ABSTRACT

The aim of the study is to know the picture involved in mutual funds and its impact on the investors who are
attracted towards diversified portfolios, which involves high risk and hence, high returns.
This investor perception on mutual fund market has given a glimpse of trading involved in relation with
equities, futures and options, in comparison with other existing investment options.
The project report is on customer perception towards mutual fund and gives a clear picture of what
consumers think about mutual fund as an investment opportunity. From this report we can know that mutual
fund can still capture more of the market share in financial instruments.
Mutual funds have several advantages over other investment and hence it is important to know the customer
perception so that unaware consumers can be made aware. Also, it may help to capture the customers who
have not yet invested in mutual funds.
The report uses primary as well as secondary research to provide better understanding of customer
perception and also tells about preferences of customers when it comes to buying financial instruments.
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Purpose of Study
A successful investor is the one who is able to plan and decide in which profitable instrument to invest. To
save hard earned money in a savings bank’s account is not enough to tackle the inflation. Using concepts of
diversification, compound interest, stable returns and limited equity investment, one can maximize his return
on investments amd multiply his savings.
Mutual Funds are financial intermediaries concern with the mobilizing savings of surplus income & using of
these savings in those avenues where there is demand of funds.
The main purpose behind this study of investment preferences in Mutual Funds is to analyze that how the
clients are using their resources in a manner to afford, combine benefits to less risk, steady or constant returns,
better liquidity & capital appreciation through diversification & proper management.
Hence the activities of mutual funds have both short & long term effect on the savings, capital market & the
national economy. Mutual Funds, thus, help the process of financial depending & intermediation.

1.2 CONTEXT OF STUDY

Mutual funds are financial instruments that have huge potential for growth in future and hence it is important
for the company to analyse market potential and fulfil it.
In this report the focus is primarily on mutual funds and customer perception is analyzed by conducting
research using a survey as a tool for primary research and using information from journals, books and internet
as tools for secondary research.
The report gives a brief introduction about mutual funds, which is followed by research methodology that
states the research process used and finally it is concluded with analysis, interpretation and
suggestions/recommendations related to the study.

1.3COMPANY PROFILE

ICICI SECURITIES LTD.

ICICI Securities Ltd is a firm that offers a range of financial investment services which include institutional
broking, private wealth management, retail broking, financial product distribution and investment banking.
ICICI Securities targets to 'Create Informed Access to the Wealth of the Nation' for its diversified set of clients
that includes corporates, financial institutions, high net-worth individuals and retail investors.
Headquartered in Mumbai, ICICI Securities operates in 66 towns in India and has a global presence in the
form of offices in Singapore and New York.

2
 ICICI Securities,the wholly owned US subsidiary of the company is a member of the Financial Industry
Regulatory Authority/Securities Investors Protection Corporation. ICICI Securities’ activities include dealing
in financial securities and corporate advisory services in the US.

ICICI Securities Inc. is also registered with the Monetary Authority of Singapore and operates a branch office
in Singapore too, hence proving its global presence.

The products one can buy and sell with the help of ICICIdirect portal are:

• Equity
• Derivatives
• Mutual Funds
• ETF
• Life Insurance
• General Insurance
• Loans
• IPO
• Currency
• Fixed Deposits
• National Pension System

OTHER PLAYERS IN COMPETITION TO ICICI SECURITIES:

Sharekhan :
Incorporated in Feb 2000, Sharekhan is India’s 2nd largest stock broker providing brokerage services
through its online trading portal Sharekhan.com and 1950 share shops which includes branches &
franchises situated in around 575 cities across India. They are one of the full service broker and provide
various other services like asset management etc.
HDFC Security:
They are yet another large broking house in India with their bank branches, they have a large network
which is only smaller than ICICI. They have a vast presence in smaller towns
Kotak Security :
They are a well know name in Financial services, with their branches in devloped cities they are able to
capture market share in developed cities. The online services are competitive but brokerage is charged but
them is pretty high.

3
MotilalOswal :
Another decent brokerage firm functioning in India. They too are full service broker providing financial
service to the clients. They have decent financial advisors that provide extensive market research so that
one can invest in the financial instrument best suited to him.
Karvy :
One of the old broking houses functioning in the countr. They have a ver good reputation but their online
service is not up to the mark. The firm is improving their online portal and have competitive brokerage too.

AWARDS AND RECOGNITIONS

• ICICI Securities bagged the Award for Outstanding Social Impacts at the Global Sustainability Leadership
Awards 2014.
• ICICI Securities won the Outlook Smart use Technology eRetailer of the year 2013 conferred by FIHL in
association with HomeShop18.com.
• ICICI Securities won the 'BSE IPF D&B Equity Broking Awards 2012' under two categories:
➢ Best Equity Broking House - Cash Segment
➢ Largest E-Broking House

• ICICI Securities was awarded the Asiamoney `Best Domestic Equity House' for 2012.
• ICICI Securities won the Prime Database League Tables 2007 for money raised through IPOs/FPOs.
• ICICI Securities recently bagged the Innovation Award for Oracle Fusion Middleware.

1.4 ABOUT MUTUAL FUNDS:

The mutual trust is organized around a genuinely basic idea, the alleviation of risk through the spreading of
ventures over various elements, which is accomplished by the pooling of various little speculations into a huge
basket. Yet, it has been the subject of maybe the most expound and delayed administrative exertion ever. The
mutual fund industry has developed to huge extents in nations like the USA, in India it is still in the period of
outset.

The cause of the Indian mutual fund industry can be followed back to 1964 when the Indian Government, with
a perspective to increase little reserve funds inside of the nation and to channelize these investment funds to
the capital markets, set up the Unit Trust of India (UTI). The UTI was setup under a particular statute, the Unit
Trust of India Act, 1963. The Unit Trust of India dispatched its first open-finished value plan called Unit 64

4
in the year 1964, which ended up being a standout amongst the most prevalent shared trust plots in the nation.
In 1987, the administration allowed other open area banks and insurance agencies to advance mutual fund
plans.

Securities Exchange Board of India, also called SEBI, planned the Mutual fund (Regulation) 1993, which
surprisingly settled an exhaustive administrative system for the shared trust industry. This demonstrated to be
an aid for the mutual trust industry and from that point forward a few mutual funds have been set up by the
private segment and also the joint area. Kothari Pioneer Mutual fund turned into the first from the private
segment to build up a shared reserve in relationship with a remote trust. From that point forward a few private
division organizations have set up their own trusts in the nation, making mutual fund industry a standout
amongst the most took after area by faultfinders and financial specialists alike. The offer of private division
shared finances too has gone up quickly.

In the period around 1963 to 1988, UTI was the only player in the mutual fund business, the advantages under
administration developed to about Rs.67 billion. In the stage from 1988 to 1994, when the general population
area banks and insurance agencies were permitted to dispatch mutual trust plots, Rs.610 billion was the total
amount of resources in the mutual fund industry with the options expanding to 167 by the end of the year
1994. The third period started in 1994, saw tremendous development of the business, with the entry of private
players in the industry. On May 31, 2004, Rs. 1540 billion was the total amout uder administration and the
plans rose to 399.

Amid the last 35 years, UTI has maintained its status as an overwhelming firm in the industry. The aggregate
resources under UTI as calculated on September30, 2002 were Rs. 442 billion, which constitutes very nearly
41% of aggregate resources under administration in the local industry. UTI has seen disintegration of benefits
according to the most recent year's emergency emerging because of its Unit 64 plan, the plan with biggest
measure of advantages under administration. This was the first plan dispatched by the UTI with a critical value
presentation and the profits of which was not connected to the business sector. This period additionally offered
chance to the private players to show better returns subsequently catching a huge piece of the overall industry.

Whatever may have happened to shared supports in the past and whatever one is seeing now, mutual funds
are staying put the length of they can convey the desires of their speculators. One must not overlook that India
is a vast country with a populace of more than 1billion individuals and the potential keeps on being
tremendous. Then again, to be reasonable mutual fund directors ought to likewise endeavor to enhance their
execution and not accuse the ideas of the business sector every one of the times.

Pros of Mutual Fund investment

Better Management
5
Clients profit from administrations by efficient experts who are sponsored by a groupdevoted in venture
analysis, which investigates the market and need of organizations and helps to chooses suitable options to
accomplish the targets.

Diversification

Mutual funds diversify risk as they invest in wide range of products with portfolios which are tailor made to
fulfil targets.

Easy Administration

Investing resources into a Mutual Fund decreases the need for research and maintains a strategic distance from
various financial risks. This saves time and helps in growth.

High Returns

Mutual Funds have the probability provide high returns as they put resources into a broad basket of chosen
securities.

Low Transactional Costs

The mutual funds have low transaction costs as compared to other marketable securities existing in the market.

Liquidity

In an open-ended plan, the investor can recover their cash quickly if they have a liquidity crisis.

High degree of regulation

Every Mutual Fund isenlisted with SEBI and they function according to strict regulations intended to protect
clients from risks.

Cons of Mutual Fund Investment

• No Control over the expenses

• No Tailor-made personal portfolios

1.5 OBJECTIVE OF STUDY:

On the basis of rationale of the report and literature review, the objectives of study are-
• To study various investment alternatives and in particular, investors preference towards mutual
funds.
6
 • To study the preference of investors in today’s scenario (less risk and more return).
• To assess the risk of investors with reference to diversifiable risk &nondiversifiable risk.
• To study market potentiality of mutual fund among investors.
For fulfilling these objectives, literature review is carried out and has been discussed. It is followed by
research methodology of the study, the analysis and interpretation. Findings, suggestions and conclusions
are thus derived in the end.

1.6 SUMMARY:
The study is a detailed analysis of mutual funds and is completed by use of both primary research tools as
well as secondary research tools.The report gives details about the company, which is followed by a brief
introduction to mutual funds. The introduction is followed by literature review which gives abstract of
several research papers related to the study. It is followed by the research methodology that states how the
research was conducted and then the data collected is analyzed and interpreted in the following chapters.
The study is concluded with recommendations and findings.

CHAPTER 2 REVIEW OF LITURATURE

A large count of studies on the development and execution of common stores have been done previously, in
grew and also creating nations. Brief edited compositions of the accompanying examination works disclose

7
the abundance of commitments towards the money related execution assessment of shared trust, business
sector timing and stock picking capacities of financial advisors and analysts.

History of the Indian Mutual Fund Industry

The common store industry in India started in 1963 with the advancement of Unit Trust of India, at the
movement of the Government of India and Reserve Bank. The authentic background of shared finances in
India can be completely isolated into four specific stages

To begin with Phase – 1964-87

Unit Trust of India (UTI) was situated up on 1963 by an Act of Parliament. It was managed by the Reserve
Bank of India and worked under its regulatory and legitimate control. In 1978 UTI was isolated from the
Reserve Bank of India and the Industrial Development Bank of India took over control of UTI.

Second Phase – 1987-1993 (Entry of Public Sector Funds)

The year 1987 meant the entry of non-UTI, open portion shared stores set up by open section banks and Life
Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) and General Insurance Corporation of India (GIC). SBI Mutual Fund
was the first non-UTI Mutual Fund set up in June 1987, the industry had assets under organization of
Rs.47,004 crores.

Third Phase – 1993-2003 (Entry of Private Sector Funds)

The introduction of private funds came into existence in 1993, another phase started in the Indian MF industry,
giving the Indian authorities a more broad choice. In the same way, in 1993 the first Mutual Fund Regulations
marked its presence, under which every fund, excluding UTI were to be enlisted.

The 1993 SEBI (Mutual Fund) Regulations were replaced by a more extensive Mutual Fund Regulations in
1996. The mutual funds now are regulated by the SEBI (Mutual Fund) Regulations 1996. At the end of January
2003, there were 33 mutual funds with total assets of an incredible Rs. 1,21,805 crores.

Fourth Phase – since February 2003

In February 2003, after the dissolution of the Unit Trust of India Act 1963 UTI was bifurcated into two unique
substances.
One is the settlement of the Unit Trust of India with assets under organization of Rs.29,835 crores as toward
the end of January 2003.

8
Second is the UTI Mutual Fund Ltd, upheld by State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Bank Of Baroda
and Life Insurance Corporation. It is enrolled with SEBI under the Mutual Fund Regulations. Before the end
of October 31, 2003, there were 31 trusts, which embody assets of Rs.126726 crores under 386 plans.

In India, one of the soonest studies was done by National Council of Applied Economics Research (NCAER)
in 1964 when an investigation of family units was completed to comprehend the recognition towards reserve
funds of people. In yet another NCAER mull over in 1996 they broke down the structure of the capital market
and introduced the perspectives and impression of individual shareholders. SEBI – NCAER Survey (2000)
was done to assess the quantity of family units and the number of inhabitants in individual capital business
sector speculators, their monetary and demographic profile, portfolio size, and venture inclination for value
and debentures and other money related devices. A portion of the applicable discoveries of the exploration
were : Households inclination for these money related instruments coordinate their danger desire; Bank store
is preferred over all wage class; 43% of non-contributing families proportionate to around 60 million family
units need mindfulness about securities exchanges; and, contrasted and low wage fragments, the higher wage
gatherings have higher offer of interests in Mutual Funds have still not picked up the trust of little financial
specialists.

Jensen (1968) designed a procedure to evaluate the diversified portfolios and evaluated the capacity of 115
mutual funds in the time period 1945-66. The results showed that 39 funds had above normal returns, while
76 funds gave extremely poor returns and 48 funds showed above normal results while 67 funds underneath
normal results. Jensen concluded that, it was very unlikely that finances had the capacity to perform more than
the anticipation made by managers as they were not ready to foresee securities value developments.

Kum Martin (Oct 2007) in his stud, "Nuts and bolts about Mutual Funds" gave itemized clarification about
distinctive sorts of shared trusts .He presumed that the value stores include simply fundamental stock
speculations. They are exceptionally dangerous yet can wind up acquiring a gigantic benefit. He expressed
that generally safe in speculation won't win significant yields. Shared trust directors need to utilize various
venture styles as indicated by speculator's need. The vast majority of the confirmations expressed that common
trust financial specialists buy choice is influenced by past execution.
The review of these studies primarily focuses on subject of performance of Mutual Funds and Portfolio of
Mutual Fund. The existing “Behavioural Finance” research are very rare and only a little data is available
about investor’s perception and behaviour. All past efforts in this direction are fragmented. The present
research is an attempt to study the perceptions of investors in
cities of Bhubaneswar, Rourkela and Cuttack in Odisha.

9
CHATER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Sources of data collection
Two sources of collecting data has been employed i.e. primary data and secondary data

Primary Data
A questionnaire is used as a tool for the systematic collection of relevant information. A well questionnaire
consisting of simple questions has been prepared & directed to the respondents. (Questionnaire is attached at
the end of the projects) The questionnaire prepared consists of closed-ended questions which include:
• Multiple choices
• Checkboxes
The first section of questionnaire is prepared mainly for collecting the personal information about the
respondents. (Contains name, contact no., age, gender, educational background and occupation)
The second section contains multiple choice questions. It is prepared to collect the information about customer
perception.
The close- ended questions are very easy to answer from the questionnaire responded by the respondents.

Secondary Data
Secondary data is collected from the company’s websites, fact sheet etc.

Sample Design:
Sample design is a definite plan determined before any data are actually collected for obtaining a sample from
a given population. The sample design to use must be decided by the researcher, taking into consideration the
nature of the inquiry and other related factors.

Sampling Procedure
Sample size: 100
Sample size refers to the number of items to be selected from a sample. As suggested by the company, samples
of 100 Clients were surveyed. (75 customers of ICICI DIRECT + 25 people who invest in various schemes
available in market)

10
Explorative approach: This approach is one of the most popular approaches these days. Inthis approach, a
problem is described by the researcher using questionnaire or schedule.This approach enables a researcher to
explore new areas of investigation.
Research instrument: Questionnaire
This is used to collect the primary data. This was done with the help of online survey filled by respondents
and then submitting the response online only.
The questionnaire used for primar research is attached to this report in annexure.
Link of the online questionnaire designed:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1Aqtax0qjOP9jWtOHd5vyN1yRDkTWrHQgfM4MmOxMoRM/edit?usp=
sharing

11
CHAPTER 4
DATA COLLECTION, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION
The data collected by questionnaire and the analysis, along with the Interpretations are as follows:

Q.1 Gender of the Respondents

Gender
100

90

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0
Male Female

Gender No. of Respondents

Male 86
Female 14
Total 100

Interpretation:

12
 • In survey, most of the respondents were male who could not take the perceptions of the female
investors.
• It also shows that women are usually not interested in dealing with mutual funds as the rarely filled
the questionnaire.

Q.2 Age Group of Respondents

Age Groups

5%
24%
27%
20-25
26-30
18% 31-35
36-40
26% 40 above

Age Groups No.of Respondents

20-25 5
26-30 27
31-35 26
36-40 18
40 above 24
Total 100

Interpretation
• The maximum no. of customers lie in the age group 26-35 (27+26).
• The lowest no. of clients come in the age group 20-25.

13
Q.3 Qualification of the Respondents

Qualification

38%

Graduation
55%
Post Graduation
Others
7%

Qualification No. of Respondents

Graduation 38
Post Graduation 7
Others 55
Total 100

Interpretation:
• Most of the customers have education qualification less than graduation.
• It is followed b graduates and then post graduates.

14
Q.4 Occupation of the Respondents

Occupation

10% 9%
8%
Government Sector Employee
Private Sector Employee

30% 43% Business

Agriculture
Others

Occupation No. of Respondents

Government Sector Employee 9
Private Sector Employee 43
Business 30
Agriculture 8
Others 10
Total 100

Interpretation
• Most of the respondents are private sector employees, where as the second most common occupation
among the respondents was Businessmen.
• The no. of government employees, agricultural business based respondents and others like housewife
comprise of the lowest no. of respondents.

15
Q.5 While investing your money, which factor you prefer most? (multiple choice)

Factor Influencing
0%

19% 22%

Liquidity
Low Risk
High Return
33% 26%
Company Reputation
Other

Factor Influence No. of Respondents

Liquidity 22
Low Risk 26
High Return 33
Company Reputation 19
Other -
Total 100

Interpretation:
• According to this study, most people invest in mutual funds for obtaining high returns, followed b
low risk feature and liquidity.
• Companyreputation is the least affecting factor in shaping up the behaviour towards Mutual Funds.

16
Q.6 What kind of investments you prefer most? (Multiple Choice)

What kind of investments you prefer most?

Other
Provident Funds
Real Estate
Gold/Silver (commodities
Debentures
Shares
Post Office-NSC etc.
Mutual Funds
Insurance
Fixed Deposits
Savings Account

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

What kind of investments you prefer

most? No. of Respondents
Savings Account 59
Fixed Deposits 41
Insurance 37
Mutual Funds 45
Post Office-NSC etc. 16
Shares 39
Debentures 30
Gold/Silver (commodities 30
Real Estate 31
Provident Funds 24
Other 0

Interpretation
17
 • Here, we can interprete that most customers prefer Savings account as an investment option, which is
followed b mutual funds, shares, fixed deposits, Insurance, real estate, Gold, silver, PFs.
• Post office NSC etc. have the lowest preference according to this study.

Q.7 In which kind of mutual fund would you like to invest?

Type
70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0
Public Private

Type No. of Respondents

Public 63
Private 37
Total 100

Interpretation:
Major no of respondents prefer investing in Public mutual funds rather than private funds.

18
Q.8 How do you come to know about Mutual funds?

Medium

17%

45%
Advertisement
20%
Peer Groups
Banks
Financial Advisors
18%

Medium No. of Respondents

Advertisement 44
Peer Groups 19
Banks 20
Financial Advisors 17
Total 100

Interpretation
• The study shows that most no of people come to know about mutual funds from advertisements,
followed by Banks and peer groups.
• The financial advisors provide the least amount of information according to this study.

19
Q.9 Where do you find yourself as a mutual fund investor?

Status as a Mutual Fund Investor

12% Totally Ignorant

36%
24% Partial Knowledge about Mutual
Funds
Aware onl of an Specific
Schemes
28%
Full Aware

Status as a Mutual Fund Investor No. of Respondents

Totally Ignorant 36
Partial Knowledge about Mutual Funds 28
Aware only of an Specific Schemes 24
Full Aware 12
Total 100

Interpretation:
• The study shows that major no of customers are totally ignorant about mutual funds.
• Only a very less part of the sample was fully aware about mutual funds(12 out of 100).

20
Q.10 Which feature of mutual funds allure you the most? (Multiple Choice)

Feature
Tax Benefits

Regular Income

Low Transaction Costs

Safety

Better Returns

Diversification

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45

Feature No. of Respondents

Diversification 41
Better Returns 27
Safety 21
Low Transaction Costs 36
Regular Income 20
Tax Benefits 29

Interpretation:
• As the charts shows a major no. of respondents invest in mutual funds because of the diversified
portfolios.
• The other major factor is the low transaction costs.
• It is closely followed by benefits and better returns.
• These are followed closely by Safe and regular income.

21
Q.11 Which mutual fund scheme have you used? (Multiple Choice)

Type
None

Sector Fund

Long Cap

Regular Income Funds

Growth Fund

Mid-Cap

Liquid Fund

Close Ended

Open Ended

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50

Type No. of respondents

Open Ended 43
Close Ended 11
Liquid Fund 18
Mid-Cap 12
Growth Fund 18
Regular Income Funds 17
Long Cap 10
Sector Fund 12
None 24

Interpretation:
• Most no. of respondents prefer open ended mutual funds (43%)
• The preference for all other types of mutual funds are almost similar.

22
 • A total of 24% people have never invested in mutual funds.

Q.12 Where from you Purchase Mutual Funds

Source
80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0
Asset Management Companys Brokers Other

Source No. of Respondents

Asset Management Companys 75
Brokers 25
Other -
Total 100

Interpretation:
This shows that 75% of respondents prefer Asset Management companies over brokers or other ways to buy
mutual funds.

23
Q.13 Which company will you prefer for online trading?

Company
0%
1%
9% ICICI Direct
6% Kotak Securities
4%
Sharekhan
49%
11% Reliance Money
Motilal Oswal
Indiabulls
9%
Religare
2% 9%
India Infoline
Karvy
Other

Company No. of respondents

ICICI Direct 49
Kotak Securities 9
Sharekhan 9
Reliance Money 2
MotilalOswal 11
Indiabulls 4
Religare 6
India Infoline 1
Karvy 9
Other 0
Total 100

24
Interpretation:
• The customer base was of ICICI Direct’s customers, hence 49% of population prefferd ICICI Direct
over others.
• It is followed by various other asset management companies, with India Infoline having the least no.
of preference.
Q.14 Are you interested in investing ur savings in mutual funds in future?:

Future preference for investing in mutual

funds

21% 14%

Yes
No
May Be
65%

Investment Preference No. of Respondents

Yes 14
No 65
May Be 21

Interpretation
• Out of 100 respondents 65% are not interested in investing in mutual funds in future.
• 21% respondents are not sure and may or may not invest in future.
• 14% are interested in investing in mutual funds in future.

25
CHAPTER 5 - FINDINGS:
1. Customer Service/ Satisfaction:
➢ Most of the clients are not satisfied with the services of icici securities.
➢ Customers are not happy with the relationship managers as they provide wrong information
to the customers and sell them policy which the customers do not want. They complaint that
relationship managers do not contact them or the managers do not pick customers call.
➢ Most of the customers complain that the brokerage of icici securities is very high among
competitors in the market.
➢ On the basis of research conducted customers do their own research for investment purpose
and hesitate taking help from icicisecurities.
➢ Most of the client refused to consider switching their investment relationship to ICICI
securities ltd.
2. Product Knowledge/ Awareness:
➢ Most of the customers were not fully aware about mutual funds and its benefit.
➢ Customers are also not aware about all the financial products available for investment that is
why they invest in equity only.
➢ Customers seek most of the information from family, friends and news media which stands
incomplete medium of providing necessary knowledge to the customers who may turn up to
provide potential business.
➢ Existing customers are not aware of the features available like Capital gain statement,
portfolio monitoring, personalized research recommendations against holding etc. on
ICICIdirect.com which are extra services provided by icici direct and which is very attractive.
3. Customer Interest:
➢ Most of the customers invest only in equity and have no idea about mutual funds through
icicidirect .
➢ Some customers showed interest in investing in mutual funds after watching the demo.
➢ Customers were more interested in investing through SIP in mutual funds.
➢ Customers who are aware of ICICI direct website are very satisfied with the features like
portfolio monitoring and ease of purchase and redemption.
26
 4. Customer Profile
➢ Customers wereinvestors who mostly prefer putting their funds in Equity or Fixed deposit or
there were customers who had stopped investing their money in the market.
➢ Customers are daily internet users

Chapter 6
RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSION:

RECOMMENDATIONS:
Based on the study and problems, the following are the recommendations for the company:
• The awareness of mutual fund & its various schemes should be increased among the people by
proper advertising, promotion and conducting investors meets.
• Customers still prefer Savings, fixed deposits, equity , debentures, real estates, hence there is a need
to capture the market with proper awareness and by maintaining better relationship.
• Most of the clients are males and hence the perception of females is to be changed with related to
mutual funds.
• The study shows that advertisements are the most common source of information related to mutual
funds for customers, hence better and innovative ad campaigns should be planned b the company to
capture more market.

CONCLUSION:
It has been a great learning experience from the internship project of ICICI Securities Pvt.Ltd. I have learned
the different behaviour of the customers and how to act or handle different customers in different ways. I
have gained knowledge about various financial products offered by ICICI Securities. It is very important to
make a relation with customers and maintain it so that the business can work effectively and efficiently. So,
one should maintain a good relation with the customers . Customers should be given more knowledge about
mutual funds and the benefits of investment through ICICIDIRECT.COM

I came across the organizational culture and also the internship enabled me to work effectively and
efficiently to achieve the given targets.

27
LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

Much interaction has not been possible with the customer due to

• Indifference or uninterested of the customers to interact with me

• Different perceptions about the investment options

• The non-availability of time to them.

Many investors think mutual funds and shares are the one and same.

In survey, most of the respondents were male who could not take the perceptions of the female investors.

28
REFERENCES:

Books referred:

• Mutual Funds in India - H. Sadhak, Response Books, New Delhi.

• Financial Management khan & Jain
• Security Analysis & Portfolio Management Preethisingh
• Investment Management VK. Bhalla
• Company Fact Sheet

Websites Visited:

www.amfiindia.com

www.mutual funds india.com

www.moneycontrol.com

www.icicidirect.com

29
ANNEXURE:
QUESTIONNAIRE
Consumer Behaviour towards Mutual Funds:
A study of preferences of the investors for investment in Mutual Funds

Personal Details
1. Name

2.Gender

3.Age

4.Contact No.

5.Qualification

Graduation

Post graduation

Others

6.Occupation

30
7. While investing your money, which factor you prefer most? *

Liquidity

Low Risk

High return

Company Reputation

Other:

8. What kind of investments you prefer most?

Savings Account

Fixed Deposits

Insurance

Mutual Funds

Post Office- NSC etc.

Shares

Debentures

Gold/Silver (commodities)

Real Estate

Provident Funds

Other:

9. In which kind of mutual fund would you like to invest?

Public

Private

10. How do you come to know about Mutual funds?

Advertisement

Peer Group

31
 Banks

Financial Advisors

11. Where do you find yourself as a mutual fund investor?

Totally ignorant

Partial Knowledge about mutual funds

Aware only of any specific schemes

Fully aware

12. Which feature of mutual funds allure you the most?

Diversification

Better returns

Safety

Low transaction costs

Regular income

Tax benefits

13. Which mutual fund scheme have you used?

Open Ended

Close ended

Liquid Fund

Mid - Cap

Growth Fund

Regular Income funds

Long Cap

Sector fund

None

32
14. Where from you purchase mutual funds?

Asset Management Companys

Brokers

Other:

15. Which company will you prefer for online trading?

ICICI Direct

Kotak Securities

Sharekhan

Reliance Money

MotilalOswal

Indiabulls

Religare

India Infoline

Karvy

Other:

16. Are you interested in investing in mutual funds in future?

33