Budget 2025: Govt should announce an MF product like budget 2013 to drive financial inclusion
Mutual funds have come a long way; the numbers speak for themselves. systematic investment plans, or SIPs, have quadrupled in the last eight years, and monthly inflows in December 2024 crossed ₹26,000 crore for the first time.
All the buzz around equities and markets continuously performing well has attracted new investors to mutual funds. Among these are many first-time investors, especially the youth. Interestingly, even the vulnerable low-income segment is asking about mutual funds.
However, investors face various challenges in investing in mutual funds, like figuring out what fund to invest in and opening a folio. While many options like banks, online platforms, and MFCentral exist, not everybody is able to navigate these avenues easily.
Even though the regulator is considering the ₹250 SIP and a few asset management companies have also implemented the same, the above two issues discourage investors from investing in mutual funds.
This can be done by setting up a new scheme akin to the Rajiv Gandhi Equity Savings Scheme (RGESS), which was announced in the Union Budget 2012-13 with the goal of encouraging savings from small retail investors to enter domestic capital markets.
The RGESS scheme allowed new investors with income up to ₹12 lakh to invest up to ₹50,000 per annum in a specified set of equity-based securities. The scheme provided a tax deduction of up to 50% of the amount invested. However, the scheme was closed in 2017 due to the lukewarm response.
The time is ripe to introduce a new scheme in this budget that can help investors participate correctly in the equity markets.
Amid recent market rallies, influenced by financial influencers, many investors are approaching equity investing wrongly due to the
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