No. of new independent financial advisors see sharp fall in February

Registrations 39% lower than past 10-month average

Independent financial advisors (IFAs), who are seen as critical for penetration of mutual funds (MFs), are showing signs of losing interest in MFs as scrapping of upfront commission and change in expense structure has raised doubts on their earning potential.

According to data, the number of new Amfi registered number (ARN) for IFAs was 951 in February. This was 39 per cent lower than the past 10-month average of 1,550. The current fiscal (2018-2019) has so far seen 16,451 new IFA registrations, which is 20 per cent lower than previous fiscal. ARN is a unique code allotted to intermediaries by