The Significant Role of Mutual Fund Distributors in Wealth Building Journey for Investors

The role of distributors is to be an intermediary who helps the investors to buy and sell in the financial business. The process between the mutual funds works to create awareness among the investors regarding the schemes present in mutual funds. They correlate with the mutual fund's investors for guaranteeing the trading, purchasing, and redeeming investments. Mutual funds distributors earn profit through commissions and agents. Distributors in Mutual funds play a significant role in mutual funds’ investments due to their expertise in the field. The distributors offer services to the investors and guide them by giving them awareness of the mutual fund industry. In addition, distributors enlighten investors about the schemes and expenses with the profit calculations that can assist the investor in selecting the schemes that are suitable for them. These distributors with their expertise and knowledge in the mutual funds can easily provide their service and solve any doubts or concerns regarding the schemes for either the beginners or the experienced investors. In addition, the distributors are able to assist the investors with identifying their threat tolerance level which was a vital part of the mutual funds that can reflect on an investor’s portfolio. Additionally, distributors can help the investors by aiding them with providing good strategies and helping investors with handling the documentation process and formalities. Due to this, the mutual funds distributors are considered a valuable resource and a vital factor among investors.

Investors make investments for attaining wealth and fulfilling their needs, but these investors don’t have the correct knowledge in choosing the amount to invest and in which scheme to invest.  In today’s modernized environment, the world is connected with the abundance of information being circulated, and investors can’t make investment decisions reading the surplus amount of online information. This online information can make the investor's decision detrimental. There are a total of 43 mutual funds active in India and hundreds of multiple-number schemes existing in different categories. Despite investors having an understanding of diversification, profit calculation, and risk assessment it remains hard for them to analyze each area and invest in the right one. That is why investors require distributors for undermining these factors. Especially, mutual fund distributors understand the requirement of the investor then assess profile risk, help the client with need-based investment, regularly monitor the portfolio, and deal with queries and concerns. These are the factors followed by the distributors to supports the investors in investing in the right scheme and gain profit.

In 2022, the mutual fund industry has been estimated around 1.88 crores of registered mutual funds investors in India. This shows that investor numbers are increasing exponentially and driving the market of MF and MF distributors. The reports published on the mutual fund industry detailed the growth rate has grown rapidly at the rate of 40 percent per annum. If the investor and mutual fund business grows at a rapid pace that can remarkably influence the distributors' growth. As a result, the distributor industry reached a new level in 2023, and noticed 23,300 new individuals entering this sector. Compared to the previous year which has been 21,700 individuals shows that the distributor industry was growing at 7-percent, according to AMFI data.

As technologies are evolving, the rise of new services is also on rise and implemented in the MF industry. In the distributor sector of MF, there are a few software services that are specifically designed for the distributors which are theMFBox, Mutual Fund Software, and SmartMutual tools. With the help of these tools, the distributor is able to perform streamlined operations, enhanced client management, follow regulatory compliance, increased productivity, and business insights. Significantly distributors can manage portfolios, transparent transactions, security, scalability, customer support, and client onboarding are the benefits and factors the distributors can gain from these tools. However, if the technology evolves the industry can evolve even more by embracing the new technological advancements.

In future the mutual fund distribution is going to face high competition and there is going to be rapid change in the portfolio of this industry. It seems that the Mutual Fund Distributor (MFD) industry is required to follow a few factors such as offering valued service, having professional setups, and creating investing skills seamless by using the latest technologies and connecting with clients to understand their requirements in order to sustain & develop in the industry. The challenges in the MFD’s industry are actively happening such as handling the client’s queries and expectations, communication gap, lack of relationship building with the investor, lack of knowledge in tax implications & regulations, and inefficient knowledge in handling the technologies. These challenges can significantly affect the distributors to gain the trust of investors. Especially, distributors are required to possess flexibility and adaptability in the firm who can upgrade and achieve the scale of business without lacking per se the factors mentioned earlier. In order to elevate the industry’s level, the distributors are required to update and evolve themselves in an efficient way and become more dependable for investors. Significantly, the MFD has to hold a firm knowledge and effective knowledge in handling the technologies and tools that is constantly penetrating the industry. The distributors are required to follow the factors that are discussed pointing the challenges in the industry and make sure to embrace technologies that can lead them to be successful in the industry.

Quotes: With the help of tools like the MFBox, Mutual Fund Software, and SmartMutual tools, the mutual funds distributors are able to perform streamlined operations, enhanced client management, follow regulatory compliance, increased productivity, and business insights.