Sebi chief to meet MF players on March 16

Sebi Chairman U K Sinha will be meeting the heads of fund houses here on March 16 to get suggestions on how to increase the mutual fund penetration.
According to top executives of fund houses, Sebi is concerned about the low penetration of mutual funds and wants to double their reach over the next three-four years.
Currently, the MF industry is having a penetration of just 7 per cent. However, Sebi wants to double it in the next three-four years, an executive of a fund house said.
Meanwhile, it has been learnt that Sebi has asked MFs to transfer 50 per cent of their unutilised funds set aside for investor education and awareness initiatives to the industry body Amfi from next month.

The Sebi rules demand MFs to set aside 2 bps, or 0.02 per cent, of their net asset value for investor education and other awareness initiatives.
According to an Amfi circular sent across to the fund houses, and seen by PTI, Sebi also decided that 50 per cent of 2 bps of net assets set aside each month from April 2016 for the purpose, shall be aggregated with Amfi, which shall ensure that the fund is utilised for investor education and awareness initiatives only.
The decision came after Sebi officials made surprise on-site visits and found that efforts towards investor education scheme are lacking in intent and execution.