Page 276 - DCOM304_INDIAN_FINANCIAL_SYSTEM
P. 276

Unit 13: Mutual Funds and Insurance Services




             Mutual funds, capitalising on  the same, are turning to capital protection funds,  which  Notes
             provide both the security of being invested in fixed income instruments along with the
             higher-returns-potential of the equity side of investment.
             UTI, SBI, Sundaram, IDFC, Franklin Templeton are some of the fund houses that have
             launched capital protection funds.

             "These are for investors who are conservative and prefer their investments to be in the
             form of bank deposits. There is potential upside and virtually no downside to these funds.
             But there is no guarantee of capital protection here," said Mr Dhirendra Kumar, Chief
             Executive Officer, Value Research.
             A capital protection fund is a close-ended fund which invests 80 per cent of its corpus in
             fixed income securities such as corporate bond papers, government securities and other
             money market instruments. The rest of its corpus - 20 per cent - will be in equities.

             At the end of the fund's tenure, the capital invested is protected through returns from fixed
             income securities while  the returns on the investment itself  would be from the equity
             investments of the fund.
             Capital Guarantee
             "The capital guarantee is done  via investments in high  quality debt papers," said  Mr
             Dwijendra Srivastava, Head-Fixed Income, Sundaram Mutual, whose fund house plans to
             launch 12 more capital protection funds in the next 16-18 months.
             "Also, these funds are structured in such a manner that investors cannot exit before the end
             of the tenure."
             After 2008, fixed income as an asset class has become more popular with investors.
             "The capital protection fund is an investor need. These funds are not meant for super HNIs
             or informed investors. The fund is for those who are averse to losing capital and want to
             stay invested for the long haul," said Mr Srivastava.

             With redemption pressures continuing to affect the industry, it seems that fund houses are
             turning to products like capital protection funds to lure investors and to ensure that they
             stay invested for a longer period.
             Question
             Make a analysis on mutual funds investment vs stock market investment.
             Source:  http://www.thehindubusinessline.in

          13.5 Insurance Services


          Insurance may be described as a social device to reduce or eliminate risk of life and property.
          Under the plan of insurance, a large number of people associate themselves by sharing risk,
          attached to individual. The risk, which can be insured against include fire, the peril of sea, death,
          incident, and burglary. Any risk contingent upon these may be insured against at a premium
          commensurate with the risk involved.
          Insurance is actually a contract between 2 parties whereby one party called insurer undertakes
          in exchange for a fixed sum called premium to pay the other party happening of a certain event.
          Insurance  is a contract whereby, in return  for the payment of premium by the insured, the
          insurers pay the financial losses suffered by the insured as a result of the occurrence of unforeseen
          events.  With the  help of Insurance, large number of people exposed to a  similar risk make





                                           LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY                                   271
   271   272   273   274   275   276   277   278   279   280   281