have not invested due to less return and 34% due to Agent’s advice.
11. Preference of Investors for future investment in Mutual Fund.

Name Of AMC No. of Investors

SBI MF 70
UTI 40
HDFC 60
Reliance 75
ICICI Prudential 65
ABSL 60
Others 70

80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
SBI MF UTI HDFC RELIANCE ICICI ABSL
Prudential

Interpretation:
Out of 120 investors most of them would like yo invest in future in Reliance Mutual Fund
and secondly in SBI Mutual Fund.
 12. Channel preferred by the investors for Mutual Fund
investment.
Channel Financial Advisor Bank AMC
No. of Respondents 72 18 30

Interpretation:
Out of 120 investors 60% preferred to invest through Financial Advisors, 25% through AMC
and 15% through Bank.
 13. Mode of investment by the investors.

Mode of Investment One time Investment Systematic Investment Plan

No. of Respondents 78 42

Interpretation
Out of 120 investors 65% preferred one time investment and 35% preferred through
Systematic investment Plan.
 14. Preferred Portfolios by the Investors.
Portfolio No. of Investors
Equity 56
Debt 20
Balanced 44

Interpretation:
From the above graph it is clear that 46% preferred Equity Portfolio, 37% preferred Balance
and 17% preferred Debt Portfolio.
 15. Option for getting Return Preferred by the Investors.
Option Divident Payout Divident Reinvestment Growth

No. of Respondents 25 10 85

Interpretation:
From the above graph it is clear that 71% preferred Growh Option, 21% preferred Divident
Payout and 8% preferred Divident Reinvestment Option.
5. FINDINGS
 In Dehradun, according to the survey the maximum of the investors were in the age group
of 36-40, and then in the age group of 41-45. And the least were below 30 years.
 Most of the investors were Graduates or Post Graduates.
 In Occupation group most of the investors were Govt. employees, the second most
investors were Private employees and the very less folks were associated with agriculture.
 In Family group, between Rs. 20001-30000 were most in numbers, the second most were
in the income group of more than 30000 and the least were in the group of below 10000
 About all of the Respondents have Saving Account in the ban, 76% invested in Fixed
Deposit, only 60% of them invested in Mutual Fund.
 Most of the Respondents preferred High Return while investment, the second most
preferred were Low Risk and the least preferred were Trust.
 Only 67% Respondents were aware Mutual Fund and its operations and 33% were not.
 Among 200 Respondents only 60% have invested in Mutual Fund and 40% did not.
 Out of 80 Respondents 65% were not aware of Mutual Fund, 25% told there is not any
specific reason for not investing in Mutual Fund and 12% told there is higher risk in
investing in Mutual Fund.
 Most of the investors had invested in Reliance or HDFC Mutual Fund, SBI MF also has
a good brand position due to association with SBI bank, ABSL places after SBI MF
according to the Respondents.
 Out of 55 investors of ABSL 63% have invested due to its association with ABCL, 27%
invested due to Advisor’s advice and 9% due to better returns.
 Most of the investors who have not invested in ABSL were not aware with it, second
reason was the Agent’s advice and rest due to its less return.
 For future investment the maximum Respondents preferred Reliance Mutual Fund,
second was the HDFC, ABSL was somewhere in the middle and the least preferred was
UTI.
 60% investors preferred to invest through Financial Advisors, 25% through AMC and
15% through Bank.
 65% preferred One Time Investment and 35% preferred SIP.
 The most preferred portfolio was Equity, the second most was Balanced, and the least
was Debt Portfolio.
 6. CONCLUSION
 Running a successful Mutual Fund as investment requires complete knowledge of the
peculiarities of the Indian stock market and also the mentality of the small investors. With
this study we can able to understand the financial behavior of Mutual Fund investors in
connection with the prefered brand (AMC), product and channels etc. I observed that
many people have fear of Mutual Fund. investor need the knowledge of Mutual Fund and
its related termenology. Many of people does not invest in Mutual Fund due to lack of
awareness and they have money to invest also. As the knowledge and income of the
investor is growing the number of Mutual Fund investors are also increasing.
 Brand plays important role for the investment. People invest in only those companies
where they have blind trust or they are well known with them. There are many AMC’s in
Dehradun but only some are performing well due to brand awareness. Some AMC’s are
not performing as required although some of the schemes of those AMC are giving good
return. Reliance, HDFC,UTI, SBI MF, ICICI Prudential, ABSL etc, they are well known
brands .
 Distribution channels also plays important for the investment to be made in Mutual Fund.
Financial advisors are the most preferred channel for investment in Mutual Fund. They
can influence investors mind from one investment option to others. Many of the investors
directly invest their money through AMC because they do not have to pay entry load.
Only those people invest directly who know well about Mutual Fund and its operation
and those who have time.
7. SUGGESTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

 The most vital problem spotted is of ignorance. Investors should be made aware of the
benefits. Nobody will invest until and unless he is fully convinced. Investors should be
made to realize that ignorance is no longer bliss and what they are loosing by not
investing.
 Mutual Fund offer a lot of benefit which no other single option could offer. But most of
the people are not even aware of what actually a Mutual Fund is? They only see it as just
another investment option. So the advisors should try to change their mindsets. The
advisors should target for more and more young investors. Young investors as well as
people at the height of their career would like to go for it.
 Mutual Fund Company needs to give the training to the Financial Advisors about the
Fund/Scheme and its objective, because they are the main source to influence the
investors.
 Before making any investment, Financial Advisors should first enquire about the risk
tolerance of the investors/customers, their need and time (how long they want to invest).
By considering these three things they can take the customers into consideration.
 Younger people aged under 35 will be a key new customer group into the future, so
making greater efforts with young customers who show some interest in investing should
pay off.
 Customers with Graduate level education are easier to sell to and there is a large untapped
market there. To succeed however, advisors must provide sound advice and high quality.
 SIP is easy for monthly salaried people as it provides the facility to do the investment in
EMI. Though most of the prospects and potential investors are not aware about the SIP.
There is a large scope for the companies to tap the salaried persons.
8.BIBLIOGRAPHY

 OUTLOOK MONEY
 FACT SHEET AND STATEMENT
 WWW.ABCL.COM
 WWW.MONEYCONTROL.COM
 WWW.AMFIINDIA.COM
 WWW.ONLINERESEARCH.COM
 WWW.MUTUALFUNDSINDIA .COM
9. QUESTIONNAIRE
A study of preferences of the investors in the Mutual Fund.

1. Personal Details:

a) Name:
b) Age:-
c) Qualification:-

Graduation/Post Graduation Under Graduate Others

d). Occupation. Tick(√ ).

Govt. Sector Private Sector Business Agriculture Others

e). What is your monthly family income? Tick (√ ).

Rs.30001 and
Upto Rs.10000 Rs.10001- 15000 Rs.15001-20000 Rs.20001-30000
above

2. What kind of investments you have made so far? Tick ( √ ). All applicable.

a. Saving account b. Fixed deposits c. Insurance d. Mutual Fund

f. Shares/
e. Post Office g. Gold/ Silver h. Real Estate
Debentures

3. While investing your money, which factor will you prefer? Tick (√).
a. Liquidity b. Low Risk c. High Return d. Trust

4. Are you aware about Mutual Fund and their options? Tick (√).
 a. Yes b. No

5. If YES, how did you know about Mutual Fund? Tick (√)
a. Advertisement b. Peer Group c. Banks d. Financial Advisors
6. Have you ever invested in Mutual Fund? Tick (√).
a. Yes b. No

7. If not invested in Mutual Fund then why?

a. Not aware of MF b. Higher Risk c. Not any specific reason

8. If YES, in which MF have you invested? Tick (√). All applicable

a. SBI MF b. UTI c. HDFC d. Reliance e. ABSL f. Others

9. If invested in Principal, then why?

a. Principal is associated with Punjab National Bank.
b. They have a record of giving good returns year after year.
c. Agent’s Advice

10. If NOT, then why? Tick (√).

a. You are not aware ofABSLl MF
b. ABSL MF
c. Agent’s Advice

11. If you plan to invest in Asset Management Co. which AMC will you prefer? Tick (√). All
applicable.
a. SBI MF
b. UTI
c. Reliance
d. HDFC
e. ABSL
f. ICICI
12. Which Channel will You prefer while investing in Mutual Fund? Tick (√)
 a. Financial Advisor b. Bank c. AMC

13. When you invest in Mutual Fund which mode of investment will you prefer? Tick (√)
a. One time Investment Plan b. Systematic Investment Plan (SIP)

14. If you would like to invest, then which type of fund would you choose? Tick (√)
a. Having only Debt b. Having both Debt and
c. Only Equity Portfolio.
Portfolio Equity portfolio

15. How would you like to receive the returns every year? Tick (√).

a. Divident payout b. Divident reinvestment c. Growth in NAV

16. Instead of general Mutual Funds, would you like to invest in Sectorial Funds? Tick (√).
a. Yes b. No