INTRODUCTION TO PROJECT

An Investment means the employment of funds on assets (i.e. securities or

mutual funds or any of the investment avenues) with the aim of earning
income as well as capital appreciation. There are mainly two attributes while
investing to any of the means, i.e. time and risk. There are mainly four
objectives, which the investments activities will carry on those are:
Return
Risk 
Liquidity
Safety

There are many alternatives which investment avenues are open to the
investors to suit their needs and nature .The selection of investment
alternatives are depends upon the required level of return and the risk
tolerance level. These alternatives range from financial securities to traditional
non-securities investment. Following are the various investment alternatives.

Negotiable and fixed income securities

Equity shares
Preference share
Debentures
Bonds
Government securities

Non-negotiable securities
Bank deposit
Post office deposit
NBFC deposit
Tax saving schemes
Public provident fund scheme
National saving scheme
Life insurance
Mutual funds
Real estate Securities
Companies raise funds to finance their projects through various methods.
The promoters can bring their own money or barrow from the financial
institutions or Mobilizes capital by issuing securities. The funds `may be raised
through issue of fresh share at per or premium. Preference shares debenture
or global depository Receipts. These are mainly two markets which any
company can raise their funds; those are primary market and secondary
market. The companies raise funds for the following purposes:

To promote a new company

To expand an existing company
To diversify the production
To meet the regular working capital requirement
To capitalize the reserves.

New Issue Market (Primary Market)

Stock available for the first time is offered through new issue market. The
issuer may be a new company or an existing company. These issues may be of
new type or the secure used in the past. In the new market the issuer can be
consider as a manufacturers. The issuing house, investing banker and broker act
as the channel of distributing for new issue. They take the responsibility of
selling the stock to the public. The main survives function of the primary market
are:
1. Origination
2. Underwriting
3. Distribution

The main objectives of NSE are as follows.

To establish the nation wide trading facility for Equities, Debt instruments and
hybrids.
To ensure equal access to investors all over the country through appropriate
communication network.
To enable shorter settlement cycle and book entry settlement system.
Mutual Funds
A mutual fund is a type of professionally managed collective investment vehicle
that pools money from many investors to purchase securities. While there is no
legal definition of the term "mutual fund", it is most commonly applied only to
those collective investment vehicles that are regulated and sold to the
general public. They are sometimes referred to as "investment companies" or "r
egistered investment companies." Most mutual funds are "open-ended,"
meaning investors can buy or sell shares of the fund at any time. Hedge funds
are not considered a type of mutual fund.

Mutual Fund Operation Flow Chart

Types of Mutual Funds

There are 3 principal types of mutual funds in the United States: open-end
funds, unit investment trusts (UITs); and closed-end funds.
Open-end funds
Open-end mutual funds must be willing to buy back their shares from
their investors at the end of every business day at the net asset value computed
that day. Most open-end funds also sell shares to the public every business day;
these shares are also priced at net asset value. A professional investment
manager oversees the portfolio, buying and selling securities as appropriate.
The total investment in the fund will vary based on share purchases, share
redemptions and fluctuation in market valuation. There is no legal limit on the
number of shares that can be issued. Open-end funds are the most common
type of mutual fund. At the end of 2011, there were 7,581 open-end mutual
funds in the United States with combined assets of $11.6 trillion.

Closed-end funds
Closed-end funds generally issue shares to the public only once, when they are
created through an initial public offering. Their shares are then listed for trading
on a stock exchange. Investors who no longer wish to invest in the fund cannot
sell their shares back to the fund (as they can with an open-end fund). Instead,
they must sell their shares to another investor in the market; the price they
receive may be significantly different from the
net asset value. It may be at a "premium" to net asset value (meaning that it is
higher than net asset value) or, more commonly, at a "discount" to net asset
value (meaning that it is lower than net asset value).
A professional investment manager oversees the portfolio, buying and selling
securities as appropriate. At the end of 2011, there were 634 closed-end funds in
the United States with combined assets of $239 billion.

Unit investment trusts

Unit investment trusts or UITs issue shares to the public only once, when they
are created. UITs generally have a limited life span, established at creation.
Investors can redeem shares directly with the fund at any time (as with an open-
end fund) or wait to redeem upon termination of the trust. Less commonly, they
can sell their shares in the open market. Unit investment trusts do not have a
professional investment manager. Their portfolio of securities is established at
the creation of the UIT and does not change. At the end of 2011, there were
6,022 UITs in the United States with combined assets of $60 billion.