What Is The Advantage Of Holdingã¢â‚¬â€¹ Money?

Mutual funds through demat has unnecessary costs and issues

NSDL says smart investors choose the demat route for mutual fund. But the really smart investors would not want to waste their money, or get into unnecessary hassles which the demat system involves

Two years after the regulator pushed mutual fund investors down the stockbroker-demat route, the strategy is beset with high charges and low customer interest. Undaunted, the National Securities Depository Ltd (NSDL) is still pushing it hard.

An advertisement blitz just released reads: "Be a smart investor. Hold your mutual fund units in demat." Investors are indeed smart. Demat is a costly affair and many smart long-term investors actually do not demat even their old shares. Since holding mutual funds in demat form is not compulsory, unlike shares, investors exercise the smart choice, avoiding NSDL's pitch to go the demat route.

A demat account for mutual funds is similar to that for shares. Now, the National Stock Exchange (NSE) and the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) are offering a platform to buy and sell mutual funds. You can subscribe to mutual fund units through your stock broker using the stock exchange platform. On subscription, the asset management company (AMC) or registrar and transfer agent (RTA) will credit the mutual fund units to your demat account. For existing mutual fund holdings, you have to obtain a conversion request from your depository participant (DP) and after appropriate verification, the AMC or RTA will credit the mutual fund units to your demat account.

Demat does have its advantages. It helps consolidate all of one's holdings and allows a view of investments in a single snapshot, rather than having to go through several statements issued by different mutual funds. Earlier, if one had 20 schemes in 15 different fund houses, there would be as many statements. You one can get a simple statement for all holdings with all the AMCs. Also, holding mutual fund units in the demat format enables one to manage a portfolio better. One can monitor all the schemes at one go. Buying and selling in dematerialised units is supposed to be faster and simpler.

But if one does not trade in fund units, is it really worth the cost? There are several layers of costs associated with holding mutual fund units in demat form: the depositories and brokers are both out to claw some money from you. One would have to pay a charge to open the demat account, as well as the annual demat fees. Sales of units would also involve a charge of Rs20 on each occasion. This charge varies from DP to DP. And if the DP is not the bank that is directly linked to the AMC, it could take around 7-10 days for the money to be credited to your account. Sometimes, there's confusion regarding the differences in the name, or the initials in the name in which the demat account is opened and the one in the bank records. If the demat account has the name Anjali R Shah and the bank account has the name Anjali Shah, getting the amount credited could take months together. Banks have a habit of putting these kinds of small disputed amounts mindlessly in a suspense account and making you run around for it. At that time, you will not look smart and NSDL will surely not be anywhere to help.

The demat route has brokerage costs as well. The broker charges his normal commission at the time of purchasing or selling MF units (generally 0.30-0.40% of the value of units bought or sold). Again, the brokerage is negotiable and depends upon the broking firm one chooses. An investor using an online brokerage portal will be charged by the online trading company. Most importantly, while dealing through stock brokers, you cannot do SIPs/STPs, which are very popular with mutual fund investors. In fact, when we called a broking company about opening a demat account to buy mutual funds, we were dissuaded to do so because of the unnecessary costs involved.

So, while NSDL claims that it is smart to use the demat route for mutual funds, the problems on the ground and the cost of taking this route for no added benefit will continue to keep investors away. Keep your financial life simple–avoid mutual fund demat as long as it is not compulsory.