Mutual funds beyond returns

They have an important role in improving corporate governance and deepening the corporate bond market

The Indian mutual fund industry has been a success story in inculcating a culture of capital investment across the country. The industry got a further boost in recent years. The low interest rates kept by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for over two-and-a-half years after the onset of the pandemic in March 2020, resulted in negative real returns from bank deposits, and pushed savers to become investors in the capital markets. A large proportion of this investment came through the mutual fund (MF) route. To have some perspective, the assets under management (AUM) of MFs, which were Rs 8.25