Enthused by the huge success of its first pan-India investor education-cum-financial inclusion programme last year, (UTIMF) is all set to start its second edition, christened , next month. The fund house has already received the necessary approval from the ministry of corporate affairs, its partner ministry, and is now waiting for the finance minister to flag off the eight-month long initiative.
The programme, first of its kind by a fund house in, will involve tailor-made buses, called Knowledge Caravan, which would start from the four metros-Mumbai, , Kolkata and Chennai-and traveling through most of the Indian states, including those in the north east, will cover nearly 48,000 kilometres.
As these buses travel though cities, towns and villages, they would conduct investor education camps, meetings with financial advisors and planners, and also distribute books and leaflets on SIP, retirement planning, micro pension etc, in 12 different languages. "A major focus this year is to conduct financial education in schools and other educational institutes to seed the habit of saving and investment at early stage and also to impart a life skill," Jaideep Bhattacharya, chief marketing officer, UTIMF told TOI. National Institute of Securities Markets (NISM), a Sebi sponsored body, has been roped in as a partner to develop literature to educate school children on the importance of saving, Bhattacharya added.
One of the innovations last year was the use of popular forms of communications like street plays and video films to educate people on the virtues of financial planning and financial literacy, and the same would be used this year too. Although UTIMF officials were tightlipped about the total cost of the project, they said like last year, this year's expenses will also be met from its investor education fund.
The initiative was launched in 2010 after the fund industry was hit by Sebi's decision to withdraw entry load from August 2009, leading to a drastic reduction in remuneration for MF distributors, which in turn led to exit of a large number of investors and dwindling of inflows into MF schemes. Since then educating investors have become one of the main focus areas for the fund industry.
UTIMF believes such financial inclusion drive could help it, and also the mutual fund industry in general, make inroads into the Indian hinterland and eventually get more investors. The fund house will involve its own officers, its local representatives, financial planners and advisors to talk about financial literacy to investors, help them set their financial goals, talk about what one should and should not do while taking investment decisions and also help them make their own investment decisions.
The programme, first of its kind by a fund house in, will involve tailor-made buses, called Knowledge Caravan, which would start from the four metros-Mumbai, , Kolkata and Chennai-and traveling through most of the Indian states, including those in the north east, will cover nearly 48,000 kilometres.
As these buses travel though cities, towns and villages, they would conduct investor education camps, meetings with financial advisors and planners, and also distribute books and leaflets on SIP, retirement planning, micro pension etc, in 12 different languages. "A major focus this year is to conduct financial education in schools and other educational institutes to seed the habit of saving and investment at early stage and also to impart a life skill," Jaideep Bhattacharya, chief marketing officer, UTIMF told TOI. National Institute of Securities Markets (NISM), a Sebi sponsored body, has been roped in as a partner to develop literature to educate school children on the importance of saving, Bhattacharya added.
One of the innovations last year was the use of popular forms of communications like street plays and video films to educate people on the virtues of financial planning and financial literacy, and the same would be used this year too. Although UTIMF officials were tightlipped about the total cost of the project, they said like last year, this year's expenses will also be met from its investor education fund.
The initiative was launched in 2010 after the fund industry was hit by Sebi's decision to withdraw entry load from August 2009, leading to a drastic reduction in remuneration for MF distributors, which in turn led to exit of a large number of investors and dwindling of inflows into MF schemes. Since then educating investors have become one of the main focus areas for the fund industry.
UTIMF believes such financial inclusion drive could help it, and also the mutual fund industry in general, make inroads into the Indian hinterland and eventually get more investors. The fund house will involve its own officers, its local representatives, financial planners and advisors to talk about financial literacy to investors, help them set their financial goals, talk about what one should and should not do while taking investment decisions and also help them make their own investment decisions.
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