SEBI Official says Financial Literacy a must in rural areas
Mumbai, December 13: The Securities and Exchange Board of India proposes to take host of measures to broad-base financial inclusion through literacy initiatives and build infrastructure for 1.2 billion Indians who are still not a part of capital markets, says Prashant Saran, its whole-time member while addressing ASSOCHAM conference on Mutual Fund Summit here today.
He said mutual funds must increase their penetration in smaller cities and rural areas while financial literacy should spread among the uneducated also.
“The focus should be on small investors so that the base widens. Financial education should be sector-specific and product-neutral,” he said. Most of the money parked in mutual funds comes from institutional investors which include corporates, banks and foreign institutional investors (FIIs).
Saran said many financial products are becoming complicated and it is not easy for even an educated person to understand and analyse them. At the same time, financial structures across the world do not command as much respect as they used to in the past.
Financial inclusion and investor education thus become crucial for equitable distribution of assets under management (AUMs), he said. There are 44 mutual funds operating in the country with assets under management of Rs 7.13 lakh crore compared to Rs one lakh crore in December 2001.
