Flipkart co-founder Sachin Bansal’s Navi MF files for 10 new funds with SEBI

Navi MF will be able to launch NFOs of these funds once SEBI gives its approval.

Focusing on passive funds

Navi MF is part of Sachin Bansal's ambitions of building a huge financial services platform, after he exited Flipkart. In February 2021, Navi acquired Essel MF and launched its own fund house.

In a recent interaction with Moneycontrol, Bansal said, "Our focus is completely on passive funds. Customers understand index funds very easily, we want to sell something where customers can make a decision without advisors. Index funds are more simple. We believe it will scale because it is simple to understand."

Also read: Sachin Bansal on why his Navi Mutual Fund is focused on rolling out passive schemes

As passive funds don't involve active fund management, these are low-cost for investors as there is no need to pay for the fund management fee.

In an earlier interaction with Moneycontrol, Bansal had said, "We see low-cost fund management as another opportunity that will allow a large number of retail investors to access mutual funds."

In July 2021, Navi MF had launched Navi Nifty 50 Index Fund, which became the cheapest index fund in the mutual fund industry.

More choices for investors

Apart from Navi MF, several new fund houses are likely to get launched soon. Several firms are either waiting for SEBI approval or are at advanced stages of getting the green light from SEBI. Recently, Bajaj Finserv got in-principle approval from SEBI. In early August, discount broker Samco Securities got the final approval from SEBI to launch its mutual fund business. NJ India, which is the largest MF distributor in India, also received final approval from SEBI to launch its own mutual fund business earlier in the year.

Besides these, PMS firms are also taking interest in MF business. Bengaluru-based Capitalmind Wealth and Chennai-headquartered portfolio management service (PMS) provider Unifi Capital have also applied for MF licences. Another PMS provider – White Oak Capital Management – acquired YES MF in August 2020. The firm is yet to get the final nod from SEBI to start the MF business. Helios Capital and Alchemy Capital, the PMS firms backed by widely-regarded investors Samir Arora and Rakesh Jhunjhunwala respectively, have also applied for MF license.

The low under-penetration of mutual funds in India compared to other countries has created a lot of interest among financial services firms.