A REPORT

ON
SALES PROMOTION AND DISTRIBUTION
OF
BIRLA SUNLIFE MUTUAL FUNDS

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 In partial fulfillment of the requirement for

MASTER OF BUSINESS
ADMINISTRATION

Submitted in the partial fulfillment for the degree of

Master of Business Administration

(Affiliated to U.P. Technical University Lucknow)

(BATCH: 2008-2010)

SHREE BANKEY BIHARI INSTITUTE OF

MANAGEMENT
NANGLA SHERKHAN (JAINPUR), HAPUR-BYPASS MEERUT

SUBMITTED TO: SUBMITTED BY:

MR KAVISH ARUN KR TYAGI

 STUDENT DECLARATION

I am Sonu Singh student of BBA here by declares that the project report titled “A MARKET

STUDY OF MUTUAL FUND WITH SPECIAL REFERCNE TO BIRLA SUN LIFE

MUTUAL FUND” is completed and submitted under the guidance of “Ms. SHALU SINGH”

is my original work.

The imperial finding in this report is based on the data collected by me. This project has not

been submitted to Dr. KNMIET, Muradnagar or any other university for the purpose of

compliance of any requirement of any examination or degree.

SONU SINGH

BBA VI Sem

Roll No. - 9221590

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 TABLE OF CONTENT
1. Abstract
2. Acknowledgement
3. About the company
4. Introduction of Mutual Funds
5. Objectives
6. TrendsinMutuaFunds
7. Types of Schemes
8 Advantage of Investing in Mutual funds
9 Disadvantage of Investing in Mutual funds
10 Sales promotion
11 Distribution Channel
12. BSLAMC and Its Distribution Channels
13. Market penetration through IFA’s
14. Competitor’s Analysis
15. Methodology
16. Acquiring IFA
17. AMFI training
18. Real estate agents and wholesalers
19. My Analysis
20. Analysis for real estate agent survey
21. Key observation and findings
22. Conclusion
23 References
24 Appendices
 ABSTRACT

This report will give an insight of the work done in the Birla Sunlife AMC Ltd. The project
titled as, “Sales Promotion and Distribution of Birla Sunlife Mutual Funds” addresses the
perspectives, principles, and practices of mutual fund in an understandable, step-by-step format.
This project is mainly focusing on acquiring Independent Financial Advisors (IFAs) & gathering
people interested in the AMFI training.

The issues which have been discussed in this project can be summarized as follows:

 To increase sales of the company with the help of IFAs.

 Importance of maintaining a good relationship with distributors.

 Analysis of competitors of BSLAMC in Mutual fund Industry.

 Study of the challenges involved in Distribution channels.

 A market survey for people interested in AMFI training

 To persuade Real estate agents and wholesalers to invest in our liquid fund and also to
make them our brokers if possible.

This project is divided into five parts:

1) Part A- This part discusses various concepts related to mutual funds.
2) Part-B:- This part discusses Sales Promotion, Distribution channels of BSLAMC and
Market penetration through IFA’s.

3) Part C: - This part discusses the competitors’ analysis of top players in the Indian mutual
fund industry

4) Part D:- In this part, firstly the methodology is discussed then the analysis of market
survey (on IFA’s ) has been discussed with the help of Ms-excel & applying different tools like-
pivot tables, pie charts, regression etc. In the end, key findings and conclusion is there.

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This project finds out the reasons of excellent performance of BSLAMC in recent times. It also
describes the Distributors opinions on various important issues. SWOT analysis of key players
in this industry has also been done in the project which will help BSLAMC to enact accordingly
in market.
Mutual Fund now occupies a very important position in the domestic financial sector. It has
contributed to economic development through risk management, protection of assets and
mobilization leading to capital formation in the country. The emerging trends during the post
liberalization period have been positive healthy, encouraging and group friendly.  It is estimated
that close to four lakhs of new jobs have directly been created in the insurance industry during
the post liberalization era. 

Also an attempt has been made to highlight the change that has taken place in the mutual fund
business after the entry of new player.
 ACKNOWLEDGMENT

I take immense pleasure in pursuing this project and submitting the Final Project Report.
This project has been a platform in my learning about the marketing of mutual funds. And along
this it has also provided the platform to acquire knowledge in this area. I am deeply indebted to
my institution Dr. KNMIET Modinagar to provide me an opportunity to undergo such a
project, which gave me thorough insights and experience of the corporate culture that will
always milestone in the path of my successful career.

The period with BIRLA SUNLIFE AMC has been full of learning and sense of contribution
toward the organization. I would like to thank BIRLA SUNLIFE AMC for giving me an
opportunity of learning and contributing through this project. I also take this opportunity to
thank all those people that made this experience a memorable one.

This is a known fact, a successful project can never be prepared by the single effort of the
person to whom project is assigned, where it also demand the help and guardianship of some
conversant person who helped the undersigned actively or passively in the completion of
successful project.

In this context as a student of Dr. KNMIET. Modinagar I would first of all like to express my
gratitude to Mr. Deepak Tripathi (Project Guide) for assigning me such a worthwhile topic
“Sales Promotion and Distribution of Birla Sunlife Mutual Funds” to work upon in BIRLA
SUNLIFE AMC. I am also thankful to our Faculty Guide Ms. Shalu Singh for her valuable
support.

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 ABOUT THE COMPANY
Birla Sun Life Asset Management Company Ltd. (BSLAMC), the investment managers of Birla
Mutual Fund, is a joint venture between the Aditya Birla Group and the Sun Life Financial
Services Inc. of Canada. The joint venture brings together the Aditya Birla Groups' experience
in the Indian market and Sun Life's global experience.
Since its inception in 1994, Birla Mutual Fund has emerged as one of India's leading Mutual
Funds with over Rs. 48,500 cr. of average assets under management and an investor base of 21
lakhs, as of February 28,2009. The fund offers a range of investment options, which include
diversified and sector specific equity schemes, fund of fund schemes, hybrid and monthly
income funds, a wide range of debt and treasury products and offshore funds.
BSLAMC is the first asset management company in India to be awarded the coveted ISO
9001:2000 certification by DNV, Netherlands. BSLAMC also provides private Wealth
Management services.
BSLAMC follows a long-term, fundamental research based approach to investment. The
approach is to identify companies, which have excellent growth prospects and strong
fundamentals. The fundamentals include the quality of the company’s management,
sustainability of its business model and its competitive position, amongst other factors. Birla
Sun Life Asset Management Company has one of the largest team of research analysts in the
industry, dedicated to tracking down the best companies to invest in.
Birla Sun Life AMC strives to provide transparent, ethical and research-based investments and
wealth management services.
 PART A
WHAT IS MUTUAL FUND
AND
CONCEPTS
RELATED TO IT

Introduction to Mutual Fund

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A mutual fund is a trust. It pools money from like-minded shareholders and invests in
diversified portfolio of securities, through various schemes that address different needs of
investors. The pool of money thus collected is then invested by the Asset Management
Company (AMC) in different types of securities. These could include shares, debentures,
convertibles, bonds, money market instruments or other securities, based on the investment
objective of a particular scheme. Such objective is clearly laid down in the offer document for
that scheme. The fund adds value to the investment in two ways: income earned and any capital
appreciation realized through sale. This is shared by unit holders in proportion to the number of
units they own.
 MUTUAL FUNDS AND DIFFERENT CONCEPTS

DEFINITION OF MUTUAL FUNDS

“Mutual fund is a non-depository, non-banking financial intermediary that acts as an

improvement vehicle for bringing wealth holders and deficit units together directly.”
IERCE & JAMES.L

“Mutual fund is corporation, which accepts money from investors and uses the same to buy
stocks, long-term bonds & short-term debt instruments used by issuers”.
WESTON...J.FRED & BRIGHAM

The SEBI (Mutual Fund Regulations 1993 Defines Mutual Fund as a

“Fund Established In Form Of Trust By A Sponsor To Raise Money By The Trustees Through
Sale Of Units Of The Public Under One Or More Schemes For Investing In Securities In
Accordance With These Regulations”.

HISTORY OF THE MUTUAL FUNDS IN INDIA

The origin of mutual fund industry in India is with the introduction of the concept of mutual
fund by UTI in the year 1963. Though the growth was slow, but it accelerated from the year
1987 when non-UTI players entered the industry.

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In the past decade, Indian mutual fund industry had seen dramatic improvements, both quality
wise as well as quantity wise. Before, the monopoly of the market had seen an ending phase; the
Assets under Management (AUM) was Rs. 67bn. The private sector entry to the fund family
raised the Assets under Management to Rs. 470 bn in March 1993 and till April 2004; it reached
the height of 1,540 bn.

CONCEPT
A Mutual Fund is a trust that pools the savings of a number of investors who share a common
financial goal. The money thus collected is then invested in capital market instruments such as
shares, debentures and other securities. The income earned through these investments and the
capital appreciation realized is shared by its unit holders in proportion to the number of units
owned by them. Thus a Mutual Fund is the most suitable investment for the common man as it
offers an opportunity to invest in a diversified, professionally managed basket of securities at a
relatively low cost. The flow chart below describes broadly the working of a mutual fund.
 Organization of a Mutual Fund

Some facts for the growth of mutual funds in India

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1. 100% growth in the last 6 years.

2. Number of foreign AMC's are in the que to enter the Indian markets like Fidelity
Investments, US based, with over US$1trillion assets under management worldwide.

3. Our saving rate is over 23%, highest in the world. Only channel zing these savings in
mutual funds sector is required.

4. We have approximately 29 mutual funds which is much less than US having more than
800. There is a big scope for expansion.

5. 'B' and 'C' class cities are growing rapidly. Today most of the mutual funds are
concentrating on the 'A' class cities. Soon they will find scope in the growing cities.

6. Mutual fund can penetrate rural like the Indian insurance industry with simple and
limited products.

7. SEBI allowing the MF's to launch commodity mutual funds.

8. Emphasis on better corporate governance.

9. Trying to curb the late trading practices.

10. Introduction of Financial Planners who can provide need based advice

Usage
Mutual funds can invest in many different kinds of securities. The most common are cash, stock,
and bonds, but there are hundreds of sub-categories. Stock funds, for instance, can invest
primarily in the shares of a particular industry, such as technology or utilities. These are known
as sector funds. Bond funds can vary according to risk (e.g., high-yield or junk bonds,
investment-grade corporate bonds), type of issuers (e.g., government agencies, corporations, or
municipalities), or maturity of the bonds (short- or long-term). Both stock and bond funds can
invest in primarily U.S. securities (domestic funds), both U.S. and foreign securities (global
funds), or primarily foreign securities (international funds).
Scope
The business of investment management has several facets, including the employment of
professional fund managers, research (of individual assets and asset classes), dealing,
settlement, marketing, internal auditing, and the preparation of reports for clients. The largest
financial fund managers are firms that exhibit all the complexity their size demands. Apart from
the people who bring in the money (marketers) and the people who direct investment (the fund
managers), there are compliance staff (to ensure accord with legislative and regulatory
constraints), internal auditors of various kinds (to examine internal systems and controls),
financial controllers (to account for the institutions' own money and costs), computer experts,
and "back office" employees (to track and record transactions and fund valuations for up to
thousands of clients per institution).
OBJECTIVES

 To describe mutual funds, trends in mutual funds advantages, types, schemes, tax
benefits other conceptual issues.

 To describe the role of asset Management Company and the major asset management
companies

 To compare the returns of the selected mutual funds i.e. Birla Sunlife equity , Franklin
India Flexi Cap , HDFC equity , ICICI prudential dynamic , Reliance Vision.

Trends in mutual funds

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First Phase - 1964-87:
Unit Trust of India (UTI) was established on 1963 by an Act of Parliament. It was set up by the
Reserve Bank of India and functioned under the Regulatory and administrative control of the
Reserve Bank of India. In 1978 UTI was de-linked from the RBI and the Industrial
Development Bank of India (IDBI) took over the regulatory and administrative control in place
of RBI. The first scheme launched by UTI was Unit Scheme 1964. At the end of 1988 UTI had
Rs.6, 700 crores of assets under management.

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

Entry of non-UTI mutual funds. SBI Mutual Fund was the first followed by Can bank Mutual
Fund (Dec 87), Punjab National Bank Mutual Fund (Aug 89), Indian Bank Mutual Fund (Nov
89), Bank of India (Jun 90), Bank of Baroda Mutual Fund (Oct 92). LIC in 1989 and GIC in
1990. The end of 1993 marked Rs.47, 004 as assets under management.

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

with the entry of private sector funds in 1993, a new era started in the Indian mutual fund
industry, giving the Indian investors a wider choice of fund families. Also, 1993 was the year in
which the first Mutual Fund Regulations came into being, under which all mutual funds, except
UTI were to be registered and governed. The erstwhile Kothari Pioneer (now merged with
Franklin Templeton) was the first private sector mutual fund registered in July 1993.

The 1993 SEBI (Mutual Fund) Regulations were substituted by a more comprehensive and
revised Mutual Fund Regulations in 1996. The industry now functions under the SEBI (Mutual
Fund) Regulations 1996.

The number of mutual fund houses went on increasing, with many foreign mutual funds setting
up funds in India and also the industry has witnessed several mergers and acquisitions. As at the
end of January 2003, there were 33 mutual funds with total assets of Rs. 1, 21, 805 corers. The
Unit Trust of India with Rs.44, 541 corers of assets under management was way ahead of other
mutual funds.
Fourth Phase - since February 2003
This phase had bitter experience for UTI. It was bifurcated into two separate entities. One is the
Specified Undertaking of the Unit Trust of India with AUM of Rs.29, 835 crores (as on January
2003).
The second is the UTI Mutual Fund Ltd, sponsored by SBI, PNB, BOB and LIC. It is registered
with SEBI and functions under the Mutual Fund Regulations. With the bifurcation of the
erstwhile UTI which had in March 2000 more than Rs.76, 000 corers of AUM and with the
setting up of a UTI Mutual Fund, conforming to the SEBI Mutual Fund Regulations, and with
recent mergers taking place among different private sector funds, the mutual fund industry has
entered its current phase of consolidation and growth.
As at the end of September, 2004, there were 29 funds, which manage assets of
Rs.153108 cores under 421 schemes.

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 TYPES OF SCHEMES

Schemes according to Structure:

1) Open-ended Fund/Scheme
2) Close-Ended Fund/Scheme
3) Interval Fund

Schemes according to Investment Objectives:

1) Growth/Equity oriented scheme
2) Income/Debt oriented scheme
3) Balanced Fund
4) Money Market or Liquid Fund
5) Gilt Fund

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6) Load Fund
7) No-load Fund

Other Schemes:
Tax saving Schemes

Special Scheme:
1) Industry specific Schemes
2) Index Funds
3) Sector Specific Schemes

BY STRUCTURE

1) Open ended schemes:

An open-ended fund or scheme is one that is available for subscription and repurchase on a
continuous basis. These schemes do not have a fixed maturity period. Investors can
conveniently buy and sell units at Net Asset Value related prices that are declared on a daily
basis. The key feature of open-end schemes is liquidity.
2) Close ended schemes:
A close-ended fund or scheme has a stipulated maturity period e.g. 5-7 years. The fund is open
for subscription only during a specified period at the time of launch of the scheme. Investors can
invest in the scheme at the time of the initial public issue and thereafter they can buy or sell the
units of the scheme on the stock exchanges where the units are listed. In order to provide an exit
route to the investors, some close-ended funds are giving an option of selling back the units to
the mutual fund through periodic repurchase at NAV related prices. SEBI Regulations stipulate
that at least one of the two exit routes is provided to the investor i.e. either repurchase facility or
through listing on stock exchanges. These mutual funds schemes disclose NAV generally on
Weekly basis.
3) Interval funds:
Interval funds combine the features of open ended and close ended schemes. They are open for
sale or redemption during pre-determined intervals at NAV related prices.

BY INVESTMENT OBJECTIVE:

1) Growth/Equity Oriented Scheme:

The aim of growth funds is to provide capital appreciation over the medium to long term. Such
schemes normally invest a major part of their corpus in equities. Such funds have comparatively
high risks. These schemes provide different options to the investors like dividend option, capital
appreciation etc. and the investors may choose an option depending their preferences. The
investors must indicate the option in the application form. The mutual funds also allow the
investors to change the options at a later date. Growth schemes are good for investors having a
long term outlook seeking appreciation over a period of time.

2) Income/Debt Oriented Scheme:

The aim of income funds is to provide regular and steady income to investors. Such schemes
generally invest in fixed income securities such as bonds, corporate debentures, Government
securities and money market instruments, such funds are less risky compared to equity schemes.
These funds are not affected because of fluctuations in equity markets. However opportunities
of capital appreciation are also limited in such equity markets. However opportunities of capital
appreciation are also limited in such funds. The NAVs of such funds are affected because of
change in interest rates in the country. If the interest rates fall, NAVs of such funds are likely to
increase in the short run and vice versa. However, long term investors may not bother about
these fluctuations.

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3) Balanced Fund:
The aim of balanced funds is to provide both growth and regular income as such schemes invest
both in equities and fixed Income securities in the proportion indicated in their offer documents.
These are appropriate for investors looking for moderate growth. They generally invest 40-60%
in equity and debt instruments. These funds are also affected because of fluctuation in share
prices in the stock markets. However NAVs of such funds are likely to be less volatile compared
to pure equity funds.

4) Money Market or Liquid Fund:

These funds are also income funds and their aim is to provide easy liquidity preservation of
capital and moderate income. These schemes invest exclusively in safer short term instruments
such as treasury bills, certificates of deposit, commercial paper and inter- Banks call money,
government securities, etc. Returns on these schemes fluctuate much less compared to other
funds. These funds are appropriate for corporate and individual investors as a means to park
their surplus funds for short periods.

5) Gilt Funds:
These funds invest exclusively in government securities. Government securities have no default
risk. NAVs of these schemes also fluctuate due to change in interest rates and other economic
factors as it is the case with income or debt oriented schemes.

6) Load Funds:
A Load fund is one that charges a commission for entry or exit. That is, each time you buy or
sell units in the fund, a commission will be payable. Typically entry and exit loads range from
1% to 2%. It could be worth paying load, if the fund has a good performance history.

7) No – Load Funds:
A No-Load Fund is one that does not charge a commission for entry or exit. That is, no
commission is payable on purchase or sale of units in the fund. The advantage of a no load fund
is that the entire corpus is put to work.
SPECIAL SCHEMES:
1) Industry specific schemes:
Industry specific schemes invest only in the industries specified in the offer document. The
investment of these funds is limited to specific industries like InfoTech, FMCG, and
Pharmaceuticals etc.

2) Index Schemes:
Index Funds attempt to replicate the performance of a particular index such as the BSE Sensex
or the NSE 50. These Schemes invest in the securities in the same weight age comprising of an
index. NAV of such schemes would rise or fall in accordance with the Rise or fall in the index,
though not exactly by the same percentage due to some factors known as “tracking error” in
technical terms. Necessary disclosures in this regard are made in the offer document of the
mutual funds scheme. There are also exchange traded index funds launched by the mutual funds,
which are traded on the stock exchanges.

3) Sectoral Schemes:
Sectoral Funds are those, which invest exclusively in a specified industry or a group of
industries or various segments such as ‘A’ Group shares or initial public offerings.

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The study of mutual fund schemes is calculated by using the following Ratios.

A. SHARPE’S RATIO-
In this model, performance of a fund is evaluated on the basis of Sharpe ratio, which is a
ratio of returns generated by the fund over and above risk free rate of return and the total
risk associated with it. According to Sharpe, it is the total risk of the fund that the
investors are concerned about. So, the model evaluates funds on the basis of reward per
unit of total risk. Symbolically, it can be written as
Sharpe’s Ratio(Si) = Rp-Rf / σ

B. TREYNOR’S RATIO-
Developed by jack treynor, this performance measure evaluates funds on the basis of
treynor’s Index.
This index is a ratio of return generated by the fund over and above risk free rate of
returns (generally taken to be the return and securities backed by the government, as
there is no credit risk associated), during a given period and systematic risk associated
with it (beta). Symbolically, it can be represented as :

Treynor’s Index (Ti) = (Ri – Rf) /ß.

C. Beta co-efficient:-
Systematic risk is measured in terms of Beta, which represents fluctuations in the NAV of the
fund vis-à-vis market. The more responsive the NAV of a mutual fund is to the changes in the
market; higher will be its beta. Beta is calculated by relating the returns on a mutual fund with
the returns in the market. While unsystematic risk can be diversified through investments in a
number of investments, systematic risk cannot. By using the risk return relationship, we try to
assess the competitive strength of the mutual funds vis-à-vis one another in a better way.
ß (Beta) is calculated as = N ( XY) - ∑X ∑ Y
------------------
N (∑X²) – (∑ X) ²
 Mutual Funds: How to Read a Mutual Fund Table

Columns 1 & 2:
52-Week High and Low - These show the highest and lowest prices the mutual fund has
experienced over the previous 52 weeks (one year). This typically does not include the previous
day's price.

Column 3:
Fund Name - This column lists the name of the mutual fund. The company that manages the
fund is written above in bold type.

Column 4:
Fund Specifics - Different letters and symbols have various meanings. For example, "N" means
no load, "F" is front end load, and "B" means the fund has both front and back-end fees. For
other symbols see the legend in the newspaper in which you found the table.

Column 5:
Dollar Change -This states the dollar change in the price of the mutual fund from the previous
day's trading.
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Column 6:
% Change - This states the percentage change in the price of the mutual fund from the previous
day's trading.

Column 7:
Week High - This is the highest price the fund traded at during the past week.

Column 8:
Week Low - This is the lowest price the fund traded at during the past week.

Column 9:
Close - The last price at which the fund was traded is shown in this column.

Column 10:
Week's Dollar Change - This represents the dollar change in the price of the mutual fund from
the previous week.

Column 11:
Week's % Change - This shows the percentage change in the price of the mutual fund from the
previous week.
 ADVANTAGES OF INVESTING IN MUTUAL
FUNDS

1) Professional Management:
Your clients can avail of the services of experienced and skilled professionals who are backed
by the dedicated investment research team, which analyses the performance and prospects of
companies and selects suitable investments to achieve the objectives of the Mutual Fund
Scheme.

2) Diversification:
Mutual funds invest in a number of companies across a broad cross-section of industries and
sectors. This diversification reduces the risk because seldom do al stocks decline at the same
time and in the same proportion. Your clients can achieve this diversification through a Mutual
fund with far less money than they can do on their own.

3) Convenient Administration:
Investing in a mutual fund reduces paperwork and helps to avoid many problems such as bad
deliveries, delayed payments and unnecessary follow up with brokers and companies. Mutual
fund saves time and makes investing easy and convenient.

4) Return potential:
Over a medium to long term Mutual fund have the potential to provide a higher return as they
invest in a diversified basket of selected securities.

5) Low Costs:

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Mutual Funds are a relatively less expensive way to invest compared to directly investing in the
capital markets because their benefits of scale in brokerage, custodial and other fees translate
into lower costs for investors.

6) Liquidity:
In open-ended schemes, your clients can get their money back promptly at net asset value
related prices from the mutual fund itself. With close –ended schemes you can sell your units on
a stock exchange at the prevailing market price or avail of the facility of direct repurchase which
some close-ended and interval schemes offer periodically.

7) Transparency:
Your clients get regular information on the value of their investment in addition to disclosure on
the specific investments made by the scheme. The proportion invested in each type of security
and the fund manager’s investment strategy and outlook.

8) Flexibility:
Through features such as regular investment plans, regular withdrawal plans and dividend
reinvestment plans, your Investors can systematically invest or withdraw funds according to
their needs and convenience.

9) Choice of Schemes:
Mutual Funds offer a variety of schemes to enable investors to take advantage of opportunities
not only in the equity, debt and money markets but also in specific industries and sectors.

10) Government Regulation:

All Mutual Funds are registered with SEBI, and they function within the provisions of strict
regulations designed to protect the interests of investors. The operations of Mutual Funds are
regularly monitored by SEBI.
 Disadvantages of mutual funds
While the benefits of investing through mutual funds far outweigh the disadvantages, an
investor and his advisor will do well to be aware of few shortcomings of using the mutual fund
as an investment vehicle.

1. No Guarantees: No investment is risk free. If the entire stock market declines in value,
the value of mutual fund shares will go down as well, no matter how balanced the portfolio.
Investors encounter fewer risks when they invest in mutual funds than when they buy and sell
stocks on their own. However, anyone who invests through a mutual fund runs the risk of losing
money.

2. Fees and commissions: All funds charge administrative fees to cover their day-to-day
expenses. Some funds also charge sales commissions or "loads" to compensate brokers,
financial consultants, or financial planners. Even if you don't use a broker or other financial
adviser, you will pay a sales commission if you buy shares in a Load Fund.

3. Taxes: During a typical year, most actively managed mutual funds sell anywhere from
20 to 70 percent of the securities in their portfolios. If your fund makes a profit on its sales, you
will pay taxes on the income you receive, even if you reinvest the money you made.

4. Management risk: When you invest in a mutual fund, you depend on the fund's
manager to make the right decisions regarding the fund's portfolio. If the manager does not
perform as well as you had hoped, you might not make as much money on your investment as
you expected.

5. Cash, Cash and More Cash: As we know already, mutual funds pool money from
thousands of investors, so everyday investors are putting money into the fund as well as
withdrawing investments. To maintain liquidity and the capacity to accommodate withdrawals,
funds typically have to keep a large portion of their portfolios as cash. Having ample cash is
great for liquidity, but money sitting around as cash is not working for investors and thus is not
very advantageous.

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 PART B
SALES PROMOTION, BSLAMC
DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL AND
MARKET PENETRATION
THROUGH IFA’s
 SALES PROMOTION
It is a part of promotional mix. The other three parts of the promotional mix are advertising,
personal selling, and publicity/public relations. Media and non-media marketing communication
are employed for a pre-determined, limited time to increase consumer demand , stimulate
market demand or improve product availability.

Sales promotion describes promotional methods using special short-term techniques to persuade
members of a target market to respond or undertake certain activity.  As a reward, marketers
offer something of value to those responding generally in the form of lower cost of ownership
for a purchased product (e.g., lower purchase price, money back) or the inclusion of additional
value-added material (e.g., something more for the same price).

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Example
s include:
 Contest
 Point of purchase display
 Rebates
 Free travel such as flights

Sales promotions can be directed at either the customer, sales staff, or distribution
channel members (such as retailers). Sales promotions targeted at the consumer are
called consumer sales promotions. Sales promotions targeted at retailers and wholesale
are called trade sales promotions.
Distribution (or place) is one of the four elements of marketing mix. An organization or set of
organizations (go-betweens) involved in the process of making a product or service available for
use or consumption by a consumer or business user. The other three parts of the marketing mix
are product, pricing, and promotion.

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 THE DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL
Frequently there may be a chain of intermediaries, each passing the product down the chain to
the next organization, before it finally reaches the consumer or end-user. This process is known
as the 'distribution chain' or the 'channel.' Each of the elements in these chains will have their
own specific needs, which the producer must take into account, along with those of the all-
important end-user.
In highly competitive environment, product innovation or development has become a necessity
for mutual fund players to stay ahead. Increasing commoditization and growing needs of the
customers are forcing players to shift to solution based models from production based ones. In
either model, the role of distribution channel remains critical as it helps stave off competition by
maintaining relationships, providing advisory services and customizing need-based solution

Relationship plays a vital role while selling mutual fund products. An agent is essential channel
between investors and mutual fund products. However it is difficult for AMCs to manage and
monitor large agent force. So they take shelter in third-party distribution AMCs like KARVY,
BAJAJ Capital, and Integrated Enterprises etc. These AMCs in turn, appoint their agents to sell
the MF to AMCs products. Agents advise the customer on the kind of product that caters to the
needs of the client. To unload their work, the companies bear a huge market expense in the form
of higher commission to lure investors.

To control increasing operational costs, AMCs are opting for the service s of large distributors to
sell their products by leveraging their value chain, which comprises of a brokers, sub brokers
and agents. However mutual fund players have to bear splurging marketing expenses to push
their product against others. In addition mutual fund AMCs are also using banks and Non –
Banking Financial AMCs (NBFC) as distribution channels to leverage their reach and huge
client base. UTI is distributing its offerings through selected branches of Indian Bank,
Corporation Bank, Bank of India an Allahabad Bank, besides, they are also appointing sales
personnel to meet investors, educate them and sell their products.
The contribution of direct marketing to the total sales is miniscule, but the cost burden is huge.
The post office is also used as a channel of Distribution by mutual funds AMCs, given the fact
that the post office has the largest network then many other institution or bank in the country. As
far as retail penetration is concerned, the post office plays a vital role because its offices are
distributed through the country. Mutual fund industry is also using the internet to distribute their
products because of the cost advantages and increased communication. However, the fact is that
internet has its limits in providing customized advice to individuals; restrict its use on large
scale.

CHANNELS

A number of alternate 'channels' of distribution may be available:

 Selling direct, such as with an outbound salesforce or via mail order, Internet and
telephone sales
 Agent, who typically sells direct on behalf of the producer
 Distributor (also called wholesaler), who sells to retailers
 Retailer (also called dealer or reseller), who sells to end customers
 Advertisement typically used for consumption goods

ROLE OF ASSET MANAGEMENT COMPANY

35 | P a g e
 The AMC is a corporate entity, which markets and manages the MF scheme and in return
receives a management fee paid from corpus. SEBI specifies that an AMC must be a separate
entity from the Trust, which owns the MF. It’s obligatory for every MF to have an AMC to
manage the MF and operate its scheme. The actual appointment could be made either by the
sponsored or if so authorized by the trusts deed the trustees. AMC’s need to fulfill the following
conditions:

 Existing AMC should have a sound track record (net worth and profitability) and general
reputation, fairness and integrity in transactions.

 AMC has to be a fit and proper person

 Key personnel of AMC should not have been found guilty or moral turpitude neither
convicted of economic offence or violation of any securities or laws nor should they have
worked for any AMC or MF or any intermediary during the period when its registration has
been suspended or cancelled at any time by SEBI.

 AMC should not have a net worth of less than Rs.10 Crores.

BSLAMC & Its Distribution channels

In highly competitive environment, product innovation or development has become a necessity
for mutual fund players to stay ahead. Increasing commercialization and growing needs of the
customers are forcing players to shift to solution based models from production based ones. In
either model, the role of distribution channel remains critical as it helps stave off competition by
maintaining relationships, providing advisory services and customizing need-based solution

Distribution channels act as a link between the mutual fund companies and the investors. The
intermediaries include brokers, sub- brokers, and investment houses.

A distribution channel model looks like as –

NATIONAL DISTRIBUTORS (NDS)

37 | P a g e
Birla Sun Life Mutual fund has association with a good number of National distributors. These
are listed below:
1 NJ IndiaInvest Pvt. Ltd. is one of the leading advisors and distributors of financial
products and services in India. Established in year 1994, NJ has over a decade of
rich exposure in financial investments space and portfolio advisory services. From a
humble beginning, NJ over the years has evolved out to be a professionally managed,
quality conscious and customer focused financial / investment advisory &
distribution firm.

1) ICICI Direct: ICICI direct

is distributors of financial products under the flagship of ICICI. It has a great experience in
financial investment sector & is one of the leading advisors & distributor of financial
instruments. Stock market research tool from ICICI helps investors in identifying the best
stocks through stock screener and making secure stock investment.

2) IndiaBulls: Indiabulls
Group is one of India’s top Business houses with businesses spread over Real Estate,
Infrastructure, Financial Services, Securities, Retail, Multiplex and Power sectors. The group
companies are listed on important Indian and Overseas market. BSLAMC has recently
associated with India bulls & organized training program.

In the last two months, when market was going down, it was a very tough time for
BSLAMC as well as NDs to attract more & more customers. In such a situation
relationship plays a vital role while selling mutual fund products. An agent is essential
channel between investors and mutual fund products. However it is difficult for AMCs to
manage and monitor large agent force. Birla Sun Life emphasizes on maintaining a
harmonious relationship with its NDs.

Independent financial advisors (IFAs)

Independent financial advisors are persons who are AMFI (Association of mutual fund India)
qualified. They give financial advices to investors by communicating them about the facts &
figures of various schemes of different companies.
There are approximately 800 IFAs associated with BSLAMC in Pune.
The direct interaction with IFAs & people involved in NDs brings many issues into picture.
These issues are discussed below:
a) Harmonious Relationship: Most of the NDs are quite satisfied with their relationship with
BSLAMC. One of the persons, associated with NJ, says “ BSLAMC is very good at its
industrial relationship, especially with NJ”. Such a statement from NJ shows how much
BSLAMC keen on maintaining a good relationship with Distributors.
Even more, in words of an employee of ICICI direct “The more an AMC keeps take care of
distributors, the more affinity develops between that ND & AMC & it is really proud to work
with company like BSLAMC.”
Most of the NDs are well satisfied with their relationship with BSLAMC. As far as IFAs are
concerned, most of them are also quite happy with the relations maintained by BSLAMC with
them.
Proper Communication: BSLAMC tries its best to communicate regularly with NDs & IFAs.
If any new contest or scheme has been launched or it is about to be launched, BSLAMC
communicates to its distributors timely, which in turn becomes easy for distributors to have a
sight of that particular scheme.
Timely Brokerage: BSLAMC gives a competitive brokerage to its distributors. Giving the
brokerage timely to distributors makes distributors feel good & hence they try to invite more
and more customers.
Though apart from this, there is an exceptional case which I came to know after interacting with
one of the IFAs, named Mr. Dinesh Gulabani. It was regarding the cancellation of his brokerage.
Mr. Dinesh Gulabani has given some mutual fund applications to BSLAMC, for which he was
authorized to get the required brokerage. But due to some reasons. BSLAMC didn’t provide
any brokerage to him.

As I came to know about this issue after a meeting with Mr. Dinesh Gulabani, I discussed it with
the Branch Manager of BSLAMC, Pimpri branch. Now this matter is in progress & the

39 | P a g e
necessary information is being provided to Mr. Dinesh Gulabani. This matter is about to get
resolved.
So, overall BSLAMC tries to give brokerage timely to its distributors. The detailed analysis is
given in the third part of this project.
Fulfillment of Basic Requirements: it is very necessary to keep an eye on timely fulfillment of
basic requirements of the distributors. These requirements include availability of application
forms, providing factsheets, providing daily NAV chart etc. BSLAMC always give this aspect a
great importance & it rarely happens that BSLAMC fails to do so.
BSLAMC was unable to give the latest factsheet to some distributors because it wasn’t available
& it came late. But as it reached in hand of BSLAMC, the needful work was done at once.
There is an issue raised by some IFAs that BSLAMC doesn’t provide the daily NAV chart. But
the reason was that it is really a tough task to give hard copy the daily NAV sheet to each and
every IFA. BSLAMC provides soft copy of the same to each and every distributors on a daily
basis, But since those IFAs were newly empanelled with BSLAMC, they don’t have personal
computers & hence they weren’t able to get it. After coming to know about this issue, BSLAMC
started to give hard copy of daily NAV sheet to two – three needy IFAs.
Solution for Any Difficulties : BSLAMC is very active to resolve any type of difficulties which
distributors are facing. As stated above, all the issues are resolved at that point of time only or it
is being sent into progress. Taking this aspect seriously helps BSLAMC to make a good
impression on distributors & in turn it gets intangible assets, i.e. goodwill.
Hearing Complaints: BSLAMC is very good critic of itself & moreover it invites any type of
complains from distributors side. BSLAMC is open to discuss all complains or grievances faced
by NDs or IFAs. IFAs visit the office regarding the same & BSLAMC gives it paramount
importance. Moreover, shortcomings act as an obstacle in the success & it is advisable to
remove it in a bud stage. If this part is ignored, it will hamper the success of BSLAMC in short
run as well as in long run.
Regular Meeting: regular meeting with IFAs & people involved in NDs brings the two party
more closer. It gives a platform to both sides to discuss the needful & then enact accordingly. It
also inculcate a feeling amongst the distributors that BSLMC gives much concern to its
distributors which makes them to feel proud & happy & moreover keeping the distributors
proud & happy is the success mantra of BSLAMC.
Other Issues: though there are many issues involved in distribution channel which I came to
know & these issues are already discussed above.
Apart from these, there is one more issue that I would like to light upon. It is an issue of
misunderstanding. One of the IFAs, Dr. Saraf Kapessh, has given an application form of an
amount more than Rs.50000 of his client Mr. Goel. After submitting the application form to
BSLAMC, Dr. Kapeesh gets back the application formed returned with one letter. That letter
stated “it is compulsory to attach a PAN card along with Know Your Customer (KYC) with
every application weighing more than Rs. 50000 amount.”
When I met with with Dr. Kapeesh, he showed me a circular mentioning that it is not mandatory
to include a PAN card if you are attaching a KYC certificate. Just for the same reason, he has
not attached the PAN card of Mr. Goel.
Since BSLAMC was unaware about that circular or it was not updated, which resulted to this
issue. But afterall in this issue, BSLAMC has lost a decent money & it left a bit of wrong
impression on Dr. kapeesh. Now after clarifying this issue, everything became fine except the
fact that BSLAMC has lost the opportunity to increase its total assets.

Now looking at some figures that will help to answer the question that whether National
Distributors & Independent Financial Advisors are able to maximize the assets of BSLAMC.

Market Penetration through INDEPENDENT

FINANCIAL ADVISORS (IFAS)
41 | P a g e
The Indian Mutual Fund Industry is going through a phase of transformation since
liberalization. Liberalization has paved the way for foreign investor in mutual fund industry.
This has increased the pace of evolution on the industry and made more products and services
available to investors.
In case of BSLAMC, NDs & IFAs play vital role in selling of mutual funds. NDs & IFAs
accounts for 70-80 % of total sales of mutual funds for BSLAMC.

BSLAMC has been

successfully able to penetrate the Indian mutual market. This statement can be statistically
supported by the following figures:-

The above pie chart shows the market shares of different key players in Indian mutual fund
Industry (value wise as on June 30, 2007). The chart is headed by Reliance Mutual fund with
around 15 % of total market shares, while BSLAMC was managed to grab just 4.87% of total
market shares. But today the scenario is completely different. This is illustrated in the graph
given in the next page:-

Basis total asset under management of Rs. 500,973 cr. as on Feb 28, 2009.
It is evident that in less than two years BSLAMC is able to increase its market shares by more
than 100%, which is outstanding, while others are facing a stagnant growth rate or negative
growth except a few ones. So the basic question which arises here is how BSLAMC is
successfully able to penetrate the Indian mutual fund market & that too in a very short period of
time (less than two years).
So here the analysis part starts. In fact BSLAMC has done really some tremendous job in order
to gain the same. There are many issues that BSLAMC looked into & tried to get the maximum
out of it. It mainly focused on its distribution channels which played a vital role to make
BSLAMC to stand in the top five companies, today.

Challenges involved in distribution channels

A person involved in distribution channels has to undergo rigorous schedule in order to get the
work done. One has to face numerous challenges during the same. After interaction with IFAs &
people involved in distribution channels, these challenges can be summarized as follow:-

43 | P a g e
a) Market condition:- Global
economy has affected Indian market due to which sentiments of investors has lower down. This
market condition has put a new & biggest challenge for distributors in order to attract more and
more customers.

b) Convincing the investors: -

Majority of the people says that the most difficult task is to convince investors & attract them to
invest in mutual fund & that too in such an awful market condition. It takes a great deal of time
& art of speaking to influence one investor to invest in mutual fund.

c) Lack of schemes’
knowledge: - many of IFAs do not have any idea of the currently best performing scheme. They
even don’t know about the many of the schemes which is included in the company portfolio.

d) Giving ideal advice:- There

are different types of customers visiting the offices of distributors daily. So it is very difficult for
people involved in distribution channels to give an ideal advice that where and when to invest
in. many of the IFAs are not doing their role of financial advisors. Their work has now been
limited to just distribution. So it is a very tough challenge for them to give an ideal advice to
customers.

e) Not having a proper office:

- though all ND channels have their well equipped offices but many of IFAs don’t have their
offices. Around 70% of IFAs are involved in this work as Part- time. They are very less inclined
to do this work seriously. Unless they have a proper office, how customer will make contact
with them at their convenient time.

f) Lack of awareness

g) Risk aversion

h) Extensive availability of
the central govt. assured return
i) Delay (in Liquidity)

j) Tardy inter-city payment system

k) Transaction cost of establishing contact centers

It has been a big challenge for the Mutual Fund Industry. As most of the investors are still not
aware how it functions. They sometime feel that it is a costly affair. Educating investors about
the advantages of investing in mutual fund s compared to risk-free savings instrument is a big
task for the industry. According to the Securities Market Infrastructure- Leveraging Expert
(SMILE), the transaction cost of establishing contact centers, delay in fund transfer and tardy
inter-city payment system are the major impediments. So enhancing the reach through the
existing distribution model will require more investments.

As of now, mutual fund investments are confined to the metros, tier 1 and 2 cities (about 50
cities). A major reason for this is high cost of developing retail infrastructure. So, scaling up the
operation by increasing investment in other cities doesn’t seem feasible.

There is also a regulatory entanglement in fund realization. Allotment of units Net Asset Value
(NAVs) is done before realization of funds, except in liquid and money market schemes. Such
delay is quite pervasive in smaller towns, where it can be 3-5 days or more. Such hassle could
prevent investors from investing in mutual funds. However, these problems are being resolved
with appointment of registrars to meet the time-lines of recording the transactions. In addition,
technological advancements of remittance instruments such as Electronic clearing Services
(ECS), Electronic Funds Transfer (FT) and Real- Time Gross settlement System (RTGS), is a
making the process fast and reducing delay in fund transfer across cities.

The extensive availability of the central govt. assured return on small products are restricting
the competition as well as penetration of wide variety of mutual fund products, particularly in
the smaller towns where investors are not willing to take risk. This poses a great challenge for
the industry to realize its potential

45 | P a g e
Part – C
 Competitors’

Analysis

Competitors’ analysis
The mutual fund business was started in India in the year 1963. Unit Trust of India was the only
mutual fund company in India from 1963 to 1987. It was by the end of 1980s when the Indian
mutual fund market started to experience the existence of other mutual fund companies. A
number of financial companies in India started to enter into the market of mutual funds and now
there are 35 players in this Industry. These companies are listed in alphabetical order as below:-

 AIG Global Investment Group Mutual Fund  IDFC Mutual Fund

 Baroda Pioneer Mutual Fund
 Benchmark Mutual Fund
 Bharti AXA Mutual Fund
 Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund
 Canara Robeco Mutual Fund
 DBS Chola Mutual Fund
 ING Mutual Fund
 JM Financial Mutual Fund
 JPMorgan Mutual Fund
 Kotak Mahindra Mutual Fund
 LIC Mutual Fund
 Mirae Asset Mutual Fund

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 Deutsche Mutual Fund  Morgan Stanley Mutual Fund
 DSP Blackrock Mutual Fund  PRINCIPAL Mutual Fund
 Edelweiss Mutual Fund  Quantum Mutual Fund
 Escorts Mutual Fund  Reliance Mutual Fund
 Fidelity Mutual Fund  Religare Mutual Fund
 Fortis Mutual Fund  Sahara Mutual Fund
 Franklin Templeton Mutual Fund  SBI Mutual Fund
 HDFC Mutual Fund  Sundaram BNP Paribas Mutual Fund
 HSBC Mutual Fund  Tata Mutual Fund
 ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund  Taurus Mutual Fund
 UTI Mutual Fund

But this project discusses only about the top five players of the industry because these are the
key players in this market & there is a cut-throat competition among them.
The top five players of this industry are:
1) Reliance Mutual Fund

2) ICICI prudential MF

3) HDFC MF

4) Birla Sun Life MF

5) UTI MF

Their respective market shares have already been discussed above. It is advisory for every
company to keep an eye on its competitors’ activities timely. It will give an idea of the major
events which is going on & is about to be launched in the market by different players &
hence will help the company to be prepared to enact accordingly.

Here using SWOT analysis of these key players in mutual fund industry has been discussed.
1. Reliance Mutual Fund: Reliance Mutual Fund (RMF) was established as trust under
Indian Trusts Act, 1882. The sponsor of RMF is Reliance Capital Limited and Reliance
Capital Trustee Co. Limited is the Trustee. It was registered on June 30, 1995 as Reliance
 Capital Mutual Fund which was changed on March 11, 2004. Reliance Mutual Fund was
formed for launching of various schemes under which units are issued to the Public with a
view to contribute to the capital market and to provide investors the opportunities to make
investments in diversified securities. Reliance is one of the leading companies offering
mutual fund schemes to customers in India. The Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group owns
Reliance Mutual Fund, an ISO 9001:2000 certified company. Reliance Mutual Fund
products are available in about 115 locations in India.
It has total asset under management of Rs.81627 cr. as on Feb 28, 2009.

This figure illustrates that the total equity capital appreciation or depreciation of Reliance
mutual fund from January 2008 to September 2008. It is evident that Reliance Mutual fund has
lost 35.54% in these nine months.

SWOT ANALYSIS OF RELIANCE MUTUAL FUND

STRENGTHS WEAKNESS

 Offers well rounded portfolio of products.
 Reliance – the Brand Name
 Well established distribution network
OPPORTUNITIES
49 | P a g e
 Focuses only on high end customers.
 E-channels Source of business.
THREATS

 Can focus on sectorial fund.
 Untapped rural & semi urban Market
 Intense competition & aggressive
players (ICICI prudential MF, BSLAMC).
 New entrant like AVIVA.
 Fall in economy.
 Available substitutes (FD, Real state)

If we talk about the total assets under management, then as on September 30, 2008 it had Rs.
85840 cr. of total assets. But now the same figure has fell down to Rs. 81627 cr. as on Feb 28,
2009. It means Reliance MF has lost Rs.4123 cr. (approximately 5% loss) in just five months
(from September 2008 to Feb 2009).
2. Prudential ICICI Mutual Fund: - The mutual fund of ICICI is a joint venture with
Prudential Plc. of America, one of the largest life insurance companies in the US of A.
Prudential ICICI Mutual Fund was setup on 13th of October, 1993 with two sponsors,
Prudential Plc. and ICICI Ltd. The Trustee Company formed is Prudential ICICI Trust Ltd. and
the AMC is Prudential ICICI Asset Management Company Limited incorporated on 22nd of
June, 1993. The Prudential ICICI Mutual Fund is the second largest mutual fund player in the
private sector. Today Prudential ICICI has an extensive network of customer service centres in
30 cities.
 During January 2008 to September 2008, ICICI prudential MF has lost around 38% of its total
Assets under management, which is the highest figure amongst top five players in this market.
Moreover, the total assets under management as on September 30, 2008 was Rs.49371 cr. which
has appreciated to Rs. 53514 cr. as on February 28, 2009 with around 8.5 % growth.

STRENGTHS
 Good customer base.
 Extensive wide network.
 Well diversified portfolio.
 Offers highest number of schemes.
OPPORTUNITIES
 Sectorial fund (gold & commodity).
 Business advice for smaller players.
WEAKNESS
 High transcation charges.
 Poor customer services.
THREATS
 Intense competition & aggressive
players (Reliance MF, BSLAMC).
 New entrant like AVIVA.

 Educating customers about the fund.  Fall in economy

 Available substitutes (FD, Real

state).

3. HDFC Mutual Fund :- It was setup on June 30, 2000 with two sponsors namely Housing
Development Finance Corporation Limited and Standard Life Investments Limited.
The Standard Life Assurance Company was established in 1825 and has considerable experience
in global financial markets. In 1998, Standard Life Investments Limited became the dedicated
investment management company of the Standard Life Group and is owned 100% by The
Standard Life Assurance Company. With global assets under management of approximately
US$126 billion as at May 15, 2003, Standard Life Investments Limited is one of the world's
major investment companies and is responsible for investing money on behalf of five million
retail and institutional clients worldwide.
The Trustee Company of HDFC Mutual Fund is HDFC Trustee Company Limited and AMC is

51 | P a g e
HDFC Asset Management Company Limited, incorporated with the SEBI on December 10,
1999.
4. UTI Mutual Fund:- January 14, 2003 is when UTI Mutual Fund started to pave its path
following the vision of UTI Asset Management Co. Ltd. (UTIAMC), which was appointed by
UTI Trustee Co, Pvt. Ltd. for managing the schemes of UTI Mutual Fund and the schemes
transferred/migrated from the erstwhile Unit Trust of India.
UTIAMC provides professionally managed back office support for all business services of UTI
Mutual Fund in accordance with the provisions of the Investment Management Agreement, the
Trust Deed, the SEBI (Mutual Funds) Regulations and the objectives of the schemes. State-of-
the-art systems and communications are in place to ensure a seamless flow across the various
activities undertaken by UTIMF.
Since February 3, 2004, UTIAMC is also a registered portfolio manager under the SEBI
(Portfolio Managers) Regulations, 1993 for undertaking portfolio management services.
UTIAMC also acts as the manager and marketer to offshore funds through its 100 % subsidiary,
UTI International Limited, registered in Guernsey, Channel Islands.

UTIAMC presently manages a corpus of over Rs. 48,754 Crores* as on 31st March 2009
(source: www.amfiindia.com). UTI Mutual Fund has a track record of managing a variety of
schemes catering to the needs of every class of citizens. It has a nationwide network consisting
114 UTI Financial Centres (UFCs) and UTI International offices in London.
 objective

 Asset maximization of BSLAMC by inviting more mutual funds from NDs & IFAs.

 To analyze the competitors in mutual fund industry by using suitable models.

 To give BSLAMC a competitive edge on its competitors by maintaining a harmonious

relationship with its distributors.

 To read the psychology of people in becoming IFA for the company.

53 | P a g e
 Part – D

METHODOLOGY,
ANALYSIS and data interpretation
 Research Methodology
OBJECTIVE METHODOLOGY

To accomplish this objective, it requires a direct interaction

with people involved in Distribution channels. To aware
them about the current schemes & brokerage & hence
convincing them to invite more Mutual fund forms which in
turn will maximize the total Asset of BSLAMC.

There are many major players in mutual fund Industry.

SWOT analysis of each competitor will help BSLAMC to
understand its competitors very closely.

Maintaining a good relationship with Distributors involves

a direct interaction with people involved in distribution
channels & to make them happy by fulfilling their
requirements.(e.g.- Visiting each distributor timely,
providing the necessary forms & stationeries, Clarifying the
doubts & queries)

Distributor survey involved designing a questionnaire. The

sample size was 150. The sampling process has been done
by using “Simple Random Sampling”. Data will be
collected by direct interaction with distributors & filling up
the questionnaire. The questionnaire will include mainly
Close ended questions & by using suitable scale
(Comparative Scale, Likert Scale) with reference to each
question. Finally the collected data will be analyzed by
using simple regression & graphs.

Basically to promote sales and expand distribution channel, two methods were adopted by us-
acquiring individual financial analyst (IFA) and AMFI training. These two have been described
in detail below.

ACQUIRNG IFA’S
55 | P a g e
1) Collect the data through survey-
I collected Primary and Secondary data – Primary data by field intercept and Secondary
data by database crunching. For procuring primary data, we conduct surveys at various
places like LIC offices, post offices etc. whereas secondary data is collected from websites
like AMFI, NCFM etc.

2) Also refer to database provided by the company-

Apart from the primary and secondary data collected by us, we are provided with the
database that the company has collected from various other sources like UTI etc. That data
consisted of brokers that have recently cleared the AMFI exam. So such new passed brokers
were prime targets for us since their chances of empowerment are more.

3) Persuade client through telephonic conversation by explaining the product-

This is the most challenging job of all the tasks. Since most of the brokers were in the
business since a long time, they had many queries and hence we should have thorough
product knowledge. We have to prove them that by getting empaneled with our company,
they would get benefited. Since its not a personal and face to face meeting, so it is hard to
convince the person just by talking on phone. The client should be satisfied with our
answers. In few of the cases the broker eagerly wished to get empaneled with the company
as his clients wished to invest in Birla Sunlife mutual funds. Once the client has agreed to
become a broker of our company, we fix appointment with him on a specified date and time
of his choice i.e. whenever he is free.

4) Personally meet client and carry out the procedure for empaneling him with the
company-
We call the client just before visiting so as to remind him of the appointment and also ask
him to keep all the required documents ready. While meeting the client, we have to explain
each and every product in detail and also solve all the doubts and queries that he has to
avoid any confusion in future. The brokers were mainly interested in their brokerage
structure and asked most of the questions regarding that only. They also asked for nearest
 branch where they submit their investment applications easily. They also wanted to get their
brokerage by ECS system only and not by old traditional method of cheques. We also hand
him the facts sheet which is published monthly where each and every scheme is explained
in detail.
Once the documents are signed, we send the documents to Head office located in Chennai.
It takes round about ten days for confirmation letter to arrive and afterwards this letter is
couriered by us to the client along with ‘welcome kit’ consisting of useful information for
the broker.

5) Follow client activities afterwards-

Our job is not over only after empaneling the broker, but we trace the activities of the
broker. We try to encourage broker who is inactive since a long time. Brokers are explained
the newly introduced special schemes which are limited for a particular time period only.
The benefits they would get by the schemes are explained to them. If any New Fund Offer
(NFO) is introduced in the market then its details are given.

AMFI TRAINING
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We not only target the existing brokers but also the hunts for people who are interested in
becoming brokers. Since AMFI certification is mandatory for brokers to deal in mutual funds,
we prepare them for the AMFI exam by giving suitable training to them by our experts. This
training is completely free of cost and also free lunch is provided. The training is kept on
weekends so that it is convenient for the people to attend. AMFI exam is scheduled exactly after
one week so that a person gets ample time to revise the course. Surveys are mainly conducted by
us to search for such people only who are interested in giving AMFI exam. Our main motto
behind this free training is that once a person has cleared this exam with the help of the
company, he will become a broker of our company and thus provide business to the company in
future. Ultimately it’s a strategy to improve brand image of the company thereby increasing
sales of the company by increasing the number of distributors.

REAL ESTATE AGENTS AND WHOLESALERS

 To make them invest in our liquid fund

Since income of real estate sector and wholesale sector runs and into lacs of rupees hence
company planned to extract money from people in this sector and pump this money in liquid
fund of our company called “Savings Fund”. The money these people are having if lie in banks
then they earn only 3-4 % interest. Where as if the same amount they are keeping in our liquid
fund, then they earn 6-8% interest. We as an AMC invest this money into Commercial papers,
COD ( certificate of deposit), government securities etc., hence this money is much safer than
other investment options.
We selected and a specific area in Pune and tried to cover as many real estate agents and
wholesalers as possible. We visited their offices and shops and explained them the advantage
they would get by investing in our liquid fund. Since such people don’t entertain on phone as
they are thousands of calls like this, hence we decided to adopt field intercept method for this.
We went to areas like Fatima nagar, Koregaon Park, Hadapsar, Ravivar Peth etc. We showed
them the calculation on paper by assuming hypothetical amount and also carried a calculator for
supporting our fact. The calculation goes like this-

Say a person invests Rs. 10 lac in liquid fund for 10 days and if he gets 8% return, then he
would get-

10,00,000 × 8/100 × 10/ 365 = Rs. 2191.78

 Make them brokers

Since Real estate sector is suffering very badly these days due to recession, company decided to
target this sector and tap as much market as possible. Since real estate agents don’t have much
work due to low business these days, we tried to show them the benefits of becoming mutual
broker. We explained the whole brokerage structure in detail and persuaded them to do mutual
fund business as part time business. Since these real estate agents already have a good client
base hence they don’t find it difficult to find customers. We also explained them the facilities
and support they will get by becoming brokers.
If a agent or wholesaler finds a client and make him invest in our liquid fund then he earns 30
paise per rupee.
Say if we take the same above example then broker earns-

10,00,000 × 8/100 × 10/ 365 × 0.30 = Rs. 657.53

ANALYSIS

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The questionnaire we prepared for people interested in appearing for AMFI exam is been
analysed in the following manner-

We have conducted survey of 150 people at various places like LIC offices, post offices and
Private mutual fund companies like ICICI Pru, Max New York etc.

Occupation

LI agent Employee Stock broker Others

34 62 4 50

Out of 150 people, majority of the people were employees in various private and government
sector companies. They came to these places to do tasks like filling their LIC premium,
operating their savings account in post office and investing in mutual funds. Then 34 people
were brokers who visited these places since many people don’t have time to come to these
crowded places and stand in long queue. Only a handful of people were stock brokers who came
very rarely to such places. Apart from these people several other kind of people like CA,
students etc. also came to such places who were working as an agent there as part time business
Awareness about mutual funds

Professional Unaware Amateur Novice

29 81 23 17

The above graph clearly indicates that majority of the people didn’t have any idea about
mutual funds and they were unaware of the mutual fund concept. Though number of
professional and amateurs are almost equal. Very less number of people was new in this
business because of recession and crashing share market.

Interest in becoming a broker

Yes No
64 86

By this graph we can see that majority of the people were not willing to enter into mutual fund
business because of
 ailing share market
 their busy schedule
 not a profitable business according to them
 being a govt. servant or bank employee they cant do any other business
Though 64 people said that they would like to explore this market and become a mutual fund
broker.

Awareness about AMFI certification

Aware Unaware
38 112

This came as a surprise for we people as almost 60% of the people were unaware of the
fact that an exam called AMFI exists. They didn’t know that AMFI certification is mandatory

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for dealing in mutual funds. Only 38 people were aware of this exam out of which some had
already appeared for the exam but failed in this exam.

Brand image of Birla as an AMC

Good Average Bad Unaware

42 63 3 42

This graph clearly indicates that most people consider Birla Sunlife AMC ltd. as an average
performing company. But good thing is that 42 people still rate this company as a good
company which is crucial for the brand image of the company.
Though equal numbers of people were unaware of the fact that Birla group is in AMC segment
also. Very few people rated Birla AMC ltd. as bad company due to some bad past experiences.

Regression analysis FOR DISTRIBUTOR

FEEDBACK
 Regression analysis is used to identify the relationship between the dependent & independent
variable. It is used to determine the most strongest independent factor affecting the dependent
variable. We did survey on 150 existing brokers and the analysis is given below-

Now the following table is a result of regression analysis. The variables included in regression
analysis are Overall rating (OR), reputation of company (RC), schemes (S), relationship with
distributors (RD), Advertisement(AD). Here Overall rating is a dependent variable & rests are
independent variables.

Regression Statistics
Multiple R 0.80889426
R Square 0.654309923
Adjusted R Square 0.456772737
Standard Error 0.458130179
Observations 12

ANOVA
  df SS MS
Regression 4 2.780817175 0.695204
Residual 7 1.469182825 0.209883
Total 11 4.25 

  Coefficients Standard Error t Stat

Intercept -0.317520776 1.688988662 -0.18799
Reputation of company 0.137119114 0.183632394 0.746704
Schemes 0.10699446 0.24066862 0.444572
Relationship 0.32098338 0.318631355 1.007382
Advertisements 0.612880886 0.372374122 1.645874

Let OR is a function of RC, S, RD & AD.

i.e. OR = f (RC, S, RD, AD)
here value of R2 has found to be 0.654. it means that there is a strength of 65 % between
dependent & independent variables. 65 % characteristics of dependent variable can be explained
with the help of all independent variables.
The regression equation formed will be:

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 OR= -0.317+0.137* RC+0.1069*S+0.3209* RD+0.612 AD

It shows that advertisement has a larger effect on the overall rating followed by a good
relationship. BSLAMC must focus on its advertisement part & its relationship with distributors
in order to gain more and more business.
There are n no. of factors affecting the overall performance of BSLAMC. But the factors which
have a larger impact are advertisements & relationship of company with distributors.

Scatter diagrams

Scatter diagram provide the relationship between two variables in a graphical form. The diagram
summarizes the nature of relationship between two variables, whether it is stronger or weaker. If
most of the points are close to the straight lines, there is a stronger relationship between two
variables.
If we plot the scatter diagram between each independent variable Vs dependent variable, the
following results come into picture……

In all the above figures, points are nearly located the regression equation. Advertisement has a
closet relationship followed by Relationship with distributors.
So advertisement has a strongest impact on Overall rating of BSLAMC & then Relationship
with distributors has 2nd strongest relationship with the dependent variable overall rating.

REAL ESTATE AGENTS SURVEY ANALYSIS

We visited 21 real estate agents. The following is the response we got from there-

DURATION OF BUSINESS

Less than 1 yr 5. yrs >5yrs

4 11 6

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INVOLVEMENT IN ANY OTHER BUSINESS

Yes No
4 17

Since Real estate being a profitable business, mostly people don’t indulge themselves into any
other business. Only a handful of agents have other business like tours and travels, shops etc. as
they deal in small scale properties.

AWARENESS ABOUT MUTUAL FUND

Novice Amateur Professional Unaware

5 5 2 9

Majority of the people are unaware of the mutual fund concept in real estate industry. We
explained them various concepts related to mutual fund. Some were just new in this mutual fund
sector and some were having sufficient knowledge about mutual funds. We hardly found 2
professionals who were having complete knowledge.
INVESTMENT IN MUTUAL FUNDS

Yes No
3 18

Since real estate has a very large amount of profit margin and due to ailing stock market, these
people don’t prefer to invest in mutual fund these days. They rather invest the money in other
securities like bonds, debentures, govt. securities etc. Very few people still have faith in mutual
fund industry.

INTEREST IN BECOMING BROKER

 Yes No
1 20

This was an utter disappointment for we people. Since real estate sector is not doing very well
these days, we expected better response but could hardly find any candidate who wishes to
become a broker. There were many reasons for it like old people didn’t want to study anymore
and give AMFI exam, some thought it has less profit margin etc.

AWARENESS ABOUT AMFI CERTIFICATION

Yes No
1 20

Since most of the agents were new and unaware of the mutual fund sector, they didn’t know if
any exam called AMFI exists and it’s mandatory to deal in mutual funds.

BRAND IMAGE OF BSLAMC

Good Average Poor Unaware

7 8 2 4

Overall the brand image of the company in real estate market can be rated as good because most
of people were aware of the Birla tag and believed that BSLAMC being a part of Aditya Birla
group is a good and trustworthy company. Only two people rated it poor due to bad experiences

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experienced by themselves or heard from their friends. Some of them refused to comment on
this as they were completely unaware of AMC sector.

Key observations & findings

After analysis of many issues involved in this project, many untouched observations have come
into picture & all these observations leads to some findings.
Key findings & observations of this project are listed as below:
1) BSLAMC has successfully able to penetrate the Indian mutual fund industry with the help of
independent financial advisors.
2) Total assets has maximized by a net Rs 6398 cr. from January to February 2009.
3) BSLAMC has evolved as the best performer even in the worst scenario when market was
going down.
4) There is a very cut throat competition in mutual fund industry & if BSLAMC able to continue
its past 1 year performance, it will come at the second spot just after Reliance MF in the
upcoming years.
5) Direct interaction with IFAs brings many issues. These were positive as well as negative. All
these issues were of equal importance & BSLAMC has able to tackle these issues very wisely.
6) There are many challenges involved in distribution channels which have been mentioned in
the project.
7) Regression analysis shows that Relationship with distributors & advertisement are the two
most important factors affecting the overall performance of BSLAMC.
8) Majority of the distributors believe that BSLAMC has done really a great job even in the low
market. BSLAMC leads this tally followed by Reliance MF.
9) Generally it is believe that if a person is associated with a company for a good number of
years (> 6years), the more he can generate business for that company. But this project finds that
the persons associated with BSLAMC recently has done a good job as compared to the persons
associated for greater than 6 years. So, to invite customers, it doesn’t demand only experience,
but a good convincing power & a good knowledge of this field.

Conclusion
The past performance of BSLAMC has brought it in the top five players, today. Undoubtedly,
BSLAMC has put its best effort in every area of this market to grab more and more market
shares. It has successfully able to penetrate the Indian mutual fund industry with the help of
National Distributors & Independent Financial Advisors.

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 It is rightly said that

“Achieving success is very important. But even more important is to retain that
success. Don’t look where you fell down, look where you slipped.”

I think BSLAMC has also focused on this part because unless and until it repeats it success story
continually, it is very difficult to stand even in top three. A consistent performance will depend
upon many factors which have been mentioned in this project (e.g.- relationship with
distributors, Company’s reputation etc).
Also it is equally important BSLAMC handle many issues which has evolved with its
distributors. BSLAMC has to be proactive than reactive in these issues.

In the end, there is no quality in any job. The quality lies in the man who holds that job.
So, employees & distributors are the key assets of BSLAMC & also BSLAMC has been able to
successfully protect these assets from being depreciated. In fact BSLAMC has added some
values in the same. BSLAMC has a very good brand image & hence it will help along with all
the factors discussed above to give BSLAMC totally a new picture in the upcoming years.

References:

www.birlasunlife.com

www.moneycontrol.com

www.amfiindia.com
www.mutualfundsindia.com

www.google.com

www.valueresearchonline.com

www.economictimes.com

www.business-standard.com

ICFAI Journal of Mutual Funds

Fund fact sheets of the companies

The definitions of financial terms are standard definitions and are from the
website.

The company details are from the official website of the company.

Research reports from the company

APPENDIX A

A SURVEY ON AWARENESS ABOUT MUTUAL FUNDS IN

PUNE

Name- Age-
Contact no.-
E-mail ID-
Address-

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1. Which business are you doing?

a) Stock broker b) Employee c) L I agent d) others (specify)

1. How much awareness you have about mutual funds?

a) Novice b) Amateur c) Professional d) unaware

1. Are you interested in becoming mutual fund broker?

a) Yes
b) No

1. Are you aware of AMFI certification?

a) Yes
b) No

1. Which AMC you generally prefer?

a) HDFC b) UTI c) ICICI Pru d) Birla Sunlife

1.
2. How do you see Birla as an AMC?

a) Good b) Average c) Bad d) Unaware

 THANK YOU

APPENDIX B

DISTRIBUTOR’S FEEDBACK

Name- Age-
Contact no.-
E-mail ID-
Address-

1. How long have you been the broker of BSLAMC?

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a) Less than 1 yr b) 2-5 yrs c) more than 5 yrs

1. Are your clients satisfied with the schemes launched by the company?

a) Yes
b) No

1. Are you satisfied with the customer support services of the company?

a) Yes
b) No

1. How do you see Birla as an AMC?

a) Good b) Average c) Bad d) Unaware

1. How do you rate advertisements of BSLAMC?

a)Good b) Average c) Bad d) Unaware

THANK YOU

APPENDIX C

A SURVEY ON AWARENESS ABOUT MUTUAL FUNDS IN REAL

ESTATE INDUSTRY

Name- Age-
Contact no.-
E-mail ID-
Address-
1. How long have you been in this business?

a) Less than 1 yr b) 2-5 yrs c) more than 5 yrs

1. Are you involved in any other business apart from real estate?

a) Yes ( specify)
b) No

1. How much awareness you have about mutual funds?

a) Novice b) Amateur c) Professional d) unaware

1. Do you invest in mutual funds?

a) Yes
b) No

1. Are you interested in becoming mutual fund broker?

a) Yes
b) No

6. Are you aware of AMFI certification?

a) Yes
b) No

7. How do you see Birla as an AMC?

a) Good b) Average c) Bad d) Unaware

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THANK YOU